How to Properly Move from Medium to WordPress

“I used to love using Medium, but now that I have an audience, I want to branch out and monetize my content.”

Sound familiar? Here at WPBeginner, we’re committed to helping content creators like you break free from the platforms that are holding you back.

More than that, we’re here to guide you toward a platform that gives you complete control over your content and how you monetize it. We’re talking about WordPress!

In this step-by-step guide, we’ll share the exact process we use to help bloggers move from Medium to WordPress. You’ll learn how to transfer your content safely, keep your readers, and set up your new WordPress site for long-term success.

Whether you have a handful of Medium posts or hundreds of articles, we’ll show you how to make the transition smooth and successful.

Why You Should Move from Medium to WordPress?

If you’re serious about your content, you’re probably looking for a platform with more power and control than Medium offers. That’s where WordPress comes in.

WordPress is the most popular website builder in the world, powering more than 43% of all websites on the internet.

And it’s not just popular, this content management and blogging platform is also incredibly user-friendly, super powerful, and easy to customize.

Want to really dig into what WordPress can do? Check out our complete WordPress review, where we break down all the pros and cons.

Now, when we say WordPress, we are talking about self-hosted WordPress.org. Not to be confused with WordPress.com, which is a hosted platform.

If you’re not sure about the difference, our article on WordPress.com vs. WordPress.org will clear things up.

While Medium is a good blogging platform for new writers, many users quickly realize that it’s quite limited when compared to WordPress. You don’t have full ownership of your website, and the customization options are pretty basic. Plus, monetizing your content the way you truly want to can be a real challenge on Medium.

On the other hand, WordPress has a massive advantage when it comes to building a website that search engines like. You have the tools to optimize your on-page SEO, and you can choose from tons of responsive themes and templates to perfectly match your brand and style.

So, if you’ve made the smart decision to migrate your content from Medium to WordPress, congratulations! You’re about to unlock a whole new level of control and potential. To make this transition as smooth as possible, we’ve created this complete step-by-step guide to help you move all your articles and content from Medium over to its new WordPress home.

However, if you like learning and doing things yourself, then you can follow our step-by-step tutorial below.

Here’s a breakdown of all the steps that we will be covering in this step-by-step tutorial:

Ready? Let’s get started!

What You Need Before You Start

Before diving into the migration process, it’s a good idea to prepare a few things. This will make your move from Medium to WordPress much smoother.

Here’s your pre-migration checklist:

• Back up your Medium content – Download a copy of all your Medium posts before you start. This ensures you won’t lose anything.
• Make a list of your Medium article URLs – Copy all the URLs of your published Medium posts into a spreadsheet or text file. You’ll need these later when setting up redirects.
• Note your most popular posts – Check your Medium stats to identify your highest-performing articles. These are the ones you’ll want to prioritize during the import and verify carefully afterward.
• Document your current SEO metadata – If you’ve been using custom titles or descriptions on Medium, write those down so you can replicate them on your WordPress site using an SEO plugin like AIOSEO.

With those items ready, let’s move on to setting up your WordPress site.

Step 1. Install and Set up WordPress

To get started with WordPress, you’ll need the following two things.

• A web hosting account. This is where all your website files are stored.
• A domain name. This will be your website’s address on the internet and what users will type in their browser to reach your website. For example, wpbeginner.com.

A domain name typically costs around $14.99 per year, and website hosting starts from $7.99 per month.

Thankfully, Bluehost, an official WordPress-recommended hosting provider, has agreed to offer our users a free domain name and a big discount on their web hosting service.

Basically, you’ll be able to get started for just $2.99 per month.

→Click Here to Claim This Exclusive Bluehost Offer ←

If, for some reason, you want other options, then you can look at our list of the best WordPress hosting companies.

Once you have set up your domain and hosting, the next step is to install WordPress.

Most WordPress hosting companies offer 1-click install options that you can use to instantly install WordPress. If you can’t find it, then ask your hosting provider’s support, and they will set it up for you.

You can also do it yourself. For step-by-step instructions, see our complete guide on how to install WordPress.

After you’re done installing WordPress, you’re ready to move on to the next step, which is to export your content from Medium.

