How to Migrate a Website to HubSpot CMS in 3 Steps
Moving a website to HubSpot sounds like an export followed by an import. It isn't. Your content can move, but your theme can't. HubSpot renders its own templates, written in HubL, on its own servers, and no tool converts a WordPress, Webflow, Wix or TYPO3 theme into them. So every migration to HubSpot CMS is really two jobs: move the content, and rebuild the design.
The rebuild is why migrations with an agency take weeks or months. It's also the part we automated.
Short answer: migrating a website to HubSpot CMS takes three steps.
- Scan your site with the migration wizard. Choose what moves and get a fixed price.
- transjt rebuilds your site 1:1 in the background as a new frontend. It keeps the same layout, texts, images and page addresses, on fresh code.
- transjt turns that frontend into a native HubSpot theme with editable modules. Your pages, blog posts, forms, languages and redirects move into it.
You review the result before your domain switches. For a typical site with 10 to 30 pages, that takes days rather than months.
Why you can't just export your website to HubSpot
Every CMS stores two kinds of things: your content (texts, images, posts, files) and your templates, which decide how that content looks. Content is portable. Templates aren't, because each system renders pages its own way. That splits every migration the same way, whatever you're leaving.
| Part of your site | Moves to HubSpot? | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Page texts and images | Yes | Moved word for word into the new pages |
| Blog posts | Yes | Moved with titles, dates, authors, images, categories and tags |
| Theme and templates | No | Rebuilt as a native HubSpot theme |
| Page-builder layouts | No | Rebuilt as HubSpot modules |
| Forms | Rebuilt | Recreated as native HubSpot forms; export old submissions first |
| Plugins and apps | No | Replaced with HubSpot features or quoted separately |
| URLs | Mostly | Kept where HubSpot allows it, otherwise redirected with a 301 |
| Domain and email | Stay | Only the website's DNS records change |
How hard the content part is depends on where you're coming from (all systems at a glance):
- WordPress exports your posts, but not your theme or page-builder layouts.
- Wix has no export for pages or posts at all.
- Squarespace exports one blog and a few page types.
- Webflow has a code export, but it leaves out CMS items and forms.
- Adobe Experience Manager keeps components, assets and markets in a system nothing else reads.
- Joomla, Drupal, TYPO3 or a hand-built site each work differently again.
That's why our process doesn't start from your CMS's export. It starts from your live website, which every system has.
Step 1: Scan your site with the migration wizard
Open the migration wizard and choose what should happen to your website:
- Move it as it is (1:1): same content and same design, rebuilt on HubSpot.
- Move and redesign: your content moves over and gets a new, modern look.
- New website: for when you have no site yet, or want to start from scratch.
Then enter your address. In a few seconds the scan reads your CMS, your sitemap, your pages, your languages, your blog posts and collections such as team members, jobs or glossary entries. You only confirm what stays:
- Pages: untick anything the new site won't need. On older sites, some pages are better merged or dropped than moved.
- Scope: Templates and all content (every page, post and entry moved) or Templates only (each page type built once with example content).
- Languages: your main language is included, and each further language is added to your package.
- Animations: everything as it is today, or the same animations with videos, sliders and sound starting only when visitors choose to.
- Options: for example redirects, tracking setup, editor training, express delivery or a personal manager.
The wizard then shows your package and what's included, and sends the exact numbers to your business email after one confirmation click. A person reads your brief and confirms the fixed price and launch date within one business day. Nothing is binding until you accept the proposal. The whole thing takes about two minutes.
Before you start, have these ready:
- an export of your contacts and form submissions
- access to your domain (DNS) and to your current CMS
- your current hosting, which you keep until the switch
Step 2: transjt rebuilds your site 1:1 as a new frontend
This step runs in the background, with nothing to do on your side. We rebuild your live website as a new frontend: the same layout, colours, fonts, images and texts, the same page addresses, with your animations recreated. It works for desktop, tablet and mobile.
It isn't a copy of your old system's code. The frontend is written from scratch, so whatever your current CMS added along the way, like plugin scripts, page-builder markup and years of patches, stays behind. What comes through is how your site looks and what it says.
This frontend is the bridge between the two systems. Your live site serves as the specification, and every page type becomes a clean template with your real content in it. That gives the next step something it can turn into HubSpot modules, without anyone needing a Figma file or a design brief.
Chose "Move and redesign"? Then the frontend gets a new design instead of the old one. You can ask for up to three design variations: A follows your brief, B takes a different direction and C goes one step bolder. You pick one before we build. Your content stays the same in each.
