A website migration away from a builder such as Wix, Squarespace or Jimdo works in a fixed order: check the cancellation terms, back up content while the old site runs, finish the new site, take your domain along with the auth code (or just repoint its DNS), move your email, redirect old addresses with 301s, and cancel last. The costliest mistakes are a missed deadline and a forgotten mailbox: Squarespace keeps billing domain and Google Workspace after you cancel the site, and Jimdo deletes the email addresses on your domain when you cancel.
Deadlines and procedures come from the providers' help pages and terms, as of November 2026.
I like the idea of being in charge yourself and no longer needing a contractor to take care of everything. I do not run my own pages in a builder; an AI employee builds them as source code I own. After a move, your domain, mailbox and source code should be in your name.
Website migration in seven steps
Cancelling is step 7, but the deadline is step 1: cancellation usually takes effect at the end of the billing period, so the move must be done by then.
Step 1: Look up renewal dates and cancellation terms
According to the providers' help pages and terms, as of November 2026:
To cancel Squarespace, open the site's Billing panel, pick the subscription and click "Cancel subscription". Domain and Google Workspace are separate subscriptions you cancel on their own.
At Wix, you turn off auto-renewal for a domain or business email bought there separately; for annual plans, Wix's terms say it notifies you at least 30 days ahead and may charge your card up to three weeks before the new period. Jimdo's terms add a domain deadline: order the provider change at least one week before the contract ends, or the registry deletes the domain.
This is not legal advice. Your contract decides; the exact expiry date is in your account.
Step 2: Back up your content while the old site is running
The main catch with leaving a builder: the site itself does not come along. Wix says your site must run on Wix's servers; the content is yours, the technology is not. Squarespace exports only part of your content, as an XML file in WordPress format. Jimdo says it has no function for making your own backup and suggests saving each page in the browser.
So you back up from the live site, not from an export:
- Every address, including linked PDFs and images. You need them for the redirects.
- All text, word for word: services, prices, opening hours, legal pages.
- All images in full size, and whether you may reuse them.
- What runs in the background: forms, booking, shop data, contact lists. Download whatever can be exported before you cancel.
What a complete inventory looks like is in Modernizing a Website With AI: How To.
Step 3: Build and test the new site before the domain moves
Finish the new site on a test address: click through it on a phone, submit the forms, try every link. Only then does the domain point to it.
Plans with web space and SFTP are compared in Web Hosting Comparison: Prices, Space, SFTP, free options in Build a Website for Free: The Real Ways. For another builder, see Website Builders Compared, though the same question returns at the next move. How a site comes together as your own source code is in Build a Website With Claude Code: A Guide. Which options exist besides a builder and WordPress is in WordPress Alternatives: 5 Options Compared.
Step 4: Take your domain along, by transfer or just by DNS
With a transfer, the domain moves to a new registrar. With a DNS change, it stays put and only points to the new hosting.
For a transfer you need the auth code (also called EPP code or transfer code). According to the providers:
- Squarespace: switch off Domain Lock, remove DNSSEC first, request the transfer code. The transfer can take up to 15 days.
- Wix: the domain must be unlocked; after registration, a transfer or changed registrant details it is locked for 60 days under ICANN rules, Wix says. The code goes to the registrant contact email, and a transfer usually takes up to 7 days.
- Jimdo: under "Domains and email", choose the domain and request the transfer code. It goes to the admin contact address and is valid for 30 days for .de domains and 60 days for .com. Requesting it does not cancel your contract.
Check first: is the domain in your name, and can you reach the inbox the code goes to? If it shows an old agency's address, fix that first.
Write down all DNS records first: website (A, AAAA, CNAME), mail (MX) and text records (TXT), for example for Search Console. Squarespace recommends a screenshot, because most hosts can't keep your settings in place during a transfer. For moving a website to a new host, Google suggests lowering the TTL to a few hours at least a week ahead, so the change spreads faster. How to make sure the domain stays yours is in How to Buy a Domain Name Forever and Keep It.
Step 5: Don't forget your mailboxes
- Squarespace: Google Workspace stays active and billed after you cancel the site. You cancel it separately.
- Wix: business email stops working after the transfer until you add the MX records again at the new provider.
- Jimdo: email accounts don't move with the domain, and you lose access to old messages and contacts. Jimdo suggests syncing the mailbox into an email program via IMAP and exporting it there.
The safe order: create the new mailbox, back up old mail, switch the MX records, test sending and receiving, and only then cancel the old mailbox.
Step 6: Redirects and Search Console
Page addresses almost always change in a move, /about-us-1 becomes /about. Every old address from step 2 gets a permanent redirect (301) to its matching new page, or is removed on purpose. You set this up on the new hosting, since the old provider no longer answers for your domain after the switch. Google recommends permanent server-side redirects, generally kept for at least a year. How to build the table of old and new addresses is in step 4 of Modernizing a Website With AI: How To.
If you verified the site in Search Console with an HTML file or a meta tag, both have to be in the new site, or verification breaks. Setup is in Setting Up Google Search Console, and why a sitemap beats single requests when many addresses change is in Google Indexing Request: When It Helps. Redirects keep paths and signals; they do not guarantee your visibility.
Step 7: Cancel, and cancel everything you mean to
Submit the cancellation by the deadline from step 1 even if the move is still running, since it only takes effect at the end of the term. Switch off and take things offline only once site, domain and mailbox work. At Wix and Squarespace, plan, domain and mailbox are cancelled separately; at Jimdo, the cancellation form lets you choose to transfer the domain.
Then take the old site offline. According to Wix, it stays online after cancellation until you unpublish it or hide it from search, leaving your old content on a builder address next to the new site.
Where Ralf and Sebastian help
The rebuild is done by Ralf, my AI web designer. He reads the existing website in full, preserves services and prices, and rebuilds structure and design, one of his most common assignments. He checks build, screenshots, mobile layout and click paths and prepares the launch; approval remains with you. He has built more than 20 client websites and maintains kevinwelter.com technically.
After the move comes Sebastian, my AI employee for SEO. He crawls sites including robots.txt and sitemaps, finds broken links, and reads indexing status in Search Console with read-only access. On kevinwelter.com, he set up Search Console and Bing and fixed canonical and redirect errors in the first stage.
Auth code, DNS and mailbox run through your own accounts, and those logins stay in your hands; that is the point of the move. For your individual case, we can look at it together. The whole route from domain to upkeep is in Build Your Own Website: A Guide With AI.
Frequently asked questions
Can I move my Wix or Squarespace site to another host?
The domain yes, the site mostly not. Wix sites only run on Wix's servers, and Squarespace exports only part of the content. You back up text, images and addresses from the live site and rebuild there.
What happens to my domain if I cancel Squarespace?
It stays active and keeps being billed. You can keep it registered there, manage its DNS or transfer it to another host. Squarespace recommends transferring the domain first and cancelling the website subscription afterwards.
Does my site stay online if I cancel Wix?
Yes. It runs on the free Wix address with Wix ads, and your content is not deleted. Domain and business email are cancelled separately.
Will a website migration cost me my Google rankings?
Nobody can rule that out. Matching 301 redirects, a new sitemap and checking Search Console are the part you control.
What to do next
Open your builder account today and write down two dates: when the term ends and by when you must cancel. Plan backwards, and start listing all addresses and texts while the old site still runs. If you want the rebuild as your own source code without programming: Ralf is available as a ready-made, tested template in the Premium tier of my community AI Employee Framework, $149 a month (as of October 29, 2026 according to his team page); in the Standard tier for $5 a month you build him yourself with the proven process.