Step 2. Export Your Data from Medium

Previously, it was quite difficult to export your data from Medium in a WordPress-compatible format.

We decided to solve this problem and developed a Medium to WordPress Importer tool.

It’s a free online tool that imports content from Medium and converts it into a WordPress-compatible export file. It does not change your existing Medium content, so it is perfectly safe to use.

Head over to Medium to WordPress Importer website and enter your Medium blog URL.

Now, if your Medium blog URL uses a custom domain name and is like http://example.com or https://something.example.com, then enter the URL with your name and email address.

On the other hand, if you don’t have a custom domain name, then the Medium to WordPress Importer will ask you to upload the Medium export file.

Here is how you can get that export file from Medium.

First, you need to log in to your Medium account and click on your profile photo at the top right corner of the screen. This will bring down the menu. From here, you need to click on the ‘Settings’ link.

This will take you to the settings page, where you need to scroll down to the ‘Download Your Information’ section.

Go ahead and click the ‘Download zip’ button to export your Medium data.

On the next page, you’ll want to click on the export button. Medium will then prepare your download and send a link to you via email.

You need to check your email to see if you received the email from Medium. Then, you can follow the link in the email to download your Medium export file.

Once you have downloaded the Medium export file, you can switch to the Medium to WordPress Importer tool and upload that file.

Next, let’s click the ‘Export My Medium Website’ button to continue.

Medium to WordPress Importer will now prepare your export file. Once finished, it will show you a success message with a button to download your WordPress-ready Medium export file.

Go ahead and download the export file to your computer. You will need that file in the next step.

Step 3. Import Your Medium Articles into WordPress

Now that you have successfully exported your Medium content into a WordPress-compatible format, it’s time to import that content into your new WordPress blog.

To get started, you’ll want to visit the WordPress admin area and head over to Tools » Import.

Here, you will see a list of importers available for different platforms. Let’s scroll down to WordPress and click the ‘Install Now’ link.

WordPress will then fetch the importer plugin and install it on your WordPress site without reloading the page.

Once installed, you’ll need to click on ‘Run Importer’ to launch it.

This will bring you to the WordPress importer page. Go ahead and click the ‘Choose file’ button to select the export.xml file you downloaded earlier.

Next, you can go ahead and click the ‘Upload file and import’ button to continue.

WordPress importer will now upload and analyze your Medium export file. On the next screen, it will ask you to assign authors.

You can import the author from your Medium website, create a new author, or assign all content to your existing WordPress user.

Don’t forget to check the box next to the ‘Download and import file attachments’ option. It will fetch images from your Medium website and put them into your WordPress media library.

With that done, all that’s left to do is click the ‘Submit’ button to run the importer.

WordPress will then import content from the Medium export file. It will also try to fetch images in your Medium articles.

Upon completion, you’ll see a success message.

Congratulations, you have successfully imported content from Medium to WordPress!

You can now go to the posts page in your WordPress admin area to see if all your content is there.

If the import process fails in the middle, then you can always run it again. The importer is smart enough to detect duplicate content and skip it. It will only import the content that wasn’t imported successfully in the previous attempt.

Step 4. Import Your Images From Medium to WordPress

The WordPress importer tries to import images from your Medium articles to the WordPress media library. However, it may fail due to how Medium displays images in your articles.

To solve this, you’ll first need to go to Media » Library to see all images that have been imported successfully.

If some or all of your images fail to import, then you will need to upload them again.

To replace broken images across your WordPress site, we recommend using the free Search & Replace Everything plugin by WPCode. This plugin addresses WordPress’s lack of a built-in find-and-replace feature, allowing you to replace outdated images site-wide with just one click.

For more details, you can see our step-by-step guide on how to easily replace image and media files in WordPress.

Alternatively, you can bulk update all articles at once to quickly import all images. For detailed instructions, see our step-by-step tutorial on how to import external images in WordPress.

Medium hosts images on its own content delivery network (CDN), and the URLs for those images can change over time. That said, it’s essential to get all your images moved to your own WordPress as soon as possible so you don’t end up with broken images later.