Step 3: transjt turns the frontend into a native HubSpot theme
Now the frontend goes through the transjt converter, the same engine that turns Figma designs and AI builds into HubSpot themes. What comes out is a native HubSpot theme, not imported HTML:
- HubL templates for every page type, plus blog templates
- every section as a module with editable fields in HubSpot's drag-and-drop editor
- header and footer as global components, so one edit changes every page
- responsive layouts for desktop, tablet and mobile
- multi-language ready
Then your content moves into the theme:
- Pages, with their texts, images, titles, meta descriptions, favicon and share image
- Blog listing
- Blog posts in the HubSpot blog, with titles, dates, authors, images, categories, tags and meta descriptions
- Collections such as team members, jobs or glossary entries, as pages, modules or blog posts
- Forms as native HubSpot forms, so new submissions land in your CRM
- Media and files in HubSpot's file manager, with their alt texts
- Languages as HubSpot language versions, with a language switcher and hreflang tags
Plugins for bookings, memberships, chat or events don't move. For each one, we name the HubSpot replacement, such as Meetings or live chat, or quote it separately. Custom integrations, custom modules and APIs aren't included, and online shops get their own plan.
The theme works with every HubSpot plan, including the free one. Which plan you need depends on your number of pages and on features like multiple languages, and we recommend one in your proposal.
Then: review and go live
You check the finished site on HubSpot before anything changes for your visitors. Nothing goes live without your OK.
At launch, your domain points to HubSpot and the redirects go live. Only the website's DNS records change, so your email keeps working, and the domain can stay with your current registrar. If your site isn't live on time and we can't fix it within 5 business days, you get your money back.
From then on, your marketing team edits texts, images and pages in HubSpot without a developer.
How long does a migration to HubSpot take?
Here's a typical website with 10 to 30 pages and two or three page templates:
| Phase | Traditional agency | transjt |
|---|---|---|
| Theme build | 2–3 weeks | 1 day |
| Content transfer | 1 week | 1 day |
| Redirects and checks | Up to 1 week | Half a day |
| Time to launch | 3–5 weeks | 2–3 days |
The agency column is a typical range, so yours may be faster or slower. Larger sites take longer on both sides. The wizard shows the timeline for your site as you choose your options.
Will you lose your Google rankings?
Every migration carries some risk. Three things protect your rankings, and all three are part of the move:
- Keep your URLs wherever HubSpot allows it.
- Keep your titles and meta descriptions, word for word.
- Redirect every URL that changes with a 301, including blog, category and language addresses.
After launch, submit your new sitemap in Google Search Console and keep an eye on the "Not found (404)" report for a few weeks. Any old address that still turns up there needs a redirect.
Prefer to do it yourself?
You can. The content part is manual work: HubSpot has its own blog import, and you'd move pages, forms and redirects by hand. For the theme, transjt also works self-serve:
- From your live site with AI: our free Website Prompt Generator writes a prompt for an AI builder from your current site. Build the site in Lovable, Claude Code or another builder, push it to GitHub, and transjt turns the repository into a native HubSpot theme. We walk through that route in migrating to HubSpot CMS with AI and Claude Code.
- From a Figma design: design the new site in Figma and export it with the transjt Figma plugin.
- Coming from WordPress? Our WordPress to HubSpot guide covers every step.
Is a move to HubSpot worth it?
Not always. If your website only informs visitors and plays no part in winning customers, your current CMS is often enough. A move pays off once the site should bring in leads, because on HubSpot your forms, page views and contacts land in the same CRM your sales team works in.
A quick test: can your sales team see which pages a prospect read before the first call? If not, that's what the move changes. For a fuller comparison, read when to use HubSpot CMS.
Ready to see what your migration involves? Scan your website and get your fixed price, or book a 15-minute call if you'd rather talk it through first.
Frequently asked questions
Only the content. Texts, images, blog posts and files can move, but no CMS exports a theme HubSpot can use, because HubSpot renders its own HubL templates. The design always has to be rebuilt as a HubSpot theme.
Any system that serves a public website: WordPress, Wix, Squarespace, Webflow, Adobe Experience Manager, Joomla, TYPO3, Drupal, headless setups or a hand-built site. We rebuild from your live site, so the move doesn't depend on your CMS's export. Online shops are quoted separately.
For a typical site with 10 to 30 pages, about 2 to 3 days with transjt, compared with 3 to 5 weeks with a traditional agency. The wizard shows the timeline for your site, and your proposal confirms the launch date.
Yes, if you choose a 1:1 move: the same layout, colours, fonts, images, texts and page addresses, rebuilt on new code. If you choose Move and redesign, your content stays and the design is new.
The wizard works out a fixed price once the scan has read your site, and sends you the exact numbers by email after a quick confirmation. The price depends on your pages, blog posts, collection entries, languages and the options you choose.
The theme works with every HubSpot plan, including the free one. The right plan depends on your number of pages and features like multiple languages, and we recommend one in your proposal.
Yes. Every section is a module in HubSpot's drag-and-drop editor, so your team changes texts, images and pages without a developer.
No. Larger sites can move in steps, for example the main pages first and the blog later. Your current website stays online until the switch, so keep its hosting until then.