Free Wix to WordPress Migration Tool

Hosting is the company that keeps your website online. You pay it monthly, like rent. Pick one of these two:

Your host gives you a temporary address for your new WordPress site (for example wordpress-123456.cloudwaysapps.com) and a login. Build there. Don’t touch your domain yet.

Your domain is your address, like yourbusiness.com. Rule number one: keep it in an account in your own name, never your web designer’s or an agency’s. Whoever holds the account owns the address.

Where is it now?

• You bought it through Wix: it’s in your Wix account under Domains.
• You bought it at GoDaddy, Namecheap, Google, Cloudflare or similar: it’s there, and only “pointed” at Wix.

Then pick one:

• Keep it where it is (easiest). In step 6 you just change two settings so your address points at the new host. Wix lets you edit these for domains bought there.
• Move it out of Wix (optional). In Wix, open Domains, click the … next to your domain, choose Transfer away from Wix and send yourself the transfer code. Then start a transfer at a registrar in your name (for example GoDaddy or Cloudflare) and paste the code. Wix only allows this 60 days after you bought or moved the domain. A transfer takes about 5–7 days and your site keeps working the whole time.

Type your Wix website address and your email, then press the button. The tool reads your public pages (the same ones any visitor can see) and builds two files for you.

What gets copied

• Your text: headings, paragraphs, lists and links
• Your photos (WordPress downloads them in step 4)
• Blog posts, with their dates and main photo
• Each page’s Google title and description (the words Google shows in search results)

What doesn’t

• The design. Wix designs only work on Wix. Step 5 gives your site a new, better look.
• Forms, bookings, stores, members areas and other Wix apps. You add these back with WordPress plugins (step 5).

Log in to your new WordPress (your temporary address followed by /wp-admin). Then:

1. Go to Settings → Permalinks, pick Post name and click Save Changes. This makes your page addresses look like /about-us/, which your redirect list expects.
2. Go to Tools → Import. Under WordPress click Install Now, then Run Importer.
3. Click Choose File, pick the .xml file from step 3, and click Upload file and import.
4. Under “Assign Authors”, choose your own name in the drop-down.
5. Tick “Download and import file attachments”. This is the box that copies your photos. Don’t skip it.
6. Click Submit and wait until it says “All done”. A big site can take a few minutes. If it stops part-way, just run it again: it skips what’s already in.

Set your homepage: open the page called Home (or your old homepage’s title) and click Publish. Then go to Settings → Reading, choose A static page, pick it as the Homepage and click Save Changes.

Install Elementor, the drag-and-drop page builder (the free version is fine): Plugins → Add New, search Elementor, click Install Now, then Activate.

How to install a template

1. In the left menu click Elementor, then Editor, then Templates → Saved Templates (older versions: Templates → Saved Templates right in the left menu). Click Import Templates at the top.
2. Click Choose File, pick the template’s .json file and click Import Now. If Elementor warns “JSON files may be unsafe”, click Continue (only do this for files from us or another source you trust).
3. Open your Home page and click Edit with Elementor.
4. Click the gear icon (Page Settings) and set Page Layout to Elementor Canvas or Elementor Full Width.
5. Click the folder icon (Add Template) in the middle of the page, open the Templates tab (older versions: My Templates), and click Insert next to your template.
6. Click any text to change it. Copy your words over from the imported draft, and swap in your own photos: real photos of you, your team and your van win more calls than stock photos.
7. Click Publish.

Contact form: Wix forms don’t move. Add one with the free WPForms Lite plugin (or Elementor Pro’s form widget), and send its messages to your email.

Redirects tell Google (and old bookmarks) “this page moved here”, so you keep your rankings. Do this before you switch the domain.

1. Go to Plugins → Add New, search Redirection (by John Godley), click Install Now, then Activate.
2. Go to Tools → Redirection and click through its short setup (Start Setup → Continue → Finish Setup).
3. Open its Import tab (older versions: Import/Export). Click Add file and choose the .csv file from step 3. When it says “This redirect CSV can be imported”, click Import. Your redirects then show on the Redirects tab. If the tool said your list is empty (your page addresses didn’t change), skip this.
4. Publish the pages you want live and check every one on your phone.
5. Now switch the domain. Your new host shows you two values. Where your domain lives (Wix or your registrar), open its DNS settings and change:
   • the A record for @ (your bare address) to the IP address your host gives you
   • the CNAME for www to the address your host gives you (or an A record to the same IP)
   Leave every other record alone, especially MX (email). At Cloudways, also add your domain in Domain Management; at GoDaddy, change the site’s domain in its Settings.
6. Wait. It usually takes under an hour, sometimes up to 48. Then turn on the free SSL (padlock): at Cloudways, SSL Certificate → Let’s Encrypt; GoDaddy does it for you.

After the move: your checklist

• Google Business Profile: open your profile, check the Website link opens your new site (and the right page).
• Google Search Console: add your domain as a property, verify it, and submit your sitemap (/wp-sitemap.xml, or /sitemap_index.xml if you use Yoast SEO).
• Call tracking numbers: if you use tracking numbers (CallRail or similar), add their code to the new site and check the right number shows.
• Forms → email test: fill in your own contact form and make sure the email arrives (check spam). If it doesn’t, install the free WP Mail SMTP plugin.
• Ads: open every Google Ads and Facebook ad link and make sure each lands on a working page.
• Wix: once everything works for a week, cancel your Wix plan (keep the domain if it’s still registered there).

Wix to WordPress migration questions