Most Google Sites are small, like a class page, a club, a portfolio or a business with a handful of pages. That’s good news, because rebuilding a small site takes an afternoon.
The bad news is that no website builder imports a Google Site. You copy your text and images across by hand. If you use your own domain, you also repoint it, which is easier than it sounds and is covered step by step below.
Quick Comparison
| Alternative | Best for | Price (Oct 2026) | Your own domain | Based in | Open source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carrd | One-page sites | Free for 3 sites; Pro Standard $19/year | From $19/year | US | No |
| WordPress.com | Sites with many pages, and blogs | Free with ads; Personal $4/month billed yearly | From the Personal plan | US | Yes (WordPress software) |
| Ghost | Blogs and newsletters | Ghost(Pro) Starter $18/month billed yearly; self-host free | All paid plans | Non-profit, remote team | Yes |
| Hugo and Codeberg Pages | Technical users who want free, simple hosting | Free | Free | Germany (Codeberg) | Yes |
| Neocities | Hand-made personal and hobby sites | Free (1 GB); Supporter $5/month | Check the plan table | US | Yes |
| Squarespace | Polished business sites without code | Basic $19/month billed yearly | Included; first year’s domain free on annual plans | US | No |
Which One Fits Your Site
- For a one-page site for a club, event, portfolio or small business, use Carrd.
- For a site with many pages, or a blog, use WordPress.com. The same WordPress software runs on almost any host, so you can move later.
- For a newsletter or members-only blog, use Ghost.
- For a personal or hobby site you want to build by hand, use Neocities.
- If you’re comfortable with Git and Markdown, use Hugo on Codeberg Pages. It’s free, with no ads and no lock-in.
- If your business wants polished templates and you don’t mind paying, use Squarespace.
- For a team intranet or class hub inside Google Workspace, a public website builder is the wrong tool. Put those pages and files in your new suite’s shared space, such as Nextcloud.
Moving a Blogger blog rather than a site? Our Blogger alternatives page covers the import into WordPress and what happens to your blogspot.com address.
The Alternatives, One by One
Carrd
Carrd is made by Carrd Inc. in the US. You drag sections into a single scrolling page, and it looks right on phones without extra work.
- Pick it because it’s the cheapest way to get a clean site on your own domain, and the editor is about as simple as Google Sites.
- The deal-breakers are that every site is one page, and the cheapest Pro Lite plan ($9/year) doesn’t include custom domains or forms. Password protection and site downloads need Pro Plus ($49/year).
WordPress (WordPress.com or Self-Hosted)
WordPress is free, open-source software for websites and blogs. WordPress.com, from Automattic in the US, hosts it for you. The free plan gives you a WordPress.com address, 1 GB of storage and WordPress.com ads shown to your visitors.
- Pick it because it handles sites with dozens of pages, menus and a blog, and you can move the whole site to another WordPress host later.
- The deal-breakers are a steeper learning curve than Google Sites, and ads on the free plan. If you self-host, you also handle updates and plugins.
- Prices (Oct 2026) start at Personal, about $4/month billed yearly or $9 monthly, which removes ads and lets you use your own domain. Annual plans include a free domain for the first year.
Ghost
Ghost is open-source publishing software from a non-profit organization. It’s built for blogs, newsletters and paid memberships.
- Pick it because writing and sending a newsletter to your readers happens in one place, and you can self-host it for free.
- The deal-breakers are the price of the hosted version, and a focus on publishing more than on simple brochure sites. The Starter plan only uses the default theme.
- Ghost(Pro) prices (Oct 2026) are $18/month for Starter and $29/month for Publisher, billed yearly, each with up to 1,000 members. Self-hosting is free, but you run the server.
Hugo and Codeberg Pages
Hugo is an open-source static site generator (Apache 2.0 license) that turns Markdown files into a fast website. Codeberg Pages, run by the German non-profit Codeberg e.V., hosts the result for free from a Git repository, and it supports custom domains.
- Pick it because it costs nothing, has no ads or trackers you didn’t add, and your site is a folder of plain files you can host anywhere.
- The deal-breaker is that you need Git and a little command-line work. There’s no visual editor.
Neocities
Neocities, based in the US, hosts hand-made websites. It’s open source, and it says it will never put advertising on your site.
- Pick it because it’s free and ad-free, and you can edit HTML pages right in the browser. It suits personal sites, fan pages and hobby projects.
