Migrate WordPress to EmDash, step by step

What moves from WordPress to EmDash, and what does not

EmDash imports WordPress content two ways, a WXR export file or the EmDash Exporter plugin, and the plugin route brings more across.

Step 1: Back up WordPress and list your URLs

Before touching EmDash, back up the WordPress database and the uploads folder, and save a list of every public URL the site has today.

The URL list is what you will build redirects from in step 6. WordPress 5.5 and later publish one at /wp-sitemap.xml, and Yoast or Rank Math publish /sitemap_index.xml. Note your permalink setting under Settings → Permalinks too. EmDash's own checklist also asks you to record menus, custom post types, taxonomies and any fields a plugin adds, since those are what the importer has to map.

Step 2: Deploy EmDash on InstaPods

Pick EmDash from the InstaPods app catalog and it is live in under 60 seconds on the Build plan at $7/mo (2 vCPU, 2 GB RAM, 25 GB disk), with HTTPS on its own instapods.app address.

The admin lives at /_emdash/admin and stays behind a per-pod password, on any domain, so nobody else can grab your setup wizard; your public site is open. Those credentials are on the pod's dashboard and in your welcome email. EmDash moved from 1.1 to 1.3.1 during October 2026 alone, so if the dashboard offers an update, apply it before importing so the importer matches EmDash's current docs.

A new pod starts from EmDash's blog template, which seeds sample posts, an About page, a few categories and tags, and a menu. Delete them before you import: they would otherwise go live on your domain, and with skip existing on, a seeded about page can stop your real About page from importing.

Step 3: Create your admin on the pod address

EmDash signs you in with a passkey (Touch ID, Windows Hello, a security key or a password manager), and a passkey only works on the exact hostname it was created on.

Set up your admin on the pod's instapods.app address for now. That lets you import while WordPress keeps serving your real domain, which matters because EmDash copies media from the live WordPress site. You will move your sign-in to your own domain in step 7. If you are moving to a brand-new domain that nothing else uses yet, skip the move: point that domain at the pod and set EMDASH_SITE_URL to it first (step 7), then create your passkey there directly.

Step 4: Export from WordPress

WordPress gives EmDash its content either as a WXR file from Tools → Export, or live through the EmDash Exporter plugin.

1. WXR file: in WordPress go to Tools → Export, choose All content, and download the XML. It holds your text and the addresses of your media, not the image files themselves.
2. EmDash Exporter plugin: install it on WordPress, then either generate a migration key under Tools → EmDash Migration (exporter 1.2.0 or later) or connect from EmDash with a WordPress application password. Use this route if you want comments, menus, custom fields or Yoast and Rank Math SEO fields.
3. Site behind Cloudflare? EmDash's docs say to add a Skip rule for the exporter and media paths, and to turn Bot Fight Mode off during the migration, since it cannot be skipped on the Free plan.

Step 5: Run the EmDash import wizard

The EmDash import wizard lives under Import in the admin sidebar (/_emdash/admin/import/wordpress) and runs in six stages: Connect, Analyze, Review, Prepare, Import and Copy media.

At Review, each post type shows a state: Ready, New collection, Add fields, or Incompatible. Incompatible means an existing EmDash field has the same name and a different type; fix it under Content Types, because the importer never changes a field type for you. Gutenberg and classic content are converted to Portable Text. Server-rendered blocks such as Latest Posts arrive as HTML blocks you rebuild or delete, and shortcodes and page-builder markup need checking by eye.

If a run stops part way, run it again with skip existing on: entries are matched by collection, slug and locale, and media is matched by a hash of the file, so nothing is duplicated. Then compare post counts by type against WordPress before going further.

Step 6: Map old WordPress URLs to EmDash routes

EmDash keeps your post slugs, but the importer does not map your old permalinks, and the starter blog serves posts at /posts/<slug>/ and pages at /pages/<slug>/, while WordPress's common Post name setting puts both at /<slug>/.

So /hello-world/ on WordPress becomes /posts/hello-world/ on EmDash, and every old post and page URL needs a 301 or it turns into a 404 and loses its ranking. Category and tag archives already match if you kept WordPress's default /category/ and /tag/ bases. The feed moves from /feed/ to /rss.xml, and the starter blog has no author archives or date-based URLs.

Add the rules on the Redirects page in the EmDash admin. Rules default to 301, live in the site's database (so they are in your daily backups), and need no SSH or rebuild. Patterns use Astro's route syntax, so dated permalinks can be one rule. Avoid a bare /[slug] rule: redirects run before every page, so it would also catch /search and /posts.

/hello-world                  ->  /posts/hello-world
/about                        ->  /pages/about
/feed                         ->  /rss.xml
/[year]/[month]/[slug]        ->  /posts/[slug]     (only if you used dated permalinks)

Step 7: Point your domain at EmDash and move your sign-in

Switch DNS only after counts match, media loads from EmDash and your redirects return 301s, because the moment the domain moves, WordPress stops answering on it.

1. Add the domain: on the pod's Domains tab click Add Domain and enter it, for example www.example.com.
2. Create the DNS record: at your DNS provider add a CNAME from that name to the pod's address, for example my-pod.nbg1-1.instapods.app. On Cloudflare set it to DNS only (grey cloud). A root domain works if your provider supports CNAME flattening.
3. Verify: click Verify. InstaPods checks the record and issues a Let's Encrypt certificate, usually within minutes of the record propagating.
4. Stay signed in on the pod address for the next two steps, and do them in one sitting. Your step 3 passkey belongs to the old address.
5. Tell EmDash its new address: set EMDASH_SITE_URL to https://www.example.com on the pod's Env tab. From then on the old passkey no longer works for new sign-ins, but the session you are in keeps working.
6. Move your sign-in: still in that session, create a one-time Continue on link in Settings → General (it expires after 5 minutes) and open it on the new domain, then register a passkey under Settings → Security. Inviting a second admin from Users and opening the invite on the new domain works too. Other users sign in on the new domain with a magic link, which needs email set up.
7. Retire WordPress last: keep it and its backup until the EmDash site has run cleanly for a while.

EmDash vs WordPress: monthly cost

EmDash on InstaPods costs $7/mo flat, which is less than self-managed WordPress on a typical 2 GB VPS and more than the cheapest paid WordPress.com plan.

Where WordPress still wins over EmDash

WordPress still wins on plugins, themes and maturity, and if you only want a hosted blog on your own domain, WordPress.com Personal at $4/mo billed yearly is cheaper than a $7 pod.

EmDash reached 1.0 on 2026-09-28 and shipped 1.3.1 on 2026-10-18, so expect frequent updates and some rough edges. Its plugin registry is small, your WordPress theme has to be rebuilt as Astro components (EmDash's docs include a theme porting guide), and anything WooCommerce-shaped should stay where it is. EmDash wins on owning a modern, typed stack with structured content and nothing in PHP to patch. If that is not what you are after, the other paths off WordPress may fit better, and EmDash vs WordPress.com goes deeper on the hosted option.