How to Migrate Your Website from Weebly

Weebly has been in maintenance mode since Square acquired it in 2018, with no new features, no new themes, and an uncertain future. If you have a Weebly site and want to take control of your content before it is too late, this guide walks you through your migration options - from a simple static HTML export to a full WordPress rebuild on Ultra Web Hosting.

01. Why Migrate Away from Weebly

Weebly was a solid website builder for years, but the writing has been on the wall since Square acquired it in 2018. Here is what has happened since then:

• No new features - Weebly has not shipped a meaningful product update since 2021
• No new themes - The theme gallery has been stagnant for years, and many existing themes look dated
• Mobile app removed - The Weebly mobile app was pulled from the App Store and Google Play in December 2025
• Community forum closed - Weebly's own forum was shut down and users are directed to Square's community instead
• Social media abandoned - Weebly's official accounts have been inactive for years
• Bug reports going unanswered - The Weebly subreddit and Square forums are full of unresolved issues

Square has been pushing Weebly users toward Square Online, their own e-commerce-focused builder. But Square Online is a different product with a narrower focus. If your Weebly site is a blog, portfolio, or general business site, Square Online may not be a good fit.

02. Back Up Your Weebly Site First

Before you do anything else, download a full archive of your current Weebly site. This gives you a local copy of your pages, images, and assets regardless of what happens to the platform.

1. Log in to your Weebly account and open your site in the editor
2. Go to Settings > General and scroll down to the "Archive" section
3. Click "Archive Site" - Weebly will generate a ZIP file and email you a download link
4. Download the ZIP and save it to your computer (and ideally a cloud backup too)
5. Check "Recent Exports" in the same Settings section if you need to re-download later - Weebly keeps the last three archives

03. What the Weebly Export Includes (and Doesn't)

The Weebly archive gives you static HTML files, images, and uploaded assets. But it has some important limitations you need to know about.

What IS included

• Static HTML files for each page (index.html, about.html, etc.)
• All uploaded images and media files
• CSS stylesheets and JavaScript files
• The blog index page (but not always individual posts)

What is NOT included

• Individual blog posts - The archive often only includes the blog index, not each post as a separate page
• Contact forms - Form functionality is tied to Weebly's backend and will not work in exported HTML
• E-commerce data - Product listings, order history, and customer data are not in the archive
• Slideshows and dynamic widgets - Weebly-specific interactive elements will not function outside the platform
• Third-party app data - Any Weebly App Center integrations will stop working

04. Option 1: Static HTML on Traditional Hosting

If your Weebly site is a simple brochure site (a few pages, no blog, no store), the fastest migration path is to clean up the exported HTML and host it as a static site on a traditional hosting account.

How it works

1. Export your site from Weebly (see Section 02)
2. Extract the ZIP and review the HTML files on your computer
3. Clean up the code - Remove Weebly-specific scripts, tracking code, and references to Weebly's CDN. Replace broken widget areas with plain HTML
4. Replace forms - Swap Weebly forms with a simple PHP mail script, or a service like Formspree or Google Forms
5. Upload to your hosting account via FTP or cPanel File Manager into your public_html directory
6. Point your domain to your new hosting account's nameservers

Pros

• Fast and simple for small sites (under 10 pages)
• No CMS to learn or maintain
• Static HTML loads extremely fast
• Low hosting costs - any shared hosting plan works

Cons

• Editing content means editing raw HTML files
• No built-in blog, contact form processing, or CMS features
• Weebly-exported HTML can be messy and require significant cleanup
• Not practical for sites with many pages or frequent content updates

05. Option 2: Migrate to WordPress

WordPress is the most common destination for Weebly migrations, and for good reason. It gives you full control over your content, thousands of themes and plugins, and the ability to edit your site without touching code.

Migration approach

There is no automatic Weebly-to-WordPress importer that handles everything. The migration is mostly manual, but it is manageable:

1. Set up WordPress - Install WordPress on your hosting account through Softaculous in cPanel
2. Choose a theme - Pick a WordPress theme that matches the look you want. If you liked Weebly's drag-and-drop editing, consider a page builder plugin like Elementor (free version available)
3. Recreate your pages - Build each page in WordPress using content from your Weebly backup. Copy text, re-upload images, and lay out each page using the block editor or your page builder
4. Migrate blog posts - If you had a blog on Weebly, create each post in WordPress. For a small number of posts, copy-paste works fine. For larger blogs, you may be able to use an RSS feed import or a third-party migration service
5. Set up forms - Install a form plugin like Contact Form 7 or WPForms to replace Weebly's built-in forms
6. Configure SSL - Enable your free SSL certificate in cPanel and force HTTPS
7. Set up redirects - Map your old Weebly URLs to the new WordPress URLs (see Section 09)

Pros

• Full ownership of your content - all files live on your server
• Thousands of free and premium themes
• Drag-and-drop page builders (Elementor, Beaver Builder) provide a Weebly-like editing experience
• Built-in blogging, SEO tools, and plugin ecosystem
• Portable - you can move your WordPress site to any host

Cons

• Steeper learning curve than Weebly (though page builders help a lot)
• Requires ongoing maintenance (updates, backups, security)
• Manual content migration is time-consuming for large sites

06. Option 3: Move to Square Online

Square Online is the path Square is pushing Weebly users toward, and it may make sense if you are already using Square for payment processing or point-of-sale.

