WordPress vs Website Builders: Security
December 6, 2016
WordPress vs Website Builders: Final Results
December 15, 2016
WordPress
Website Builders (i.e. Wix, SquareSpace, Weebly, Blogger, and GoDaddy’s Website Builder)
Data Portability
More than likely, at some point, you’ll want to move your website. This could be because you chose the wrong server for your growing business. Maybe it’s because you don’t like the customer service you’re receiving from your current hosting company. Maybe you found a better value in hosting somewhere else. There are a lot of reasons to switching hosting providers, but what happens to a WordPress website if you do? Your WordPress website goes with you 100% because you own the files. You can simply download all the files and re-upload them to another hosting provider. Usually, the whole process takes less than an hour to do (if you know what you’re doing). Many hosting providers will do this step for you free of charge when you sign up to host with them. That’s all we have to say on the subject because it’s really that easy.
Summary
When you use WordPress, your website data moves with you 100% because you own all your files. It’s easy to move it over and many hosting companies provide this service free of charge. That is why we give WordPress a 10 out of 10 for data portability.
Companies with Website Builders own the code that runs the data on your website. For that reason, if you decide you don’t like the platform you’re working on, you have to start over from scratch if you want to move to a different Website Builder or to WordPress. You may realize a few months into using a Website Builder that you don’t think it’s as intuitive as you originally wanted or it may be too restrictive or you may not like the customer service. At that point, you’ll have to decide if you want to muddle through or start over. It’s a big gamble and that’s why we encourage you to test drive a Website Builder before throwing all your eggs in that basket. Some Website Builders do come with the ability to export some of the data on your website, but then you need to ensure whatever Website Builder or platform you’re moving to can import that data as well.
Summary
Website Builders own the code that runs your website and therefore, you can’t take your website data with you if you want to move to another company. Some provide a data export option, but these are very limited in nature and may not actually be beneficial. That is why Website Builders get a 5 out of 10 for data portability.
