Moving your website from Squarespace to Host Dada? Squarespace can export some of your content as a WordPress file, but only your basic pages and one blog. Your design, shop pages and many content types don't come with you. This guide explains exactly what transfers, what doesn't, and how to make the move.
What Squarespace's export includes
Squarespace exports a single .xml file designed for importing into WordPress. According to Squarespace's own export guide:
| Exported | Not exported |
|---|---|
| Standard layout pages One blog page, with its posts and comments Text, image, embed and Instagram blocks Gallery pages (some older 7.0 templates) |
Any second or further blog Store and product pages, product blocks Album, portfolio, index, cover and event (calendar) pages Headers, footers and sidebars Video and audio blocks, dropdown menus Your design, style settings and custom CSS Draft pages |
Your site's look always has to be recreated, because Squarespace templates don't work in WordPress. Product details can be downloaded separately as a CSV file from the Products panel in Squarespace and imported into WooCommerce.
Before you start
- A WordPress hosting package from Host Dada. The Squarespace export only imports into WordPress.
- Your Squarespace site must be set to Public while you export.
- Keep your Squarespace plan running until the new site is live. Your images are still loaded from Squarespace straight after import, so cancelling early breaks them.
How to move from Squarespace to Host Dada
- List your pages. Note every page and its address, and mark the ones the export won't include (shop, portfolio, events and so on). You'll recreate those by hand.
- Export from Squarespace. In your Squarespace site settings, open Import & export content, click Export and choose the WordPress option. If you have more than one blog, pick the main one. When the export finishes, click Download to save the
.xmlfile. - Export your products, if you have a shop. In the Squarespace Products panel, export your products to CSV.
- Install WordPress on Host Dada. See Install WordPress.
- Import the XML file. In WordPress, go to Tools → Import, install the WordPress importer, run it and upload your
.xmlfile. Tick the option to download and import file attachments. - Check your images. Open a few posts. If image addresses still point to Squarespace, download those images and upload them to the WordPress media library, otherwise they'll disappear when your Squarespace plan ends.
- Rebuild the rest. Choose a theme, recreate the header, footer and menus, and rebuild the pages that weren't exported. For a shop, install WooCommerce and import your product CSV. See WooCommerce on Host Dada.
- Preview, then switch. Preview the site (see Preview your site before changing DNS), recreate any DNS records you need, then point your domain to Host Dada. See How to change nameservers at Squarespace.
- Redirect changed addresses. Squarespace blog addresses often look different in WordPress. Redirect old addresses to the new ones. See Set up a domain redirect.
Troubleshooting
The import stopped part way through
Large exports can time out. Run the importer again with the same file. WordPress skips posts it has already imported.
Some of my pages are missing after the import
They're probably a page type Squarespace doesn't export, such as a second blog, a portfolio or a shop page. Recreate them by hand in WordPress.
Images vanished after I cancelled Squarespace
The importer left them linked to Squarespace's servers. Re-upload the originals to the WordPress media library and update the pages. This is why you should keep Squarespace until you've checked every page.
Last reviewed: October 2026
