Moving Off Squarespace Costs $1,500 to $25,000 in 2026

What Website Migration Actually Costs in 2026

If you've been sitting on a Squarespace or Wix site that you've outgrown, you've probably Googled what it costs to move. The numbers are all over the place. <cite index="38-2">The cost of website migration in 2026 typically ranges from $1,500 to $25,000 for most businesses.</cite> That's not a typo, and it's not because agencies are making things up. It's because "migration" can mean very different things.

I build custom websites for small businesses in Austin, and I've watched this play out dozens of times. A barber with 5 pages and a contact form is not the same project as a detailer with 40 service pages, a booking system, and 200 old blog posts that still bring in Google traffic. The platform you're leaving matters less than what you're taking with you and what it has to do once it lands.

<cite index="34-15,34-16">Small business sites and blogs usually cost $100–$2,500, depending on whether they use a migration plugin or hire a professional. Mid-sized websites often spend $5,000–$20,000, especially when moving to a new CMS or redesigning during the move.</cite> If you're just moving a WordPress site to a new host with no other changes, that's usually free or under $150. <cite index="40-17,40-18">Most hosting companies will do that transfer for you when you buy a plan, frequently at no charge or for a small fixed fee. A host-only move should cost you between $0 and about $150.</cite>

But if you're leaving Squarespace or Wix for a custom build, you're not just moving files. You're rebuilding templates, remapping URLs so Google doesn't lose track of your pages, reconnecting forms and payment processors, and testing everything so nothing breaks when you flip the switch. That's the work that costs money.

Photo by Lauren Mancke on Unsplash

Why Template Platforms Make Migration Expensive

Squarespace and Wix don't make it easy to leave. That's not an accident. The business model depends on you staying, so export tools are limited and your content doesn't come out in a format that drops neatly into another system.

You can export blog posts and basic pages, but your templates, your navigation structure, your forms, and your integrations stay behind. Everything has to be reproduced by hand or with custom code. If your site has 50 pages, someone has to rebuild 50 pages. If you've been running that site for three years and have 100 blog posts that rank on Google, every one of those URLs needs a redirect so the search traffic doesn't vanish overnight.

<cite index="38-1,38-7">Many businesses underestimate key factors like SEO impact, data complexity, and integrations which can highly affect the final cost.</cite> I've had clients come to me thinking migration is just copying and pasting. It's not. The invisible work, redirects, testing, making sure your contact form emails still arrive, is where most of the hours go.

That's why a $19-a-month Squarespace site can turn into a $5,000 migration if you've built a real business on top of it. You're not paying to move the site. You're paying to not lose what the site does for you.

What You're Actually Paying For

<cite index="39-4">The primary costs associated with website migration include planning, development, testing, and post-migration support.</cite> Here's the breakdown for a typical small business moving off a template platform:

Planning and audit. Someone has to catalog what you have, where it needs to go, and what will break if it's done wrong. For a 20-page site, that's a few hours. For an 80-page site with five years of blog content, it's a day or more.

Rebuilding structure and design. Your Squarespace template doesn't export. A developer has to rebuild your layout, navigation, and page structure in the new system. If you want it to look and work like the old site, that's custom work. If you're redesigning at the same time, it's a whole separate project.

URL mapping and redirects. Every page on your old site has a URL. If that URL changes and you don't set up a redirect, Google treats it like the page disappeared. You lose rankings, you lose traffic, and you lose the leads that came from that traffic. Redirect mapping is tedious and critical.

Testing and launch. Before the new site goes live, someone has to click every link, test every form, check mobile layout, and make sure nothing important broke. Then there's a launch checklist, DNS changes, SSL setup, final checks. It's not exciting, but skipping it is how migrations go wrong.

For a focused custom build starting at $999, I handle all of that. But if you're moving a complex site, the budget goes up because the hours go up.

When DIY Migration Works and When It Doesn't

If your site is simple, a few pages, no SEO history, no integrations, you can probably move it yourself for free or close to it. <cite index="34-11,34-12">DIY solutions such as Duplicator or the Cloudways WordPress Migrator Plugin can move smaller sites at little or no cost. They work well when there's limited custom functionality and no CMS change.</cite>

But if your website brings you customers, if it ranks on Google, if it has a booking system or a store or five years of content, DIY is risky. One missed redirect file, one broken form, one misconfigured DNS record, and you're offline or invisible to Google while you troubleshoot. I've seen businesses lose a week of leads because a DIY migration went sideways and they didn't know how to fix it.

<cite index="35-19">It's suggested to work with professionals rather than a DIY method.</cite> The cost of doing it right the first time is almost always less than the cost of fixing it after it breaks.

What Migration Costs at Maus & Co.

I don't do enterprise migrations or sites with hundreds of pages. But for small businesses in Austin or anywhere else that want to move off Squarespace, Wix, or an old WordPress template and onto something they actually own, here's how I price it.

A simple migration, under 10 pages, straightforward structure, no e-commerce, starts around $1,500. That includes planning, rebuild, redirects, testing, and launch. If you want a redesign at the same time, or if you've got 30 pages and a bunch of blog content, it scales up from there. Most of my migration projects land between $2,500 and $5,000, and you own everything when it's done. No monthly platform fees, no per-transaction cuts, no renewal surprises.

If you've been thinking about getting off a template platform but the migration cost has been holding you back, let's talk. I'll give you a realistic quote based on what you actually have, not a range pulled from a pricing page. Free quote at mausandco.com/start if you want a real look at what you'd need.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does a website migration take?

<cite index="37-5">On average, website migration takes 2 to 8 weeks, depending on project scope, testing requirements, and complexity.</cite> For a small business site moving off Squarespace, I usually estimate two to four weeks from kickoff to launch.

Will I lose my Google rankings if I migrate my website?

Not if it's done right. Proper URL redirects and an SEO checklist keep your rankings intact. If redirects are skipped or set up wrong, yes, you'll lose traffic. That's why migration needs a plan, not just a file transfer.

Can I keep my domain name when I migrate?

Yes. Your domain is separate from your website platform. You'll update where it points, but the domain itself stays yours as long as you own it and keep it renewed.

Is it cheaper to rebuild from scratch than migrate?

Sometimes. If your current site has no SEO value, no content worth keeping, and a structure you want to change anyway, starting fresh can cost less than trying to migrate everything. But if your site already ranks and brings you leads, migration protects that investment.