Looking to switch from Wix to WordPress?
Wix is a popular website builder that lets you create a simple website, fast. However, many Wix users soon realize that their options are limited and adding extra features can become quite expensive.
If you want more features and flexibility without the high costs, then switching to self-hosted WordPress is the best choice. WordPress powers over 32% of all websites on the internet because it’s extremely powerful. In this article, we will show you how to properly move from Wix to WordPress and grow your website with complete freedom.
After reviewing various different ways to move from Wix to WordPress, we believe the easiest method is by importing your blog posts via RSS.
In this step by step guide, we will walk you through the process of transferring your Wix website to WordPress. Depending on how many pages you have on your Wix site, the migration can take upto an hour.
Here are the steps to migrate from Wix to WordPress:
- Sign up for WordPress web hosting
- Setup your new WordPress site
- Customize your site’s style and appearance
- Import your blog posts via RSS
- Convert your Wix pages to WordPress
- Create your main navigational menu
- Redirect Wix to WordPress
Ready to switch from Wix to WordPress? Let’s get started.
Step 1: Signup for WordPress Web Hosting
To start a WordPress blog, the first thing you’ll need is a web hosting account for your website.
Web hosting is your website’s home on the internet. This is where all of your files and data is stored.
You will also need a domain name (such as www.yoursite.com). This is your website’s address on the internet.
When you use Wix, they host your website for you which is also the reason why it’s quite limited. On the other hand, WordPress is a free software, so you’ll need a place to install it. That’s why you need to purchase web hosting and a domain name.
We highly recommend that you use Bluehost because they are an official WordPress.org recommended hosting provider.
They have agreed to give WPBeginner readers a free domain and over 60% off discount on web hosting when you use our special Bluehost coupon code.
→ Click here to Claim this Exclusive Bluehost offer ←
If you want to look at more options, then we have a list of the best WordPress hosting providers that you can choose from.
Some other companies that we recommend are SiteGround and HostGator.
In this tutorial, we’ll use Bluehost for screenshot and examples.
If you’ve already registered a domain name with Wix, that’s no problem. When signing up with Bluehost, you can enter your existing domain under the “I have a domain name” option.
Later on in this guide, we’ll walk you through how to transfer your domain when your new WordPress site is ready.
Step 2: Setup Your New WordPress Site
After purchasing your new hosting plan, you’ll need to install and setup WordPress.
If you signed up with Bluehost, then they automatically install WordPress for you, and you can simply login to your WordPress dashboard from your hosting account.
Upon login, you will see your WordPress admin dashboard:
All other WordPress hosting companies also offer 1-click WordPress installers from their hosting dashboard. If you need help installing WordPress, then you can refer to our step by step guide on how to install WordPress for beginners.
Once you login to WordPress admin area, it’s a good idea to set your WordPress permalinks.
Your permalink settings will determine the address of each blog post. For example, instead of publishing a blog post to:
www.yourblog.com/2017/10/blog-post-title
You can publish it to:
www.yourblog.com/blog-post-title.
You can change your permalink settings by navigating to Settings » Permalinks in your WordPress dashboard. Once you have selected the structure you want, click on the Save Changes button at the bottom.
For more details about permalinks, you can check out our post on SEO-friendly URL structures in WordPress.
Step 3: Customize Your Site’s Design
Next, you should customize the appearance of your website. It’s easy to do that using WordPress themes.
WordPress themes are similar to Wix templates, they control the appearance and display of your WordPress website.
There are thousands of free WordPress themes available for you to use. Some themes are very basic and minimalist, while others will add a lot of new features to your site.
As a WordPress beginner, you may want to start with a simple theme that’s easy to use. We have a list of recommended simple WordPress themes you can take a look at to get started.
Wondering how to decide on a theme? You can check out our article on selecting the perfect WordPress theme for tips and advice.
Once you have found a theme you like, you can install it by following our guide on how to install a WordPress theme.
Remember, you can easily change your theme in the future, so it’s important that you don’t spend too much time on this step.
You can even use the default WordPress theme and start with the migration process. Because the most important part is moving all of your content from Wix to WordPress.
Step 4: Import Your Wix Blog Posts to WordPress
In this step, we’ll transfer your Wix blog posts over to your new WordPress site.
