How to Migrate Your Squarespace 5 Website to Squarespace 7.1
If you're still running your website on Squarespace version 5, you're not alone, but you are on borrowed time.
Squarespace 5 was ahead of its time when it launched. But that was over a decade ago. As of now, Squarespace has stopped offering full support for version 5 sites, and more features are quietly starting to break or disappear.
If your site is your business or portfolio, that’s not a risk worth taking.
To make things trickier, Squarespace 5 and Squarespace 7.1 are completely different platforms under the hood. You can’t just click a button and have everything transfer over - some parts of your site won’t carry over at all, and others need manual cleanup. But I promise, it doesn’t have to be a nightmare.
In this post, I’ll walk you through the general roadmap for migrating from Squarespace 5 to 7.1 - what transfers, what doesn’t, and the most common hang-ups. And if you’d rather not deal with any of it, I offer done-for-you migrations so you can upgrade your site without lifting a finger (or stressing out over URL slugs and broken galleries).
Why Migrate to 7.1?
Squarespace 7.1 isn’t just a facelift - it’s a totally rebuilt platform. You get:
Modern, responsive templates
Native e-commerce features
Integrated email marketing
Site-wide style editing (no more one-page-at-a-time frustration)
Built-in SEO and analytics tools
Whether you’re running a blog, portfolio, or full-blown business site, 7.1 is easier to use, more powerful, and future-proof.
How the Migration Works (Big Picture)
Here’s a quick rundown of what migrating from Squarespace 5 to 7.1 usually looks like:
Start fresh with a Squarespace 7 trial. This creates a new workspace where your 5.0 content can live.
Import your old content. Blog posts, image galleries, and standard pages usually carry over. (But not everything does - more on that in a sec.)
Upgrade that 7.0 trial to 7.1. This gives you access to the latest templates and editing tools.
Clean things up. You’ll need to replace some images, re-style your layout, and manually re-add a few things (like PDFs or footers).
Check your URLs. Keeping your page links consistent helps with SEO and avoids broken links.
Connect your domain + launch. Once everything looks right, it's time to go live and cancel the old site billing.
Sounds simple enough… until you actually open both editors and realize they speak entirely different languages.
What Carries Over (and What Doesn’t)
You can import:
HTML pages
Blog posts (and comments!)
Image galleries
Most page content
You can’t import:
Custom sidebars or footers
File uploads (like PDFs)
Markdown formatting
Old styles, fonts, or layout settings
Anything coded using legacy widgets
Some of this can be rebuilt with new tools in 7.1 - but it takes a trained eye to make it seamless. And if you have older blog content using Markdown or embedded podcast players, you’ll need to update that manually.
Good News: You Don’t Have to Do It Alone
If you’re looking at this process thinking, “Ugh, I don’t have time for this,” that’s exactly where I come in.
I’ve helped clients migrate their Squarespace 5 sites to 7.1 with minimal downtime, no broken links, and a fresh, modern look that feels like an upgrade - not a setback.
I’ll handle the import, the cleanup, the styling, the domain move - all of it. So you can focus on running your business or blog instead of troubleshooting your image library or figuring out what a URL slug is.
Want a Hand With the Migration?
Whether you want to:
Modernize your look
Sell products or services
Improve your SEO
Or just stop worrying about outdated tech…
I can help you migrate with zero stress. Just reach out here, and I’ll walk you through the best plan based on your current setup.
