When you buy through affiliate links in our content, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Learn 
If you’re moving to another website builder, shutting down your website, or simply clicked that publish button too soon, you need to know how to unpublish your Wix site quickly.
The good news is that Wix makes this easy with a simple “unpublish” button. In our step-by-step guide, we’ll explain how to unpublish your Wix site. And if you’re looking to change website builders from Wix, when you’re done, you can check out our top recommendations below.
Short on Time? Here’s How to Unpublish Wix Website
- Log in to Wix
- Go to “Settings”
- Click “Unpublish”
- Confirm
How to Unpublish Your Wix Site - A Step-By-Step Guide
Unpublishing your Wix website is very easy and can be done in four simple steps:
Log in to Wix
To get started, log in to your Wix account. Depending on how you signed up for Wix, you may need your email and password, or you can log in via Facebook or Google.
If you can’t remember your username or password, you can contact Wix’s support team to recover your account.
Go to 'Settings'
In your account dashboard, click on “Settings” in the left-hand menu. Then click on “Website Settings.”
Click 'Unpublish'
At the top of the “Website Settings” page, Wix will display your website’s publication status. Click the “Unpublish” button on the right.
Confirm
A pop-up box will confirm that you want to unpublish your site. Click “Unpublish” again to take your website offline.
Once you complete this four-step process, your website will no longer be visible to search engines, and visitors won’t be able to reach your site by navigating to your domain.
However, your site will remain accessible through the Wix editor, so you can save your blog posts and other data if you wish. You can also re-publish your site at any time by clicking the “Publish” button.
Looking for a New Website Builder? Check Out Our Top 5 Recommendations
While Wix is a popular website builder, it’s not the right choice for everyone. If you’re looking for an e-commerce-specific site like Shopify or a website builder with stylish templates geared towards creatives and artists, like Squarespace, you may want to change things up and try a different website builder.
If you’re unpublishing your site because you want to switch to a different platform, I have some recommendations. Let’s take a closer look at our five favorite alternatives to Wix.
1. Shopify – Best for Ecommerce
Shopify is one of the most powerful and scalable platforms for ecommerce. If you’re looking to build an online empire with customers around the world, this is the platform to use.
Shopify has a lot of ecommerce features that other website builders don’t offer. For example, you can store inventory in multiple locations and create specific shipping rules. You can also create multiple product catalogs to cater to different markets and add staff accounts so employees can access some features of your store.
Shopify even has its own payment platform, so you don’t have to connect to a third-party provider. This improves the shopping experience for your customers and reduces the number of accounts you need to manage to launch an online store. You can learn more about Shopify in our full review.
2. GoDaddy – Best for Small Businesses
GoDaddy is one of the best website builders for small businesses, thanks to its built-in marketing tools. You can stay in touch with customers through email marketing and social media integrations. Plus, its easy-to-use SEO tools help new visitors find your website.
If you want to sell online, GoDaddy lets you add unlimited products and integrate with marketplaces like Amazon and eBay. It also has an appointment booking calendar, which is great if you need to schedule services for your customers.
GoDaddy’s drag-and-drop page editor is more restrictive than the Wix Editor, but that’s a good thing if you want to launch your site quickly rather than spend hours adjusting details. GoDaddy also has an AI site generator, which enables you to get your business online in minutes. Learn more about GoDaddy and its capabilities as a website builder in our full GoDaddy review.
3. Squarespace – Best for Creatives
Squarespace is a great choice for launching a portfolio website or displaying other creative work. This builder is best known for its professionally designed templates, which are extremely detailed and look great even before you start the customization process.
Squarespace is also packed with tools for business owners. You can sell products, services, and memberships, book appointments online, and extend your store with inventory and shipping add-ons. In addition, Squarespace includes an email marketing tool and has a wide range of SEO settings to help you reach more customers.
One thing to note is that Squarespace’s design process can be moderately complex. If you’re switching from Wix because the design process took too long, Squarespace may not be the best choice for you. Want to learn about what Squarespace can do? Head to our full Squarespace review.
4. Hostinger – Best for Building an Affordable, AI-Generated Website
Hostinger offers an affordable website builder with excellent AI features to make the design process as easy as possible. To get started, describe your site, and Hostinger’s AI will customize one of the builder’s 150 templates to suit your needs. You can then customize your site further using a drag-and-drop editor.
If you need help writing content or adding images to your site, Hostinger’s AI can help with that, too. The AI can even assist you with running a blog, which is great for boosting your site’s SEO.
Hostinger supports ecommerce with no transaction fees, so it’s a great choice for selling online. Plus, all plans include a free domain and email to help your site look more professional. Learn more about Hostinger in our full review.
5. Weebly – Best Free Website Builder
Weebly is one of the best free website builders, enabling you to launch an online store at no cost. You can sell an unlimited number of items, offer in-store pickup, and even coupons and gift cards. Many of Weebly’s free features can only be found in the upper-tier plans of other website builders.
In fact, the only major limitation of Weebly’s free plan is that you can’t connect a custom domain—you still get SEO tools so visitors can find your site and an analytics dashboard to monitor traffic.
If you want to upgrade, Weebly’s premium plans start at only $10 per month. Our full Weebly review covers all of its features to help you make a decision.
Switching From Wix? Now You Know How
Unpublishing your Wix website is easy, which is great news if you clicked “publish” too soon or want to switch to another website builder. If you do want to switch, I recommend Shopify, GoDaddy, Squarespace, Hostinger, and Weebly, as the best alternatives to Wix.
For more alternatives, check out our guide to the best website builders in 2024.
