Transferring hosting to Squarespace

Hi,

I'm part of community organization that has a domain registered with and managed through squarespace, but the hosting is done with another provider (one that doesn't have tailored instructions). We would like to simplify the website process, with the hosting also done by Squarespace. I have the following questions:

1. What steps do we need to follow to transfer the hosting from another provider to Squarespace? On the current hosting provider's side, we can edit the following fields "IP Address" and "TTL", as well as deleting the record. Then there are options for "CNAME" (for which we can edit the TTL or delete), and "MX" (again, we can edit the TTL or delete). I have looked at what appears to be the relevant support page but this suggests things like getting an "Authorization Code" - I can't see how we can do this.

2. We are on the "Personal" squarespace subscription plan. Will the website hosting push us up to the next pricing plan, or do we need to pay extra for this? From what I can see, that's included - right?

For reference, I have asked the hosting provider's support team for some guidance, but their advice is (understandably) tailored to support customers transferring from another provider.

I would be grateful if anyone can provide some directions about this.

@J2023 From what it sounds like, your current website is a non-Squarespace website (likely Wordpress, since you mention hosting), but only the domain is with Squarespace. Regardless of where you non-Squarespace site is though, you can't transfer it to Squarespace, as Squarespace is its own platform that you must build within.

Though you say you have a Personal Squarespace plan, which would indicate that you do have a Squarespace site - so will need a little more clarification on above before I can help! So 2 questions:

1. Where is your current site hosted? (can you share the domain name/website address?)

2. What site does the personal Squarespace plan belong to?

@CassAggett - thanks for your input on this. The site is currently hosted by Winhost - this is not one of the web-hosting services for which the Squarespace help pages gives a provider-specific guide. I'm reluctant to name the organisation or the current domain name/website, or the corresponding Squarespace site, for that matter (it's a community organisation without professional IT support, meaning that it would be really challenging if we were targeted).

I have had some further correspondence with the Winhost support team, who remark that we are relying on the Winhost DNS management system, with our DNS pointing to square space for web hosting and to an external mail provider for email services. I can't see how to manage DNS settings for our Squarespace site.

Can Squarespace deal with DNS management? Do they provide support?

The first thing is that you need to build an eligible Squarespace site or a holding page (coming soon) to point your Squarespace domain to. You will not be able to move your existing site's content directly to Squarespace. 

Then you follow the directions that you will find here: moving Squarespace domain to another Squarespace site,  in your case from a third-party site to a Squarespace site. This is done in the Squarespace account panel not on the third-party site. You would access the domain panel in your new site configuration go to domains and click on use a domain I own, enter it in the panel on the right, and follow instructions from that point. 

On 9/16/2023 at 10:38 AM, J2023 said:

@CassAggett - thanks for your input on this. The site is currently hosted by Winhost - this is not one of the web-hosting services for which the Squarespace help pages gives a provider-specific guide. I'm reluctant to name the organisation or the current domain name/website, or the corresponding Squarespace site, for that matter (it's a community organisation without professional IT support, meaning that it would be really challenging if we were targeted).

I have had some further correspondence with the Winhost support team, who remark that we are relying on the Winhost DNS management system, with our DNS pointing to square space for web hosting and to an external mail provider for email services. I can't see how to manage DNS settings for our Squarespace site.

Can Squarespace deal with DNS management? Do they provide support?

Feel free to private message me the website address and I can take a look to see who it's hosted with. It may just be that the domain is with Winhost and points to your Squarespace website (given the reference to DNS pointing to Squarespace) - if this is the case, you may be able to transfer the domain away from Winhost to Squarespace, so you manage it alongside the website. But this is based on a number of assumptions for now 😊