Once your images are imported, you’ll also want to optimize them for web performance so your site loads fast.

Step 5. Clean Up and Format Your Imported Content

After importing your Medium articles, you’ll likely need to do some cleanup. Medium and WordPress handle formatting differently, so your posts may not look exactly the same.

Here’s what to check and fix:

• Heading Structure – Medium often uses different heading levels than what WordPress expects. Review each post and make sure your headings follow a logical H2/H3/H4 hierarchy. This matters for both readability and blog SEO.
• Embedded Content – If your Medium posts included embedded tweets, YouTube videos, or other media, check that these transferred correctly. You may need to re-embed them using the corresponding WordPress embed blocks.
• Links – Verify that all links in your imported posts are working. Some internal links may still point to Medium URLs and need to be updated.

• Featured Images – Medium articles have a main image at the top, but these don’t always import as WordPress featured images. Go through each post and set a featured image manually if needed.
• Post Excerpts – WordPress uses excerpts for post summaries on archive pages. Check that your posts have proper excerpts or write custom ones for your most important articles.
• Categories and Tags – Medium uses tags to organize content. After importing, set up proper categories and tags in WordPress to organize your content for readers and search engines.
• Permalink Structure – Make sure your WordPress permalink structure is SEO-friendly. We recommend using the ‘Post name’ option, which you can set in Settings » Permalinks.

Step 6. Set up Redirects

If your Medium stories had a medium.com URL, then you cannot set up redirects.

But if you were using a custom domain for your Medium publication, then you can set up custom redirects in WordPress.

First and foremost, you will need to get all URLs of your Medium articles and save them in a text file. After that, you’ll start setting up redirects for all your articles.

There are multiple ways to set up redirects in WordPress. For detailed instructions, follow our beginner’s guide to creating redirects in WordPress.

Step 7. Preserve Your SEO Rankings

One of the biggest concerns when migrating from Medium to WordPress is losing your search engine rankings.

With that in mind, here’s how to protect your SEO during the transition:

• Install an SEO plugin right away – We recommend AIOSEO as it’s the most comprehensive WordPress SEO plugin. It’ll help you set up proper meta titles, descriptions, XML sitemaps, and more.
• Submit your new sitemap to Google – After installing AIOSEO, it’ll automatically generate an XML sitemap for your new WordPress site. You should submit this sitemap to Google Search Console so Google can start crawling and indexing your new pages.

• Set up proper meta descriptions – Copy your best-performing meta descriptions from Medium to your new WordPress posts.
• Check for broken links – These hurt both user experience and SEO, so it’s important to scan your site for broken links and fix them properly.
• Monitor your search performance – Keep a close eye on Google Search Console for the first 30 days after migration. In particular, you should look for crawl errors, indexation issues, and traffic changes.
• Optimize your content for target keywords – Now that you have full SEO control, take the opportunity to optimize your posts with focus keyphrases. You can also use keyword research to find new opportunities.

For a complete SEO walkthrough, refer to our WordPress SEO checklist, which covers everything from basic setup to advanced optimization.

Step 8. Install a WordPress Theme

By default, each WordPress site comes with a basic theme. If you visit your new site, then you’ll see something like this:

This is a generic WordPress theme with limited features, so you’ll typically want to replace it. 

The awesome thing about WordPress is that there are literally thousands of free and premium WordPress themes you can use to completely customize the look and feel of your website. Whether you want a clean and minimalist design to let your writing speak for itself, or something more visually engaging, you’ll find a theme that fits.

To give you a head start, here are our expert recommendations for the best WordPress themes in different categories:

• Best free WordPress blog themes
• Best WordPress themes for writers
• Best WordPress themes for artists
• Best Medium-like WordPress themes

After you have chosen a theme, you can follow our guide on how to install a WordPress theme to set it up.

Another option is using a page builder plugin to design completely custom layouts. Our top pick is SeedProd as it’s incredibly user-friendly, even when you’re completely new to WordPress.

It uses a simple drag-and-drop interface, so you can literally pick elements like text blocks, images, videos, and buttons and arrange them on your page exactly where you want them.

