The Platform Trap
When you signed up for Wix, Squarespace, or your agency’s “easy website solution,” it seemed perfect. No technical knowledge needed. Everything handled for you.
Now you’re realising the catch.
You don’t own your website. Try to export your content and you’ll find it nearly impossible. Your design, your structure, your years of customisation—locked inside their system.
You’re paying rent forever. Those “affordable” monthly fees add up to thousands over time. And they keep increasing.
You’re limited by their features. Want functionality they don’t support? Too bad. Want to integrate with a service they haven’t partnered with? Not possible.
You can’t leave without losing everything. That’s the point. It’s a business model built on lock-in.
Common Platform Prisons
Wix
Wix is notorious for making export difficult. You can’t easily export your pages, your design, or your site structure. Their “export” features are deliberately limited to keep you paying.
Squarespace
Better than Wix for basic content export, but still locks in your design work. If you’ve spent years customising templates and layouts, that work stays with Squarespace.
Proprietary Agency Platforms
Many agencies build on proprietary systems specifically so you can’t leave. When you try to move, they quote astronomical migration fees—essentially ransoming your own website back to you.
Outdated Legacy Systems
Some businesses are stuck on systems so old they’re no longer supported. The original developer is long gone, and nobody else can work on it. You’re frozen in time while the web moves on.
What We Do
Extract Everything
We systematically pull all recoverable content from your locked platform:
- Page content and structure
- Blog posts and articles
- Images and media files
- Contact forms and functionality
- Navigation and menus
Rebuild on Open Technology
Your site is rebuilt using modern, open technology:
- WordPress for content-heavy sites needing frequent updates
- Jamstack (Astro/Next.js) for performance-critical brochure sites
- Headless CMS for sites needing both flexibility and easy editing
Preserve Your SEO
We maintain your URL structure where possible, implement redirects where not, and preserve all the meta data and content that Google has already indexed.
Give You Ownership
When we’re done, you own everything. The code, the files, the hosting account. You can modify anything, hire anyone to work on it, or move to different hosting whenever you want.
No more platform fees. No more lock-in. No more asking permission.
The Financial Reality
Let’s do the maths on platform lock-in:
Wix Premium: $200-500/year Over 5 years: $1,000-$2,500
Squarespace Business: $250-400/year Over 5 years: $1,250-$2,000
Agency proprietary hosting: $500-$2,000/year Over 5 years: $2,500-$10,000
A one-time migration fee often pays for itself within 1-2 years, and then you’re saving money every year after.
More importantly, you’re free.
Migration Without Drama
We’ve migrated hundreds of sites from locked platforms. The process is straightforward:
- We assess what you have and what can be extracted
- You get a fixed-price quote before any work begins
- We handle all technical work—extraction, rebuild, DNS migration
- You verify everything works before we retire the old platform
- You receive full documentation and training
No surprises. No ongoing fees. No more lock-in.
Ready to Own Your Website?
If you’re tired of paying rent on your own website, let’s talk about migration. We’ll assess your current platform, tell you honestly what’s involved, and give you a fixed price to escape.