How to export your WordPress website
WordPress is the most portable of the common platforms. The export is built in.
The short answer
In your dashboard, Tools, then Export gives you an XML file in WordPress's own format. WordPress explains it here.
How to export
- 1
Open the tool
In your dashboard, go to Tools, then Export.
- 2
Choose what to include
Choose All content or pick a type.
- 3
Download
Click Download Export File.
- 4
On WordPress.com, export media too
Use Tools, then Export Media Files, which gives you a .tar archive sorted by year and month.
- 5
On a self-hosted site, back up everything
Copy the WordPress directory (core, themes, plugins, uploads, wp-config.php and .htaccess) and the database.
What does not come with you
The XML file does not hold your site settings or the media files themselves. See the WP-CLI notes. It leaves out your design, theme and plugins. See the WordPress training.
Before you cancel anything
On WordPress.com, keep the old site public during an import, because the new site copies images from it. A full backup download needs a Business or Commerce plan. See WordPress.com on exporting.
Our advice, on any platform: keep the old site live until the new one is tested, and put the page redirects on the new host. A redirect set on the old platform only runs while your domain still points there.
Exporting from WordPress
My site is large. Does that change anything?
On WordPress.com, sites of roughly more than 1,000 pages or posts get an email with a .zip of several XML files, and each one is imported separately.
Is WordPress.org different from WordPress.com?
The tool and file are the same. On a self-hosted site you already hold the files and database, so you can copy everything. On WordPress.com, full backups depend on your plan.
Still have questions? Call the office or send us your site and a person will take a look.
Where these facts come from
Checked against the official help pages on November 2, 2026. Platforms change these pages, so read the source before you act on it.
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