Tired of renting your website? Here’s what switching looks like.
Most page-builder platforms charge every month, forever, for a templated site you never own. I’ll show you the math, what stays, what gets rebuilt, and what you get on the other side. Whatever I build, you own outright once the build is paid in full. Hosting is month to month, and there is 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 my 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 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 with a low monthly price. Now you’re paying for “business plan” + email + appointment app + form add-on + analytics + premium template. Each one is its own charge, year after year.
Reason 5
Can’t move the site
Wix & Squarespace lock you in. If you want to leave you start from scratch. (A site I build is yours once the build is paid in full: standard HTML/CSS, transferable anywhere.)
Honestly
Sometimes you should stay
If your site works, ranks, and the platform fits your budget, stay. I won’t pitch you. I only want to switch a business that will clearly come out ahead.
Which platform are you on?
Each guide is written for that platform specifically. I tell you what gets kept, what gets rebuilt, and what changes.
Most common
From Wix
Drag-drop builder with a monthly plan plus extras. Median mobile Lighthouse Performance of 68 across the 50 Wix sites I measured on 2026-08-27. Your first preview usually comes within a few days.
See Wix switching guide →Designer favorite
From Squarespace
Cleaner templates than Wix, on a monthly plan. Same SEO ceiling. Content moves cleanly, and your first preview usually comes within a few days.
See Squarespace switching guide →E-commerce
From Shopify
A Shopify subscription runs every month for as long as the store lives there, and you never own the platform. My full store (the E3 store) is a $5,500 build plus $250 a month, and you own the files once the build is paid in full. Card processing is just Stripe’s standard rate, no platform cut.
See Shopify switching guide →Bigger spend
From a full-service agency
Paying an agency every month, locked into a contract, and your website isn’t ranking? I work month to month and show you the real numbers.
See what leaving an agency takes →On a different platform (WordPress, GoDaddy, Weebly)? Ask anyway. The switch flow is similar.
I cost more than Wix. Here is what the difference buys.
Straight math. Wix’s own pricing page lists its Core and Business plans at $29 and $39 a month, billed yearly (checked October 22, 2026). My hosting is $95. On the monthly bill alone, staying is cheaper. The difference pays for a site you own and a person who does the work.
Year 1: $2,340
A Standard build is $1,200, plus $95 a month for 12 months, which makes $2,340. A Wix Core or Business plan runs $348-$468 for the year before add-ons. I am the bigger check, and I won’t pretend otherwise.
Every year after: $1,140
$95 a month covers the same base on every plan: my own server with Cloudflare in front, nightly backups with a copy stored off-site, uptime checks every 5 minutes, portal access, and 30 minutes of edits a month that I make for you. On Wix, the edits are yours to make.
What you own
The site itself, once the build is paid. Standard files you can move to any host. On Wix, if you leave, you start over.
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 my setup. Same words, same layout, same photos, matched as closely as I can get it. What changes is everything underneath: a real title and description on every page, business details and 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 I launch, starting at $95.
Option 2
Add the optimized version · $350
The site I would have built you. Keyword targeting on the pages that can actually rank, an FAQ page set up 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.
How long it takes, in writing.
The build times are in your service agreement: 5-7 business days for Starter, 10-14 for Standard and 14-21 for Premium, counted from your deposit and intake. The clock pauses while anything waits on you or on outside services I don’t control, like your domain. No downtime. Your current site stays live until the new one’s ready. Then I flip DNS, with no gap.
First: content + plan
I export your current site’s content (text, photos, services, locations) so nothing is lost. The clock starts once your intake form and deposit (or first monthly payment) are in. Old site stays live.
First preview: usually within a few days
I build your new site at a private preview link, and you walk through it on desktop and phone. The finished site follows the build times above. Old site stays live.
Revisions: 2-3 business days a round
Send all your changes for a round at once and I turn them around in 2-3 business days. Starter includes 2 rounds, Standard and Premium include 3. Old site stays live.
Launch + DNS flip
You approve. I update DNS to point your domain (yourbusiness.com) to the new site. Old subscription cancelled. New site live with zero downtime.
Five things I handle so you don’t have to.
Switching platforms is mostly logistics, not website work. I build the 5 most common headaches into every switcher quote at zero extra cost.
Included · 1
Content migration
I pull every page, image, blog post, and meta tag out of your Wix / Squarespace / Shopify and rewrite them into custom-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. I 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, I have a known-good rollback.
Included · 5
Concierge cancellation
When you’re ready to cut the cord at day 30+, I walk you through cancelling the old subscription, exporting any data I missed, and confirming you’re free. No subscription traps.
