What happens to your site if your website builder shuts down or you want to leave?
The short answer
Builders are rentals. The design and functionality do not export, only your content does (text, images, products, and your domain, which is always yours to take). Plan for it lightly. Keep your domain registered in your own name and your content backed up, and lock-in stops being scary.
In detail
The uncomfortable truth of every closed builder, and the fair price of their convenience. A Wix or Squarespace site is not a thing you possess but a service you rent. There is no "download my website" button that produces a working site, because the design is woven into their platform. What you can always take: your domain name (registered to you, transferable in days), your written content and images, product catalogs and customer lists as exports, and at most builders your blog posts in a standard format.
Actual shutdown of a major builder is unlikely and would come with long notice and migration help. The realistic scenario is you outgrowing the platform or disliking a price change. Then the move is a rebuild on the new platform with your exported content, typically days of work for a normal site. WordPress and Webflow sit at the more portable end of the spectrum, with the AI and budget builders at the more closed end.
The two-minute insurance policy. Register the domain in your own account (not the builder's reseller bundle, or transfer it out later), keep a folder with your source texts, images, and product data, and export anything exportable once a year. Do that, and platform choice becomes a preference instead of a marriage.