Wix is a closed platform, and they don’t provide an easy way for users to migrate their content away from Wix.
But we can still automate the process by importing your Wix RSS feed, instead of recreating each blog post manually.
To get started, you’ll need to download your Wix RSS file.
You can locate the file by adding /feed.xml or /blog-feed.xml to your Wix website URL.
If you don’t have a custom domain with Wix, then you can find your RSS feed at username.wixsite.com/blogname/feed.xml or username.wixsite.com/blogname/blog-feed.xml, where “username” is your Wix username and “blogname” is the name of your blog.
If you have a custom domain such as www.yourwixblog.com, then you can find your RSS feed at www.yourwixblog.com/feed.xml or www.yourwixblog.com/blog-feed.xml.
After navigating to the proper URL, you should see a page full of code.
Go ahead and right-click anywhere on the page and click Save As to save the file in your computer.
Now that you have your RSS file, you can log in to your WordPress dashboard and click on Tools » Import.
Next, click the Install Now link under the RSS heading.
After a few seconds, you’ll see a link at the top of the page to Run Importer. Go ahead and click the link.
Next, you need to click the Choose File button and select the feed.xml file that saved to your computer. Once selected, you can click the Upload file and import button.
If you have a lot of blog posts to import, then it can take several minutes to import them all.
When it’s done, you’ll see a confirmation message.
To check on your blog posts and make sure they were exported from Wix correctly, you can navigate to Posts » All Posts and click View underneath each post.
At this point, the content of your blog posts has been transferred, but there’s one problem: any images in your post are still hosted with Wix.
Luckily, there’s an easy way to fix this and move your images over to WordPress.
All you need to do is install and activate the Auto Upload Images plugin.
Plugins are like apps for WordPress that allow you to add new features. We have a step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.
After installing and activating the plugin, you’ll need to re-save each post that contains images, and the plugin will import images inside it.
It would be time-consuming to edit each post one by one, but we have a handy trick that you can use to quickly re-save all WordPress posts at once.
Simply go to Posts » All Posts page and then click on the Screen Options button at the top.
You need to increase the number to 999 in the ‘Number of items per page field’ field and click on the Apply button.
WordPress will reload the page, and this time it will show 999 posts at a time.
Next, you need to select all your posts and then select Edit under the bulk actions menu.
After that, you need to click the Apply button. WordPress will show you a quick edit box with all selected posts. You just need to click on the Update button, and WordPress will update all your posts.
See our guide on importing external images in WordPress for more detailed instructions.
Step 5: Import Your Wix Pages to WordPress
After you have imported your blog post, next we’ll need to transfer your Wix pages over to your WordPress site.
Wix doesn’t provide any automated way to do this, so we’ll have to recreate each page in WordPress one by one.
First, you can navigate to the Wix page you want to transfer to WordPress. Highlight all the content (except for the page title). Then you can right click and click on Copy.
After that, you need to login to your WordPress dashboard and navigate to Pages » Add New to recreate the page. At the top of the page, you can type in the page title. Then you can right-click and and click on Paste to recreate the content.
For help with styling your pages, you can check out our article on add new post or page in WordPress.
When you’re finished styling your page, you can click the Publish button to publish your page on your new WordPress site.
While you can follow the above method for all text based pages, it won’t work for certain pages like your contact page.
You’ll need to install a contact form plugin like WPForms to create a contact page. We have a step by step guide on how to create a simple contact form.
Now that you’ve converted all your content, it’s a good idea to carefully review your posts and pages to make sure everything is working right and looks the way it’s supposed to.
Step 6: Create Your Main Navigational Menu
Next, you’ll want to make sure your visitors can easily navigate through your new website using your primary menu.
You can create a navigational menu by going to Appearance » Menus. Type in a name for your menu, and click one of the Create Menu buttons.
Next, you can select whichever pages you want to add to your main menu, and click the Add to Menu button. When you’ve added all the pages you want, select the menu position.
Finally, click the blue Save Menu button on the right.
Now your menu has been created and is live on your website.
Step 7: Redirect Wix to WordPress
Your new WordPress site is complete, and you’re ready to let your readers know about your move.
It’s important to not only announce your move to your readers but to setup proper redirection.
You want all visitors of your old site to land on exactly the same page on the new site. This will also let search engines know that your old site has moved to a new location.