In addition, it has a ton of ready-made templates including magazine-style templates that are perfect for showing off your Medium content.

Intrigued by the idea of having complete creative control over your website’s design now that you’re moving off Medium? Then you need to check out our detailed SeedProd review, where we share more information about this popular page builder.

Step 9. Set Up Email Subscribers and Notifications

One thing you’ll miss from Medium is the built-in follower system. When someone follows you on Medium, they get notified about your new posts. You’ll need to replicate this on WordPress.

To help you out, here’s some ways to keep your audience engaged after the move:

• Set up an email marketing service – Building an email list is one of the most important things you can do as a content creator. Unlike social media followers, your email list is something you own and control. We recommend Constant Contact for beginners because it’s easy to use and offers a free trial.
• Add email opt-in forms – Use OptinMonster to create beautiful opt-in forms that encourage visitors to subscribe. You can add popups, slide-ins, and inline forms across your site.
• Enable push notifications – PushEngage lets you send browser push notifications to your readers whenever you publish new content. It’s a great way to bring readers back to your site.
• Create an email newsletter – Send regular updates to your subscribers with your latest posts. For a complete walkthrough, see our guide on how to create an email newsletter.

• Notify your Medium followers – Before you stop posting on Medium, publish a final article letting your followers know about your new WordPress site. You should also include a link to your email signup page so they can subscribe.

Step 10. Install Essential WordPress Plugins

Plugins are like apps for your WordPress blog. They allow you to add new features and extend the functionality of your WordPress site. To learn more, see our article about what are WordPress plugins and how they work.

There are thousands of free and premium WordPress plugins that you can install on your website. At the time of writing this article, the WordPress.org plugin directory alone had more than 62,000 free plugins.

So, how do you know if you need a WordPress plugin? More importantly, how do you find out the best WordPress plugin for the job?

Well, there are some WordPress plugins made for specific websites, such as eCommerce plugins, membership plugins, or LMS plugins.

Then, there are plugins that almost every website needs. Let’s install these plugins on your new WordPress site:

• WPForms Lite – This is the free version of WPForms, which is the best WordPress contact form plugin on the market. It allows you to easily add beautiful forms to your website.
• MonsterInsights Lite – This free version of the popular MonsterInsights plugin helps you install Google Analytics in WordPress. It also shows you beautiful reports about your most popular articles, where your users are coming from, and more.
• All in One SEO – This is the best WordPress SEO plugin on the market. It helps you improve WordPress SEO and get more visitors from search engines.
• Duplicator – A powerful backup and migration plugin. Now that you’ve migrated from Medium, it’s important to back up your WordPress site regularly so you never lose your content.
• OptinMonster – The best lead generation and conversion optimization tool. It helps you turn website visitors into email subscribers with popups, floating bars, and other opt-in forms. Since you’re building a new audience on WordPress, growing your email list should be a top priority.

Need more plugin recommendations? Check out our pick of the essential WordPress plugins every website should have.

Step 11. Learn WordPress

WordPress is quite easy to use. However, as a new user, you may need some help becoming familiar with the platform.

This is where WPBeginner can help. We are the #1 WordPress resource site with thousands of tutorials, guides, and videos created specifically for beginners, small businesses, and non-tech users.

Following are some of the helpful resources that you can find from WPBeginner (all of them are completely free).

• WPBeginner Blog – The central place for all our WordPress tutorials and guides.
• WPBeginner Dictionary – Our WordPress glossary is the best place to familiarize yourself with the WordPress lingo
• WPBeginner Videos – New WordPress users can start with these 23 videos to master WordPress.
• WPBeginner on YouTube – Need more video instructions? Subscribe to our YouTube channel with more than 1 million subscribers and 55+ million views.
• WPBeginner Blueprint – Check out the plugins, tools, and services we use on WPBeginner.
• WPBeginner Deals – Exclusive discounts on WordPress products and services for WPBeginner users.

Video Tutorial

If you are more of a visual learner, you may want to check out our video tutorial:

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Frequently Asked Questions About Moving from Medium to WordPress

Is it free to move from Medium to WordPress?

The short answer is yes, the migration process itself is completely free.

