Key takeaways
- The domain can move. The site stays where it was built, unless that place is WordPress.
- Wix does not let the site leave. Squarespace will export the words, not the shop or the design.
- WordPress files can move to another host. That move is still work. It is not a rebuild from screenshots.
A cleaning company in Hartford pays the bill every month and calls it her website. The pages, the booking button, and the layout live in that login. Cancel the plan and the thing customers see stays behind. She can take the domain. She cannot take the site.
People mix those two up. Point yourbusiness.com at a new host and the address moves. The site stays where it was built, on the builder’s servers, in the builder’s format.
She can take the domain. She cannot take the site.
| Where it was built | Can the site leave? | What you can take |
|---|---|---|
| Wix | No. It has to stay on Wix. | The domain. A product spreadsheet. A contact list. |
| Squarespace | The words can. The site cannot. | Pages, one blog, text, and images. Not the shop, and not the design. |
| WordPress | Yes. The host can change. | The files and the database. |
Wix keeps the site on Wix
Wix says this in their own help article. The site has to run on their servers, because it is built on their software. You can connect a domain you bought somewhere else. You cannot hand that same site to another host and have it keep working.
An older version of the article said the site cannot be exported. The current one says it must run on their infrastructure. Same lock. Quieter sentence. What you can pull out is a spreadsheet: products, contacts. Useful if you are typing a shop back in by hand. Not the website.
Wix wrote it down: Exporting or embedding your Wix site elsewhere.
Squarespace will give you the words
Squarespace does have an export. It writes a WordPress file. You get layout pages, one blog, text, and images. Their help center is plain about the rest. The shop does not come. Portfolio pages, calendars, albums, and cover pages do not come. Headers, footers, and sidebars do not come.
Their own tutorial is below. It shows the export button. The help article, not the video, is where they list what stays behind.
Squarespace’s own tutorial. It shows the export. It also shows what does not come with you. We did not make this video.
If the business was the design, the booking layout, or the shop, you leave with a folder of copy and you rebuild the site. Squarespace documents the split here: Exporting your site.
A builder is a fair deal until the site is the business
If the site is a portfolio, you like their templates, and you are not trying to rank or take bookings, the rent can be the right price. One bill. They patch the platform. You are not going to outgrow it, so the lock is not a surprise you get to act shocked about later.
It gets expensive when the site is how people find the company. A Google listing that points at pages you cannot move. A booking flow you would have to build again. A designer who can restyle WordPress and cannot get the files out of the builder. The next version is a second build. You pay for the first one again, in hours.
WordPress is the other contract
On WordPress hosting, the files and the database are yours. We host them. If you later want a different host, that is a migration. It is a pain. It is not a reconstruction from screenshots.
WordPress is more work on day one. Someone has to update it, or you pay for managed WordPress hosting so that cycle is not on your calendar. This post is only about who keeps the files if you leave. The money version of reading the second page of a deal is compare hosting on the renewal price, not the intro rate.
What leaving WordPress does not spare you
The files come with you. Day one is still more work than a builder, and a later move is a migration. It is not a free afternoon, and it is not a rebuild from screenshots.
If you are already stuck
Do not save screenshots into a folder and call that a backup. If you have decided, open a ticket from the client area. Send the domain and which builder you are on. If you want the replacement designed, rather than assembled after hours, start at website design. We quote hosting after that conversation. It is not folded into a teaser rate.