Note: You can only redirect users to your new WordPress site if you had a custom domain on Wix. Unfortunately, if you were using a wixsite subdomain, then you cannot redirect users to your WordPress site.
First you need to open a plain text editor like Notepad and paste this code:
var hashesarr = {
"#!about-us/c1it7":'/about/',
"#!contact/ce54":'/contact/',
"#!random-article/c1mz":'/random-article/'
};
for (var hash in hashesarr) {
var patt = new RegExp(hash);
if (window.location.hash.match(patt) !== null) {
window.location.href = hashesarr[hash];
}
}
In this code we have added three example URLs in the following format:
"#!about-us/c1it7":'/about/',
The first part of the line looks for a string in the URL. This will be the URL your Wix users will be coming from. The second part in the line is the WordPress slug for the same page.
Unfortunately, you will have to manually add each URL in this format. Once you are finished, you need to save this file as redirects.js.
Next, you need to upload this file to your WordPress theme’s /js/ directory using an FTP client.
If your theme does not have a /js/ directory, then you need to create one.
Now you need to edit your theme’s functions.php file and add this code at the bottom of the file:
function wpb_wixjs () {
wp_enqueue_script( 'wixredirect', get_stylesheet_directory_uri() . '/js/redirects.js', array(), '1.0.0', true);
}
add_action('wp_enqueue_scripts', 'wpb_wixjs');
Don’t forget to save your changes.
That’s all, you can now try visiting a URL from your old Wix site to see the redirect in action.
Note: These redirects will not redirect search engines and are not very SEO friendly.
Lastly, don’t forget to inform your readers of your new address. You can do this by announcing your move on social media, writing a blog post about it, and sending out a notice to your email newsletter.
Step 8: Add Essential WordPress Plugins
WordPress plugins allow you to add more features to your site. Plugins work like Wix apps. There are hundreds of plugins available, free and paid. You can check out our archive of articles about the best WordPress plugins if you’re not sure where to start.
We also have a list of the must have WordPress plugins for all websites.
If you’re looking for a Wix style drag & drop page builder, then we recommend using one of these best drag & drop WordPress page builder plugins.
That’s it! We hope this tutorial helped you switch from Wix to WordPress without a lot of hassle.
We would like to welcome you to the WordPress community. To get started with WordPress, please take a look at our beginner’s guide section and our WordPress beginner videos.
If you have a friend still using Wix, then you can show them your new WordPress site and our comparison on WordPress vs Wix and convince them to switch over.
If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.
Hi Thanks for posting this. It was looking great until I tried to edit with Elementor. I get “The preview could not be loaded.” I already tried disabling any new plugins. I think the Wix is causing the issue. How can I remove the RSS that I entered?
For that error, you would want to reach out to Elementor as the content imported is not normally the root of the issue.
I keep getting the same message when trying to import:
Fatal error: Uncaught Error: Call to undefined function set_magic_quotes_runtime() wp-content/plugins/rss-importer/rss-importer.php
The site is experiencing technical difficulties. Please check your site admin email inbox for instructions.
From taking a look at the RSS Importer plugin, that is an error due to php 7 that they have been notified about.
Don’t you need to keep your source online by doing this step?
It would depend on which step you mean, for the images the auto upload images plugin is what brings the images over from Wix
In other words, there’s no easy way to migrate. That was, in fact, helpful to know.
Hopefully, platforms like Wix will make moving content easier going forward but for now, our article should help make the process easier
Currently trying to move a client from a Wix site with a .com domain to a WordPress site with a .com.au domain (Australian business). So moving content from old site wasn’t really an issue.
My question relates to Step 7 Redirect Wix to WordPress. I’m really confused how saving a .js file to the WordPress site will technically work to redirect the Wix site? Shouldn’t the redirect.js go into the Wix site so that it can redirect traffic to the new WP site?? I found same article on hostinger.com and it says the same thing so not sure if they are a copy but don’t understand how this would work. This is the part i’m stuck with, redirecting the old .com URL’s to the new .com.au URL’s.
Appreciate your suggestions.
That step is for users who had a custom domain. If they did, then the custom domain would point to the WordPress site when your visitors try to reach your domain and the code connects your pages to the replacement page on your WordPress site.