- The deal-breaker is that you write the HTML and CSS yourself. Check the plan table if you need your own domain.
- It’s free with 1 GB of storage and 200 GB of bandwidth. Supporter costs $5/month (Oct 2026) for 50 GB and 3,000 GB.
Squarespace
Squarespace is a US website builder with polished templates and built-in selling tools. It also bought Google Domains, so your domain may already be there.
- Pick it because it looks professional with little effort.
- The deal-breakers are cost and lock-in. It’s the most expensive option here, and it isn’t open source.
- Prices (Oct 2026) start at Basic, $19/month billed yearly or $25 monthly, after a 14-day free trial with no card needed.
Leave the Google Embeds Behind Too
Moving the pages doesn’t help much if they still load Google. Google Maps, YouTube videos, Google Calendar and Google Forms embeds all pull from Google’s servers each time someone visits. Replace them as you rebuild.
- Maps. Use a map from OpenStreetMap, or a plain address with a link (see Google Maps alternatives).
- Forms. Use your builder’s own form, or a privacy-friendly form tool (see Google Forms alternatives).
- Videos. Link to the video instead of embedding it, or host it somewhere that doesn’t track viewers (see YouTube alternatives).
- Calendars. Link to a calendar from your new provider (see Google Calendar alternatives).
- Visitor stats. Skip Google Analytics and pick a cookieless tool from our Google Analytics alternatives.
How to Switch From Google Sites
Save a Copy of Your Google Site
Sites live in your Google Drive, so you export them through the Drive entry in Takeout.
- In Google Drive, create a new folder and move your site into it.
- Go to takeout.google.com, click Deselect all, then tick Drive.
- Click All Drive data included, untick Include all files and folders in Drive, tick only your new folder, and click OK.
- Click Next step, then Create export, and download the archive from Google’s email.
Expect HTML files and images. They work as an archive and a source for copying text, but nothing imports them. If the site sits in a shared drive at work or school, moving it to My Drive unpublishes it, so do that last. To save the live site exactly as visitors see it, a free website copier such as HTTrack downloads the published pages into a folder on your computer.
Rebuild on Your New Platform
- List every page of your published site, with its address. You’ll use the list to rebuild the menu and check nothing is missing.
- Gather the original images, logos and documents. They look better than copies saved from the page.
- Pick a template close to your current layout, then recreate the pages in the order of your list. Keep the same page names where you can.
- Replace every Google embed, as described above.
- Publish on the free address your new host gives you, and check every page on a phone.
Move Your Domain
If your Google Site uses your own domain, the domain was never inside Google Sites. It’s registered with a registrar, and Sites only borrows it through DNS records. Moving it means pointing those records at your new host.
First, find your registrar. If you bought the domain through Google Domains, it now lives at Squarespace, which finished taking over those domains on 10 July 2024. Sign in at squarespace.com/login. If Squarespace created that account for you, you probably sign in with Continue with Google, so make sure you have another way in before you close your Google account. Our Sign in with Google guide explains how to untangle those logins.
- Add the domain on your new host. Carrd, WordPress.com, Ghost and the others show you the DNS records to create. Write them down.
- Change the records at your registrar. Delete the CNAME record, usually
www, that points toghs.googlehosted.com, then add the records your new host gave you. If your bare domain (without www) forwards to the www address, update that forward too. - Wait and test. DNS changes can take 24–48 hours to spread. Load the site on mobile data and on Wi-Fi.
- Remove the domain from Google Sites. In the site editor, open Settings, then Custom domains, click the trash icon next to the domain and confirm.
- Clean up. Once nothing else needs it, delete the TXT record that Google Search Console added to verify your domain.
You don’t have to move the registration itself to change hosts. If you also want to leave Squarespace or another registrar, unlock the domain and ask for its transfer code (often called an auth code), then start the transfer at the new registrar. Registrars may refuse a transfer within 60 days of a registration or a previous transfer.
Retire the Old Site
Google Sites has no setting that redirects the old sites.google.com address to your new domain. Leave a one-line page there with a link to your new site for a few months. When you’re ready, click Share, choose Restricted next to Published site, then click Save or Done. You can also delete the site.
Our Google Takeout guide explains the export options in more detail.
What You Lose
Partial is fine. If your school or employer runs its intranet on Google Sites, leave that alone and move the sites you own.