Squarespace exports to WordPress format, which sounds like the whole job is done. What it leaves out is the part worth planning for.
It produces WordPress XML, which imports cleanly — and quietly omits several kinds of page without saying so.
The export covers standard pages and blog posts. Product pages, album pages and index pages are not included, and nothing in the process tells you they are missing.
Their default blog URLs embed the full publication date, which almost never matches the permalink structure you want to keep. Every one gets a rule.
Squarespace blocks come out as inline markup carrying their own class names and none of their styling, so they are rebuilt as real blocks here.
Products are not in the content export at all, so a store needs its own migration path rather than being assumed to follow along.
Image URLs point at their CDN and keep resolving there until each one is rewritten to your own domain.
The failure mode here is a migration that looks complete because the import succeeded. We reconcile the new site against the old one page by page.
Squarespace decides how your pages are served. Here that is a set of settings, which is most of what changes.
The export does most of the mechanical work. The value is in catching what it left behind.
| Setting | What we do | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Export scope | Reconciled page by page against the live site | The export covers pages and blog posts but omits product, album and index pages, and it reports success either way. |
| Dated blog URLs | Each mapped to the new permalink with a redirect | Their default structure embeds the full publication date, which rarely matches the permalinks you want to live with afterwards. |
| Blocks | Rebuilt as blocks rather than imported as markup | Exported blocks arrive as inline HTML carrying Squarespace class names and none of the styling that made them work. |
| Commerce | Migrated on its own path, separate from the content export | Products are absent from the XML entirely, so a store treated as part of the content import simply arrives without its catalogue. |
| Media | Pulled from their CDN and rehosted under your domain | Attachment URLs point at squarespace-cdn.com and keep resolving there until every one is rewritten. |
Every plan includes free migration, daily backups, SSL and 24/7 support.
Free migration, gaps reconciled against the live site, and dated URLs redirected.