Hi,
Thanks for the post. It definitely got me started in the right direction. However, the feed/xml trick doesn’t work with the new Wix blog. So I did what someone else mentioned in the comments and placed a RSS button in the menu on my homepage and published my website. This gave me access to the RSS url.
I then followed all the steps suggested in this article – but after uploading the xml file on WordPress received only a blank screen under Import RSS. Nothing else happened. I did this several times – still no ‘done’ notification or blog posts appearing.
Any other suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks for sharing what is working for you, if your content is being added to your site each time you are uploading the file then your site may have enough content that it is crashing the import as you attempt to import. We’ll certainly continue to work on easier methods to allow the export.
I’m trying to get the RSS code using /feed.xml at the end of my URL, but it keeps popping up “404 Error.” I saw on another page about switching over to WordPress that apparently Wix has a new blog platform and /feed.xml doesn’t work anymore…so now what do I do?
To our knowledge the /feed.xml method is still currently working, you may want to reach out to Wix support to see if they have a statement about that.
When I try to import, I get this Fatal error: Uncaught Error:
It would depend on the rest of that error message but you can try to run the import again.
Nothing happens for me when I try to import my RSS feed on WordPress. I’ve been trying the /blog-feed.xml and /feed/xml. Please help! TIA!
We will certainly take a look into other methods to import the content should the RSS not work.
The RSS bit still seems to not be working, is there a workaround for this?
Not at the moment but we will certainly take a look at alternatives
very useful information you have given in this article. nice work
Thank you
That’s a Really Good Point, this Article is very Helpful and informative. Thanks for Sharing
Thank you
This a long deep analysis on swapping from Wix to wordpress.
I love the way you broke it down, even a lame man could understand it.
Thanks for Great analysis
Thank you
Further issues with article, even that feed isn’t working. Getting error. It seems that this may not work at all any more * New Blog feature added to main menu outside of editor recently may have something to do with it.
Fatal error: Uncaught Error: Call to undefined function set_magic_quotes_runtime() in /home/XYZ/public_html/clients/XYZ/wp-content/plugins/rss-importer/rss-importer.php:72 Stack trace: #0 /home/XYZ/public_html/clients/lyonssnyder/wp-content/plugins/rss-importer/rss-importer.php(178): RSS_Import->get_posts() #1 /home/XYZ/public_html/clients/XYZ/wp-content/plugins/rss-importer/rss-importer.php(204): RSS_Import->import() #2 /home/XYZ/public_html/clients/XYZ/wp-admin/admin.php(311): RSS_Import->dispatch() #3 {main} thrown in /home/XYZ/public_html/clients/ZYX/wp-content/plugins/rss-importer/rss-importer.php on line 72
Thank you for letting us know about this, we’ll certainly look into this. Some users are stating that the error may due to the function being depreciated in newer versions of PHP
Having the same fatal error message. Is there a workaround or fix yet? Thanks.
This wasn’t /feed.xml for mine
I used this article to make a RSS button, and previewed my page, and it was /blog-feed.xml
Saw that other person mention /feed.xml did not work for him, so figured I’d save someone these steps.
Thanks for sharing this
Hi Vincent,
Your post has been extremely helpful, although I’m not able to get either version /blog-feed.xml or /feed.xml to import on WordPress through the RSS Import feature. I’m wondering if you have any tips at this point?
TIA!
Create a random RSS button on
any page of your website using the widget using this article:
https://support.wix.com/en/article/adding-and-setting-up-an-rss-button-for-your-blog
Then copy the link that it points to, and you may remove the button afterwards.
Hi!
I need a bit of help – we own our domain and we currently have our website on wix. However, I want to transfer it to WordPress without having to shut it off first. So I am using a dummy domain to replicate the site in WordPress. Once it is done how do I transfer it to the original domain we currently use in Wix?
Hi Jess,
First you would point your Wix domain to your WordPress hosting server.
Assign the domain to the folder where you have WordPress installed. Ask your hosting provider for help if you are unsure how to do that.
Use Velvet Blues Update URLs plugin to replace URLs in your WordPress installation.
Hi I am following these instructions but when it comes to upload file and import nothing happens after that. Can you please help me???
Did you ever get this resolved? TIA!
can i make my old wix domain automatically redirect to my new wordpress site? or how can i transfer my wix domain to redirect to my wordpress domain?
