Import Your Website into InstaWP Studio

Bring an existing website into InstaWP Studio (Beta) and keep working on it as a WordPress site. You can make an exact copy, or rebuild it with a fresh design and choose what comes over.

Your original website is not changed. Studio only reads its public pages, the way a visitor's browser does, and downloads its images and fonts. It never logs in to your site or writes to it. The copy is a new, separate WordPress site.

Already on WordPress?

Studio copies how any public website looks and reads (Webflow, Squarespace, Wix or hand-made HTML) into a new WordPress site built on core blocks. It copies pages, text, images, fonts and styles, not a database or plugins.

If your site is already built with WordPress and you want to keep its plugins and data, use Import Site in the InstaWP dashboard instead.

Start an import

There are two ways in:

• On the Sites screen, click Import a site.
• On the New site screen, choose Bring over your website.

Both open the Bring your website over screen.

Copy your site

1. Enter the address of your website in Your website address. If the address is not complete yet, Studio asks for something like yourbusiness.com.

2. Click Copy my site (the default option). The button shows Creating your site…, then the builder opens your new site and the chat shows Reading your website… with its progress.

3. Studio copies your home page plus every page that your header and footer link to on the same site, up to 30 pages. Each page keeps the same address it had on the original site.

   Cart, checkout, account, login and search pages are skipped, because your new WordPress site has its own.

   As the note under the buttons says: "Only public pages are read, and nothing on your current site changes."

4. When the copy finishes, the chat reply tells you:

   • what came over (pages, number of images, fonts)
   • what percentage of the text you can retype directly in the WordPress editor
   • a list of anything that is Different from the original

5. From here you can:

   • change text in the WordPress editor
   • change anything (text, design or layout) by asking in chat or with Click to edit

No credits used

An exact copy uses no AI, so it does not use any credits.

Or rebuild it with a fresh design

If you want a new design rather than an exact copy, you can choose what comes over from your current site.

1. Enter your website address. Instead of clicking Copy my site, click the Or rebuild it with a fresh design link under the address field.

2. Studio scans your home page and opens the Choose what comes over screen with two groups. Switch each item on or off:

   • Your content: Business details, Words, Photos
   • Your design: Logo, Colours, Fonts, Buttons, Section layout

   If you turn your content off, Studio asks What is the new site about?

   

3. Optionally, add a note in Anything to change on the way?

4. Leave Hero first, so I can check it ticked (the default) if you want Studio to build only the hero section and stop, so you can check it. You then ask for the rest in chat.

5. Optionally, click See the request to read the exact first message Studio will send in the chat.

6. Click Prepare my hero. If you unticked Hero first, so I can check it, the button reads Build my home page.

To start over with another site, click Scan a different address.

This option uses credits

A rebuild is designed by AI, so it uses credits. It gives you a new design, not a copy of the original.

What does not come over exactly

An exact copy is close to the original, but some things change on the way:

• Motion: sliders (other than Webflow sliders), marquees, and hover or scroll animations come over as a still picture of their finished state.
• Interactive pieces: tabs and FAQs work. Video pop-ups open the video in a new tab. The phone menu opens without its slide-in animation.
• Forms become WordPress forms. Entries are saved in WordPress admin under Studio > Forms (open your site's details, click WordPress admin, then go to Studio > Forms). Password, file upload and similar fields are left out, and the chat reply names them.
• Protected pages: pages behind a login or a bot check cannot be read.
• Blog posts come over as pages, not as WordPress posts.
• Fonts from rented font services (Adobe Fonts, Monotype) are not copied. Fonts that your site hosts itself are copied, and their licence remains yours.
• Images that cannot be downloaded still load from the original site. The chat reply tells you how many.

If the import fails

Message	What it means	What to do
That address can't be imported	Only public http or https websites can be imported. Local, private and password-protected sites cannot.	Check that the site is public, or use a different address.
The page did not load. Check the address and try again.	Studio could not load the address you entered.	Click Try again, or click Describe my business instead to start from a description of your business. This uses AI, so it uses credits.

How this works

Want to know what Studio does to your pages, what stays as HTML and why? Read How site import works.

Related articles

• How site import works
• Import Site: move an existing WordPress site, with its plugins and database, into the InstaWP dashboard.