Plus the build itself
SEO Onboarding waived ($400 value)
SEO Onboarding ($400) is waived with every build, switchers included. Your existing content and search presence go straight into the migration work.
Why I don’t charge for any of this: switching businesses are already paying a platform they want to leave. The migration friction is what keeps them stuck. I 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.
Many agencies say “we’ll preserve your rankings” and leave it at that. Here’s exactly what I 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, I fix it free within 7 days. The 50 Wix sites I measured on 2026-08-27 had a median of 68.
Promise · 2
Your business details, set up for Google on every page
Behind-the-scenes code that tells Google your name, address, phone and service area. I check every page for it before launch.
Promise · 3
Submitted to Google on launch day
I submit your sitemap to Google Search Console on launch. Google decides when it indexes, so I monitor and chase anything it sits on.
Promise · 4
Mobile-tappable phone everywhere
Every phone number on every page opens the dialer on tap. I audit this from a real phone before launch.
Promise · 5
Contact form delivers through a relay I run and check every week to confirm it is up
Every contact form submission lands in your inbox within a minute. The relay runs on Cloudflare, and I check it every week to confirm it is up.
Promise · 6
301 redirects on day one
Every URL on your old site has a 301 mapped to its new home, live the moment I 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
I track your Google Search Console rankings weekly from launch. If a top-3 keyword drops 5 or more positions, I investigate within 1-2 business days.
If I miss a promise on the technical ones (1, 2, 4, 5, 6), I fix it within 7 days or refund 25% of that month’s hosting fee. Promise 3 and 8 I monitor and respond to, but ultimately Google decides what to do with new sites; I do every part I control.
Leaving an agency: read the contract first.
Agency contracts aren’t illegal or unusual, but many are written to favor the agency. Three patterns to look for, then the steps to leave cleanly.
Pattern 1
12-month auto-renewal
Many contracts start at 12 months and renew for another 12 unless you give written notice 30 to 60 days before the renewal date. It’s easy to miss that window.
Pattern 2
Their platform, their code
Some agencies build your site on a CMS only they administer, and they own or license the code. If you leave, the next developer may have to start from scratch.
Pattern 3
A bundled “marketing” retainer
One monthly fee for “marketing” in general (social posts, ads, “SEO”, design), with nothing itemized. It’s hard to tell what’s working, and cancelling can mean cancelling all of it.
Two other common reasons to leave: a retainer you can’t see inside, and a billable line for every small edit. With me, hosting includes 30 minutes of edits a month, and edits past that are $50 an hour, so you always know what a change costs.
What it takes to actually leave
Read your contract
Find the renewal date and the notice window. If it requires written notice, send it by email and by certified mail to be safe.
Confirm domain ownership
Log in to your domain registrar. Is the domain in your name or the agency’s? If it’s theirs, ask for a transfer now, not at the end of the contract.
Pull a content backup
Save every page, photo, and blog post, your contact-form leads, and your Google Analytics login.
Claim your Google Business Profile
If the agency manages it under their account, ask them to transfer ownership. If they refuse, Google has a reclaim process.
Build the new site in parallel
Don’t cancel until the new site is built and tested at a private preview link. Your old site stays live the whole time, and I flip DNS the day you walk away.
End the relationship cleanly
Send a polite final note, pay any legitimate balance, and ask for the source code if the contract says you own it.
When to stay: not every agency relationship is broken. If you really use the full service (video, social, ads, design), if you can name the leads and rankings the agency delivered, or if the relationship matters to you, stay. If you run multiple locations or big paid-media budgets, I’m not the right fit.
Hosting is month to month. Cancel any month.
If you got burned by an agency contract before, this is the part to read closely.
- Hosting bills month to month. The Hosting plan is a flat $95. Cancel any month. No early-termination fee.
- You own the site files once the build is paid in full. If you leave after that, download them from your portal or ask me. They work on any host.
- Your domain is registered in your name. I never hold it ransom.
- No platform lock-in. Unlike Wix, Squarespace, or proprietary agency CMSes, your site is portable.
If you spread the build over 12 monthly payments and stop before the 12th, the site comes down after 30 days and the files stay with me. Your domain stays yours either way. A client who stays because they’re trapped is a bad customer; I 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 I 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 I can’t point the domain at the new site.
If unsure: mention it on the quote form and I’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, I 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 I can plan around it. The worst outcome is finding out about a missing credential after a build is done.
Get a switching quote. 30 seconds.
Building a new site? Answer five quick questions and see your exact price on the spot, with SEO Onboarding ($400) waived, as it is with every build. Keeping the site you have? Ask for a Site Transfer quote, or just text me. I usually answer the same day, a day or two at most.
Two ways to pay at checkout: a 50% deposit, or spread the build over 12 monthly payments with no extra fees from me.