The Medium to WordPress Importer tool is free to use, and the official WordPress importer plugin doesn’t cost a dime. However, since you’re moving to a self-hosted WordPress.org site, there are two small costs you’ll need to cover: web hosting and a domain name.

The good news is that WPBeginner users can get started with Bluehost for as little as $2.99 per month. This special offer includes a free domain name and an SSL certificate, making the transition very affordable.

Will I lose my Medium followers when I switch to WordPress?

While you cannot directly export your Medium followers into WordPress, you don’t have to leave them behind entirely.

The best way to bring your audience with you is to publish a farewell post on Medium. In this post, you can explain that you’ve moved and provide a clear link to your new website.

We also strongly recommend setting up an email list on your new WordPress site immediately. Unlike Medium, where a platform change can hide your content from fans, an email list ensures you own your audience. This gives you total control over how you reach your readers without worrying about third-party algorithms.

How long does it take to migrate from Medium to WordPress?

The actual technical export and import process is surprisingly fast. For most sites, it takes less than 30 minutes.

However, you should budget a bit more time for the ‘polish’ phase. After the import is finished, you’ll want to spend some time setting up your WordPress theme, double-checking your image alignments, and cleaning up any minor formatting quirks.

Can I keep my Medium account after moving to WordPress?

Yes, absolutely. In fact, we highly recommend keeping your Medium account active even after you’ve moved to your own self-hosted site.

Instead of deleting your profile, you can update your most popular Medium posts with a short note and a link directing readers to the updated version on your new WordPress site.

Many successful creators also use Medium as a marketing tool. By cross-posting short summaries of your new articles on Medium with a ‘Read more’ link back to your WordPress site, you can tap into Medium’s existing audience to drive more traffic to a platform you actually own.

Will my Medium articles rank on Google after moving to WordPress?

When you move your content from Medium to WordPress, Google needs to re-discover your articles at their new web addresses.

If you were using a custom domain on Medium, you can set up 301 redirects, which tell search engines that your content has permanently moved. If you were using a standard Medium URL instead, the transition is still smooth as long as you use proper canonical tags to avoid duplicate content issues.

The good news? Your content should perform even better on WordPress over time.

Because you have total control over your site, you can use a powerful SEO plugin like AIOSEO to optimize your keywords, meta descriptions, and schema markup – tools that Medium simply doesn’t offer.

What happens to my Medium comments?

Unfortunately, Medium’s internal engagement metrics like comments and claps, don’t transfer to WordPress. When you import your posts, they will essentially start with a clean slate.

While losing those old conversations can be frustrating, WordPress offers a much more robust commenting system. Unlike Medium, where comments are often hidden or threaded away, WordPress allows you to:

• Own your data: Your comments are stored in your own database.
• Moderate effectively: You have full control over spam filters and approval.
• Boost engagement: Use comment plugins to allow users to subscribe to comments or login via social media.

Starting fresh on WordPress is a great opportunity to re-engage with your readers and build a more loyal community on a platform you control.

Can I move my Medium publication (not just personal stories) to WordPress?

Yes, you can. Whether you’re running a personal blog or a full-scale Medium publication with multiple contributors, the migration process is exactly the same.

The Medium to WordPress Importer tool is designed to handle both personal stories and publication content. The most important step is to ensure you’re logged into the specific Medium account that owns the publication when you request your export file.

Once you have that file, you can bring all that content over to your new WordPress site.

Is WordPress harder to use than Medium?

Medium is a distraction-free platform, which makes it very simple because it only does one thing: publishing articles.

WordPress has a slightly higher learning curve because it’s a full-featured website builder. It gives you the power to add an online store, build custom landing pages, and install plugins to grow your traffic – features Medium simply doesn’t offer.

The good news is that the actual writing experience is very similar. The WordPress Block Editor uses a drag-and-drop approach that feels almost identical to Medium’s editor. You can easily add images, headings, and galleries just by clicking a button, making the transition feel very natural for long-time Medium users.

We hope this article helped you learn how to properly move from Medium to WordPress. You may also want to see our ultimate guide on how to improve your WordPress SEO and our comparison of the best email marketing services.

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