Tired of the monthly bleed? Here’s what switching looks like.
Most page-builder platforms run $400-$700 a year forever for a slow templated site. We’ll show you the math, what stays, what gets rebuilt, and what you get on the other side. Whatever we build, you own outright - no monthly contract on the build, no platform lock-in. No pressure quote - sometimes staying is the right call.
Why people leave page builders.
The five complaints that usually start a switch. If two or more sound familiar, you’re probably ready.
Reason 1
Site is slow
Page-builder sites carry framework code your visitors download before they see anything, and Google measures that. As of 2026-08-27 our own site scores 100 on SEO, accessibility and best practices, with performance at 92 mobile and 99 desktop.
Reason 2
Can’t rank locally
No real control over schema, page structure, or how the site reads to Google. You can pay extra for “SEO tools” that mostly suggest adding keywords.
Reason 3
Looks like everyone else
Same 30 templates as every other plumber, dentist, or restaurant in town. Customers can’t tell you apart from competitors at a glance.
Reason 4
Hidden fees stacked up
Started at $29/mo. Now you’re paying for “business plan” + email + appointment app + form add-on + analytics + premium template. $80-$200/mo, year after year.
Reason 5
Can’t move the site
Wix & Squarespace lock you in. If you want to leave you start from scratch. (SWS sites are yours forever - standard HTML/CSS, transferable anywhere.)
Honestly
Sometimes you should stay
If your site works, ranks, and the platform fits your budget - stay. We won’t pitch you. We only switch businesses that’ll see real ROI.
Which platform are you on?
Each guide is written for that platform specifically. We tell you what gets kept, what gets rebuilt, and what changes.
Most common
From Wix
Drag-drop builder, $29-$59/mo + extras, Lighthouse median 68 across the 50 sites we measured. Migration usually takes 10-14 days.
See Wix switching guide →Designer favorite
From Squarespace
Cleaner templates than Wix, $36-$65/mo. Same SEO ceiling. Migration: 10-14 days, content moves cleanly.
See Squarespace switching guide →E-commerce
From Shopify
$39+ base forever, and you never own it. Theme dev runs $2k-$5k. Our E3 store: $5,500 once, $250/mo, and you own it outright. Card processing is just Stripe's standard rate, no platform cut.
See Shopify switching guide →Bigger spend
From a full-service agency
Paying $1,500-$5,000/month on a retainer, locked in a 12-month contract, and your website isn’t ranking? Specialist hand-coded shop, no contracts, real numbers.
See agency switching guide →On a different platform (WordPress, GoDaddy, Weebly)? Ask anyway - the switch flow is similar.
Year 2 is where the math turns over.
Year 1 is roughly even (build cost vs. cancelled subscription). Year 2 onward, our $95/mo hosting beats Wix Premium + add-ons by $400-$1,200 a year. Compounds every year you stay.
Year 1: roughly even
SWS T2 build $1,200 + $95/mo hosting = $2,340 first year. Stayed on Wix Premium + extras = $1,200-$2,400 first year. Even-ish.
Year 2 onward: $400-$1,200/year savings
No build cost again. Just $95/mo hosting vs Wix at $50-$150/mo + add-ons. Saved 10x more if your site finally ranks and brings in calls.
Year 5: $2,500-$6,000 saved
Direct subscription savings only. Not counting extra business from actually ranking on Google, or not having to rebuild when Wix breaks your template (again).
You don’t have to redesign anything.
The thing that stops most people from switching is not the price. It is not wanting a different website. You picked that layout, you wrote those words, you took those photos. So there are two versions of this, and you can start with either one.
Option 1
Site Transfer · $400 one-time
Your site, rebuilt on our stack. Same words, same layout, same photos, matched as closely as we can get it. What changes is everything underneath: real schema, a real title and description on every page, hours Google can actually read, a contact form that delivers, and a page that loads fast on a phone. The site you already have, only findable. A monthly plan is required, same as every site we launch, starting at $95.
Option 2
Add the optimized version · $350
The site we would have built you. Keyword targeting on the pages that can actually rank, an FAQ page with FAQPage schema so Google can answer questions using your words, and copy written around the searches people really type. Add it during the transfer or a year later. Same price either way.
$400 plus $350 is $750, which is exactly what a Starter build costs. Starting with a transfer never costs you more in the end.
Three weeks, start to finish.
No downtime. Your current site stays live until the new one’s ready. Then we flip DNS - no gap.
Week 1: content + design
We export your current site’s content (text, photos, services, locations) so nothing is lost. You approve the design plan. Old site stays live.
Week 2: build + revisions
We hand-code your new site at staging URL (yourbusiness.stroderwebservices.com). You walk through it on desktop + phone. We revise. Old site stays live.
Week 3: launch + DNS flip
You approve. We update DNS to point your domain (yourbusiness.com) to the new site. Old subscription cancelled. New site live with zero downtime.
Five things we handle so you don’t have to.
Switching platforms is mostly logistics, not website work. We bake the 5 most common headaches into every switcher quote at zero extra cost - combined value $700-$1,500 elsewhere.