Design won’t be the same as WIX after migrating, Right?
Yes, that’s correct.
I have a ecommerce website hosted on wix and very recently I have come to know all the limitations that I face by continuing to stay with this host. One of the major drawbacks is you cannot use a rss feed, wix does not support it, so cannot migrate to a better host. Wix does not support site back up either, meaning that if they were to be hacked or go bust we all would lose our business.
I got to read up on google support about duplicating and cloning my website, and it is possible to do so alas with some drawbacks.
Currently I am downloading my website to my desktop then to upload it to another host and put up 301s redirect. The one thing that I am not sure about is how to transfer the domain, which is my trading name.
I can’t seem to find the RSS plugin in my word press do i need to download a plugin?
Hi Sylver,
Yes, it is an importer you can download it from Tools » Import page in WordPress admin area.
Hi, I have a weird question. I am using a domain-related gmail account which I have purchased through Wix. It’s the classic “Info@mydomain.com” . I want to move my domain to wordpress but I am not sure if I can keep the email address, since I had bought it through Wix. Is it possible to do that? and if yes, how?
Hi Aggelos,
Please contact Wix support and they will be able to help you better. Technically, you own the domain name and you can move it to any hosting company you want. Once you have moved the domain name you can set up MX records to connect it with Gsuite or Gmail.
Hi,
I’m trying to follow these steps to move my website to WordPress but step 2 of your instructions are not what Bluehost is offering. There is no option to install WordPress. They allow you to customize everything on WordPress through their website. The platform looks the same but it is not an installation of a program. Now, I’m slightly panicked that this tutorial is not going to have the end result I needed…
Hi Anna,
You can still continue the tutorial from ‘Once you have installed WordPress…’ and everything would work out the same. Hope this helps
You will find that nothing is easy and works like you think it might.
Wix introduced a “New Wix” in July 2017 which does not support RSS. Any alternative approaches to using an RSS Feed?
Yes, I came here with the same question –
Options (there is always manual) other than the RSS that isn’t working on Wix right now.
Thanks,
Thanks for the article! As a matter of fact, I’m in the process of migrating from Wix to WordPress – my only problem is that I’m not sure how to migrate my Google hosted email (through G suite)?
I’d like to migrate to a standalone G suite, not purchased through Wix (partnership) – any suggestions?
Cheers!
Hi Davis,
If you registered your domain name via WIX, then you can manage your DNS settings there or transfer your domain name to a different registrar. Basically you will just need to add DNS records to your domain name for it to work with Gsuite. You can do that by editing your domain’s DNS settings.
Thanks for the reply! I bought my domain separately from Wix, at Namecheap.
Should I make a new Google Suite account (since the current one is ‘labeled’ as Wix partner account) and change the DNS settings on Namecheap accordingly? Sorry, kind of puzzled here…
In regards to the RSS import. Once I press upload file and import, nothing happens, It just goes away.
WP Version 4.9.1
Hi I have the same problem. I click upload and import nothing happens. Did you end up fixing the problem I am having so much trouble with this.
So glad this article exists, otherwise I’d be totally lost!
I reached the stage of transferring images over and got stuck. The plugin “Import External Images” doesn’t show up in the wordpress directory as far as I can tell, and its homepage says it hasn’t been updated in over 2 years and may not be compatible with newer versions of wordpress.
I discovered another plugin based on the first one, called “important external attachments,” but it only has about 20 reviews, and wordpress says it hasn’t been tested with the newest versions.
Do you have other recommendations for a plug in? Should I download the zip file of the first plug in from its homepage and then extract the files to wordpress? Should I risk the newer one?
I have a website on wix. I want to switch from wix to WordPress. I purchased the domain and hosting from wix. My question is after migration the domain and hosting will be expired?
Hi Mithun,
You can use your domain up to the renewal date. After that you can renew your domain or move it to your new hosting service provider.
As for hosting, you need to contact their support for more clarification. You should be able to host your wix site for the period you have paid for.
Thank you for your article. If I create a forum with users signing up on WIX, can I migrate the user base to WordPress without needing my users to create a new account? Ideally if I want to switch, will my users notice anything at all?
Thanks!
This is just the best guide for converting your website. Thank you for the help!!
