SiteSmith

Moving your domain off Wix

SiteSmith · · 5 min read

How you move your domain off Wix depends on one question: did you buy the domain through Wix, or did you buy it somewhere else and connect it? If Wix sold it to you, you can transfer it to another registrar with a code Wix emails you, or keep it at Wix and point it elsewhere. If you only connected it, there is nothing to transfer; you change the settings at the company where you bought it. Either way, the website itself stays behind, so have the new one ready first.

Which situation are you in?

Open your Wix account and go to the Domains page. Each domain shows how it relates to Wix:

  • Purchased from Wix (or similar wording): Wix sold and renews the domain. It is registered through Wix's registrar partner, but you manage it from Wix.
  • Connected: you bought the domain elsewhere, perhaps GoDaddy or Namecheap, and linked it to your Wix site. Wix does not hold the registration.

To double-check, look up the domain on ICANN's lookup tool. The registrar line shows who holds it. Nameservers containing "wixdns.net" mean Wix currently holds your DNS settings, whichever company registered the domain.

If the domain was only connected

This is the easy case. Log in to the company where the domain is registered (or wherever its nameservers point), and change the records so the domain opens your new website instead of Wix.

There is one trap. When you connected the domain, Wix may have asked you to switch its nameservers to Wix. If so, Wix now holds all your DNS records, including email ones. Before you switch the nameservers back to your registrar or to a new provider, copy every record from Wix's DNS screen across. Otherwise email stops when the switch happens. Nameservers vs DNS records explains the safe order.

If you bought the domain through Wix

You have two choices.

Choice 1: keep the domain at Wix and point it elsewhere

Wix lets you edit the DNS records of domains bought through it. In Domains, open the domain's menu and find the DNS records option. Change the A record for the bare domain and the www record (often a CNAME) to the values your new website provider gives you, and leave the MX and TXT records for email alone.

This works, and it is quick. The downside is that you keep paying Wix for the domain every year, and Wix's screens are built around Wix sites, so some options are tucked away. We keep a step-by-step page for connecting a Wix domain to another website.

Choice 2: transfer the domain away from Wix

In Domains, open the domain's menu and choose the option to transfer it away from Wix. Wix turns off the transfer lock and emails an authorization code to the domain's contact email. Then start the transfer at your new registrar with that code. The general steps and timing are in how to transfer a domain to another registrar.

Some Wix-specific points:

  • The 60-day rule applies. A domain bought or transferred to Wix in the last 60 days cannot leave yet.
  • The code goes to the domain's contact email. If that is an old address, update the contact details in Wix first.
  • Wix's DNS goes with Wix. Wix-bought domains use Wix nameservers. Once the domain moves, set up all your records at the new registrar and switch the nameservers there, or the domain will point at nothing.
  • Turn off auto-renew for the domain in Wix once the transfer completes, so you are not billed twice.

The "free domain" question

Wix often gives a domain free for the first year with a yearly premium plan. Many owners assume the domain ends when the plan ends. It does not: the domain is still registered to you and renews at the normal price unless you stop it. If you cancel your Wix plan, decide separately what happens to the domain, and make sure it is either transferred or set to renew. A domain left to expire by accident is far harder to recover than one transferred on purpose.

Your email on a Wix domain

Wix sells Google Workspace mailboxes, and many Wix customers use them. The mailboxes are a separate subscription with Google through Wix; their MX records sit in Wix's DNS.

  • If you keep the domain at Wix, leave those MX records alone and email keeps working.
  • If you transfer the domain, recreate the MX and TXT records exactly at the new DNS before switching nameservers.
  • If you plan to leave Wix entirely, the Workspace subscription may need moving so you are billed by Google directly or by another reseller. Google Workspace email and a new website covers that.

The website does not come with the domain

A Wix site cannot be exported and run elsewhere. Moving the domain moves only the address. Your pages, text and photos need to be rebuilt on the new website before the domain switches over, or customers will land on an empty page.

Two things to save while the Wix site is still live:

  • The text and photos on every page, and any forms or bookings that people use.
  • The page addresses. Wix sites often have addresses like "/services-1" or "/post/your-article-title". If customers or Google reach those pages, the new site should send those exact addresses on to the matching new pages. Why forwarding old page addresses matters explains what to keep.

The order that avoids downtime

  1. Get the new website built and checked on its temporary address.
  2. Write down your Wix DNS records, with the email ones marked.
  3. Point the domain at the new site, or start the transfer.
  4. Test the website on your phone and test email in both directions.
  5. Only then downgrade or cancel the Wix site plan, and settle the domain's renewal.

What to do this week

  • Check in Wix whether the domain was purchased there or only connected.
  • Screenshot Wix's DNS records if Wix holds them.
  • Decide: keep at Wix and point, or transfer out.
  • List the pages and page addresses on your Wix site.

If you would rather not rebuild the Wix site yourself, you can see your site rebuilt first from what is already on it, and switch the domain once it looks right.

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