Included · 1
Content migration
We pull every page, image, blog post, and meta tag out of your Wix / Squarespace / Shopify and rewrite them into hand-coded structure. You don’t copy-paste anything.
Included · 2
301 redirect map
Every existing URL on your old site gets pointed to its new home before launch, so your old links keep working and the ranking signals they carry follow them. That redirect map is the thing that protects your SEO through a cutover.
Included · 3
Zero-downtime cutover
Your new site is built and verified before the DNS flip. We switch over in a low-traffic window. Your business shows the live site one second; the new one the next.
Included · 4
30-day safety overlap
Keep your old Wix / Squarespace / Shopify subscription running for 30 days post-launch. If something feels off, we have a known-good rollback.
Included · 5
Concierge cancellation
When you’re ready to cut the cord at day 30+, we walk you through cancelling the old subscription, exporting any data we missed, and confirming you’re free. No subscription traps.
Plus the build itself
SEO Onboarding waived ($400 value)
Because switchers already have content, schema, and existing search presence to preserve, we skip the standard SEO Onboarding fee. Goes straight into the migration work.
Why we don’t charge for any of this: switching businesses are already paying $400-$700/yr to a platform they want to leave. The migration friction is what keeps them stuck. We remove the friction so the actual website work can be what you’re comparing on.
8 things your new site will pass by day 30.
Most agencies say “we’ll preserve your rankings” and leave it at that. Here’s exactly what we commit to deliver, with numbers you can verify yourself.
Promise · 1
Lighthouse Performance 90+
Mobile and desktop, by day 30. Verify yourself at pagespeed.web.dev. If it measures below 90, we fix it free within 7 days. The 50 Wix sites we measured on 2026-08-27 had a median of 68.
Promise · 2
LocalBusiness schema on every page
Validates clean at search.google.com/test/rich-results. Pre-deploy guard enforces it on every page before launch.
Promise · 3
Submitted to Google on launch day
We push IndexNow + GSC sitemap submit on launch. Google decides when it indexes, so we monitor and chase anything it sits on.
Promise · 4
Mobile-tappable phone everywhere
Every phone number on every page opens the dialer on tap. We audit this from a real phone before launch.
Promise · 5
Contact form delivers through a relay we run and health-check end to end every week
Every contact form submission lands in your inbox within a minute. Our forms relay runs on Cloudflare with 24/7 monitored.
Promise · 6
301 redirects on day one
Every URL on your old site has a 301 mapped to its new home, live the moment we flip DNS. No 404s, no broken inbound links, no SEO bleed.
Promise · 7
30-day overlap window
Your old Wix / Squarespace / Shopify stays accessible for 30 days after launch. Built-in safety net. You probably will not need it, but it’s there.
Promise · 8
Active ranking monitoring, week 1
We track your Google Search Console rankings weekly from launch. If a top-3 keyword drops 5 or more positions, we investigate within 1-2 business days
If we miss a promise on the technical ones (1, 2, 4, 5, 6), we fix it within 7 days or refund 25% of that month’s hosting fee. Promise 3 and 8 we monitor and respond to, but ultimately Google decides what to do with new sites; we do every part we control.
Month-to-month. No 12-month contracts.
If you got burned by an agency contract before, this is the part to read closely.
- Hosting bills month-to-month. A flat $95. Cancel any month. No early-termination fee.
- You own the code. If you leave, we send you the full source. It works on any host.
- Your domain is registered in your name. We never hold it ransom.
- No platform lock-in. Unlike Wix, Squarespace, or proprietary agency CMSes, your site is portable.
A client who stays because they're trapped is a bad customer. We earn your stay every month with a site that works.
3 things to confirm you have access to
The most common reason a switch stalls is not technical - it’s a credential one. Take 60 seconds to confirm these so we don’t hit a wall after build-out.
1. Domain registrar access
Who do you log in to renew your domain? GoDaddy, Namecheap, Cloudflare, Google Domains, your old web guy? You need login + 2FA recovery for that account, or we can’t point the domain at the new site.
If unsure: mention it on the quote form and we’ll help you find it.
2. DNS control
Sometimes the DNS lives somewhere different than the registrar (an old web designer, a hosting company, Cloudflare under a different account). If a third party set this up for you, they need to either grant you access or move the DNS.
Red flag: “My old web guy ghosted me.” That’s solvable, but takes a couple weeks.
3. Current platform login
To copy your content over cleanly, we need view-or-export access to your existing Wix / Squarespace / Shopify site. You don’t need to share passwords - usually a temporary collaborator invite is enough.
Good news: all 3 platforms let you export content without ending your subscription, so there’s no downtime risk.
If any of these three is uncertain, that’s fine - just flag it in the quote form so we plan around it. The worst outcome is finding out about a missing credential after a build is done. Real talk from someone who’s been there.
Get a switching quote. 30 seconds.
Tell us your current platform, business type, and tier you’re thinking about. We’ll send a real number back within 1-2 business days - including the migration discount we extend to switchers (SEO Onboarding waived, $400 value).
Flexible payment options at checkout: pay 50% deposit, full upfront, or split into 4 payments with Klarna/Affirm (Stripe-powered, no extra fees from us).