Moving from WordPress.com to your own hosting: what you can take with you

The short answer: WordPress.com is a service where the site lives on another company’s servers; the WordPress you install on your hosting is the same program, but the site is yours. You can take the content (posts, pages, comments) and the images. What does not come for free is the exact look of the theme and the paid features of the original service, which you have to rebuild or replace.

What comes, and what stays

Part Does it come?
Posts and pages Yes, in the export file.
Comments Yes, in the same file.
Images and files Yes, if on import you choose to download the attachments. Check afterwards that they appeared.
The theme and visual settings Not by themselves. Choose an equivalent theme and reconfigure.
Plugins and the original service’s features No. Look for equivalent plugins, on plans that allow them.
Followers and subscriptions Check what your plan lets you export; not everything may come.
The domain If you registered it there, it must be transferred or pointed. See below.

Step by step

1 Install WordPress on your account: How to install WordPress in a few clicks. Without switching the domain yet.
2 On WordPress.com, export the content: in the site’s tools there is an Export option, which makes a file. Download it.
3 On your new WordPress, under Tools, open Import and use the WordPress importer. Upload the file and, when it asks, choose to import the attachments too.
4 Check the result: pages, images, links and menus. Fix what is missing. See Changing the WordPress site address.
5 Only when it looks right, switch the domain to your account. If the domain is at WordPress.com, ask there for the transfer code and follow How to transfer a domain to us; or just point the DNS to us: Pointing your domain to us.
6 So visitors and Google are not lost, keep the same page addresses wherever possible and see Redesigning a website without losing your Google traffic.
Do not cancel the old service before you confirm everything. Until the domain points to the new site, the old one is what visitors see. Keep the export file and the images as a backup. WordPress.com’s menu and tool names change; if you cannot find the option, search their help for “export”.
If you come from another platform (Blogger, for example): Moving a Blogger blog to WordPress. If the site was made in a builder, see Website builder or your own hosting.

Want help making the move without losing visitors? Open a ticket with the site’s current address.

Open a support ticket

SEE ALSO

How to install WordPress in a few clicks

Moving a Blogger blog to WordPress

Redesigning a website without losing your Google traffic

Pointing your domain to us: nameservers, step by step

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