An “A” for effort, but your method of transferring site from Wix to WP simply doesn’t work. The websitename.com/feed.xml returns “not found.”
Word to the wise: unless you’re opening an online lemonade stand, stay away from WIX!!! I spent many an hour in development only to find a boatload of bugs with Java Script. It is as vanilla as they come.
Hi Steve,
I just did it with my website – and it worked perfectly (www.website.com/feed.xml).
But I think you’re right with regards to using WIX..
Hello! If I transfer from Wix to WordPress, will my old Wix images and posts still be high quality?
Hi! Thank you so much for this post!
I am planning to switch from Wix to WordPress at the end of the year, so I have saved this article and will use it later.
I do have a couple of questions:
1 – Will I lose the statistics of the various pages and posts, even if I name the exactly the same)?
2 – I already have a WordPress.org and a Bluehost account, so is it possible to start working on steps 2 through 6 and leave the redirecting and actual publishing of the blog for last?
3 – The term “redirection” makes me confused (I’m not a programmer so please be patient!). In my understanding, once the new structure and content are ready and trasnfered, all I need to do is to associate my domain to the new site. Is that correct? After that I will cancel my Premium Wix account for this blog. The domain and the page/post names will bethe same. Correct? Where is my understanding failing me?
Thank for your help!
Hey Luciana,
1. If you are using a custom domain (for example, wpbeginner.com) and Google Analytics, then you’ll not lose those stats if you continue using the same domain on Bluehost.
2. Yes it is possible to start from step 2
3. If you are using the same domain then you just need to make sure that your URL structure is exactly the same as it was on Weebly.
I cannot get past the Wix RSS Feed stage. When I type it in, there is no code. Just the blog posts in snippets. I think they have made it impossible now. I have tried both ways. No code.
Wix RSS only grabs the last 50 blog posts. Do you know of a way to get the previous ones? I’m moving a site with 138 posts, and you can’t even get the HTML of Wix blog posts to copy and paste them individually.
Hi Christina,
You can grab 50 posts, then go to your website and move those posts to drafts. Then repeat the process. Remember WordPress importer is smart enough not to import duplicates. So you can run it as many times as you like with multiple files.
Hi Syed, Does this procedure convert current WiX template to WordPress Template? If no, Is there any way to use/convert WiX templates to be used on WordPress?
Hey Praveen,
No, it does not. You will need to hire a theme developer to create one for you or you can start with a WordPress theme that looks similar.
I am not finding RSS on WordPress tools. The other options are not able to upload the .XML blog file.
Where else can I find RSS or what else can I do?
Hey Kevin,
You need to visit Tools » Import page. There you will be able to see a list of importers including RSS.
These are the Importers I’m seeing under Tools >> Imports:
Blogger
Blogroll
Categories and Tags Converter
GoDaddy Quick Blogcast
Israblog
LiveJournal
Movable Type and TypePad
My Opera
Posterous
Storylane
Tumblr
WordPress
Xanga
there is no option available for importing RSS feed, Import RSS option is also not available.
please suggest a way possible.
The maximum file size is 64MB. My file is 242 KB. I get an error message when importing to wordpress Fatal error: Uncaught Error:
I feel like this post will be very useful, if I could get past the first stage! I’ve installed wordpress (via bluehost), it tells me installation is successful and gives me the credentials and sends me an email, but when I click on the admin url, it doesn’t work, so i can’t log in to wordpress! when i click on the url, it says error 404 page cannot be found.
help! what am i doing wrong?
any help much appreciated
Thanks for this information! However, the RSS feed only goes back to February of this year, but the site has around 300 blog posts. How do I get them all? Thanks!
Thank you guys, I have a problem with the feed..when I add feed.rss to the wix site url it show only the last 50 blog post..how I can include all posts (more of 200) inside the feed?
Were you able to find a solution to this? I am having the same problem
I supposedly got WordPress with hosting package brought from Network Solutions/Who Is, but this indicates that I need to pay more to get any use from it. What, if anything, did I miss?
This is great way to introduce WordPress. I have read many other articles as I am transferring into a web development career. This article not only explains the nuances and tricks of WordPress, but also explains how to facilitate the transfer from previous platforms. This is a very real task and can cost more than making an entirely new website. Thank you for the simple and fluid walk-through.