How it works

Weebly offers a bridge tool in the dashboard that lets you preview your site on Square Online. However, the migration is not seamless. Many Weebly features and customizations do not carry over, and some users have reported needing to rebuild significant portions of their site manually.

When Square Online makes sense

• Your site is primarily an online store tied to Square payments
• You want the least disruptive short-term transition
• You are already using Square POS or Square invoicing

When it does not make sense

• Your site is a blog, portfolio, or general business site
• You want full control over your hosting and code
• You want to avoid another vendor lock-in situation
• You need features that Square Online does not offer (custom code, advanced SEO, extensive blogging)

07. Comparing Your Options

08. Moving Your Domain and DNS

If your domain is registered through Weebly, you will need to either transfer it to a new registrar or update its nameservers to point to your new hosting.

If your domain is registered with Weebly/Square

1. Unlock the domain in your Weebly/Square dashboard
2. Get the authorization (EPP) code from the domain settings
3. Initiate a transfer at your new registrar (you can transfer your domain to Ultra Web Hosting or use any registrar you prefer)
4. Approve the transfer via the confirmation email

If your domain is registered elsewhere

If you registered your domain through a separate registrar (GoDaddy, Namecheap, Google Domains, etc.) and just pointed it at Weebly, you only need to update your DNS settings. Change your nameservers or A record to point to your new hosting account instead of Weebly's servers.

For Ultra Web Hosting, set your nameservers to:

ns1.ultranameservers.com
ns2.ultranameservers.com
ns3.ultranameservers.com

09. Preserving SEO and Setting Up Redirects

If your Weebly site has been around for a while and ranks in search engines, you want to preserve that SEO value when you migrate. The key is mapping your old Weebly URLs to the new ones and setting up 301 redirects.

URL mapping

Weebly uses simple URL structures like /about.html, /services.html, and /blog/post-title. Before you switch over, create a spreadsheet that maps each old URL to its new location. For example:

Old Weebly URL          New WordPress URL
/about.html             /about/
/services.html          /services/
/contact.html           /contact/
/blog/my-first-post     /blog/my-first-post/

Setting up 301 redirects

Once your new site is live, add 301 redirects in your .htaccess file so anyone visiting the old URLs (or any search engine index pointing to them) gets sent to the right page:

# Redirect old Weebly .html pages to new WordPress pages
Redirect 301 /about.html /about/
Redirect 301 /services.html /services/
Redirect 301 /contact.html /contact/

# Redirect old blog URLs if structure changed
Redirect 301 /blog/my-first-post /blog/my-first-post/

For more on .htaccess redirects, see our Complete Guide to .htaccess and How to Create Redirects via .htaccess.

10. E-Commerce and Store Migration

If you run an online store on Weebly, the migration is more complex because product data, order history, and customer information are all tied to Weebly/Square's backend.

What you need to export manually

• Product information - Names, descriptions, prices, images, SKUs. Screenshot or copy each product listing
• Product images - Download all product photos at full resolution. The Weebly archive may include these, but check for quality
• Customer data - Export any customer lists or email subscriber lists if Weebly allows it
• Order history - Download or screenshot your order records for your own records

WordPress with WooCommerce

If you are moving your store to WordPress, install the WooCommerce plugin. WooCommerce supports CSV import for products, so you can create a spreadsheet of your product data and import it in bulk rather than adding each product one at a time.

11. Pre-Migration Checklist

Before you pull the trigger on your migration, make sure you have covered these bases:

1. Download your Weebly archive - Settings > General > Archive. Save the ZIP locally and to cloud storage
2. Crawl your live site - Use HTTrack, SiteSucker, or wget to download a complete copy including blog posts
3. Inventory your content - List every page, blog post, form, and product. Note which ones need to be recreated
4. Save product/store data - Export or screenshot all product listings, prices, and customer information
5. Document your URLs - Create a URL map from old Weebly URLs to new URLs for redirect setup
6. Check your domain registrar - Know where your domain is registered and how to update DNS
7. Set up hosting - Get your new hosting account ready with SSL, WordPress (if applicable), and a temporary subdomain for building
8. Build on a staging domain - Do not take your live site down until the new one is fully ready
9. Test everything - Check all pages, forms, links, images, and mobile responsiveness before switching DNS
10. Switch DNS and set up redirects - Point your domain to the new host and add 301 redirects for changed URLs

Quick Recap: Migrating from Weebly

If you only do 5 things from this guide, do these:

1. Back up now - Download your Weebly archive immediately, even if you are not ready to migrate yet
2. Choose your path - Static HTML for simple sites, WordPress for most business sites and blogs, Square Online only if you are deep in the Square payments ecosystem
3. Build before you switch - Set up your new site on a staging subdomain so your visitors never see a broken page
4. Map and redirect URLs - Create a URL map and set up 301 redirects in .htaccess to preserve your search engine rankings
5. Own your content - The whole point of migrating is to avoid platform lock-in. Host on your own account where you control the files

Last updated April 2026 · Browse all Getting Started articles