Wix to WordPress Migration: The Practical Way to Do It

Why Wix migrations are uniquely difficult

Wix generates its markup entirely at runtime using absolutely-positioned containers, and there is no official export feature of any kind, unlike Webflow or Squarespace which at least offer partial exports. That means anyone migrating off Wix is starting from zero code, working from the visual design alone.

This forces a choice: rebuild the site visually inside WordPress from scratch, or use a tool that captures the rendered page directly from the browser and reconstructs it as theme files, which sidesteps the lack of a Wix export entirely.

Step 1: decide on the theme approach

For a simple site, rebuilding with a WordPress page builder like Elementor while using the live Wix site as a visual reference is workable, though every section is recreated by eye and small spacing details tend to drift. For larger or animation-heavy sites, a capture tool like Themify reads the actual rendered layout and lazy-loaded media in the browser and packages it into a proper theme with style.css, header.php, footer.php and functions.php, preserving spacing and styling far more precisely than eyeballing it.

Step 2: move your content

Wix does not offer a clean content export either. For blog posts, Wix Blog has a basic export to WordPress XML format built into some Wix plans; check under your Wix dashboard first since this can save significant manual work. For everything else, product listings, custom pages, and static content, plan on manual copy or a scripted scrape if the site is large.

1. Check whether Wix Blog offers a direct XML export for blog content
2. Import any available XML export via WordPress's Tools → Import
3. Manually recreate non-blog pages and product listings
4. Re-upload images at full resolution rather than Wix's compressed versions

Step 3: rebuild forms and interactive elements

Wix forms, bookings, and members areas are proprietary and do not transfer. Identify every interactive Wix feature in use and map it to a WordPress equivalent: WPForms or Gravity Forms for contact forms, a booking plugin like Amelia for appointments, and a membership plugin if the site had gated content.

Step 4: map redirects before launch

Wix URLs often follow a distinct pattern with folder-like structures. List every indexed URL from Google Search Console and your Wix site map, then build a matching 301 redirect for each one that changes under WordPress, using the Redirection plugin or .htaccess rules on your new host.

Set your WordPress permalinks structure to mirror the old URL pattern as closely as possible to minimize the number of redirects you need to maintain.

• Export the current URL list from Google Search Console
• Match old paths to new WordPress permalinks
• Test redirects manually before DNS cutover
• Resubmit the new sitemap to Search Console after launch

Step 5: launch checklist

Test the new WordPress site fully on a staging URL, including forms, navigation, and mobile responsiveness, before pointing your domain's DNS at the new host. Keep the Wix site live but unlinked for a few weeks in case you need to reference original content you missed.

Where a capture tool saves the most time

Because Wix offers zero code export, the design-rebuild step is usually the single biggest time sink in this migration. Themify shortcuts it by capturing the rendered Wix page locally in the browser and generating an installable theme zip in minutes, with plans starting at $9/mo for 10 conversions and a free trial conversion to test on your own site first. It will not move your content, forms, or bookings, so budget separate time for those regardless.