how to move a weebly site to a free static host before the export window closes

quick context first, because a lot of posts are getting this wrong. weebly is not closing everywhere. it is winding down service in 67 countries. in those countries sites were unpublished on 27 sep 2026, and login access ends on 26 dec 2026. if you're in the us, uk or eu you're not on the list. the full country list and dates are on weebly's notice.

so if you (or a friend, or a client, or your aunt's bakery) had a weebly site in one of those countries, it's offline now and the account still works until 26 dec. that's the window. after that you can't log in to get anything out.

here's what i'd do, roughly in order.

1. get the site archive (and the account data)

the site archive is a zip of your published pages. in the site editor go to settings > general, scroll down to archive, type your email and click email archive. you get an email with a download link. weebly's page for this is back up your site.

there's also a separate account export: account settings > my data > download my data. it's a different file. grab both, keep them in two places, and actually open the zip right away to check it isn't empty. you won't be able to re-download after 26 dec.

one thing weebly also says: you can't import the zip back into weebly. it's a backup or a starting point for another host, that's it.

2. know what's not in the zip

straight from weebly's backup page: blog and store pages aren't included, because they live in weebly's database. contact forms and slideshows may not work outside the editor either.

and something they don't really spell out. the archive doesn't contain weebly's shared stylesheets and fonts. your pages still point at them on weebly's servers (cdn*.editmysite.com). same for a bunch of scripts.

3. what breaks if you just upload it

i unzipped a real 2026 archive and looked at the html. this is what you're dealing with:

• http links to weebly's cdn. css, fonts and scripts load over plain http://. any free static host serves your site over https, and browsers block http stylesheets and scripts on https pages (mixed content). result: the page loads unstyled and half the js is dead.
• theme script paths don't match. the pages ask for files/theme/plugins.js and files/theme/custom.js, but in the zip those files sit at files/theme/files/plugins.js and files/theme/files/custom.js. so they 404.
• the mobile menu. the hamburger menu needs those theme scripts. with the paths broken (or the https issue), it just doesn't open on phones. in my test it only worked after fixing both.
• editor and account scripts. stuff like weebly's main.js, a customer accounts script, and inline _W config blocks. they were written to run on weebly.
• the weebly badge / footer. if your site had one, it's weebly branding you probably don't want on your own host.
• remote css and fonts. even when they load, they're on weebly's servers, which you don't control.

4. fix it by hand

work on a copy. open the long-id folder inside the zip, that's your site root, index.html should be at the top.

the https fix. in every .html file, swap http://cdn for https://cdn. with sed:

# run inside the site folder. on macos use: sed -i '' ...
sed -i 's#http://cdn#https://cdn#g' *.html

any editor with project-wide find and replace does the same thing.

the theme path fix. do this one yourself and check it, nothing figures it out for you. either move the two files up a folder, or rewrite the paths:

sed -i 's#files/theme/plugins.js#files/theme/files/plugins.js#g; s#files/theme/custom.js#files/theme/files/custom.js#g' *.html

then open the site locally (or on your host, see below), shrink the browser to phone width, and check the menu opens. your archive might differ from mine, so look at what the html actually asks for before you run anything.

removing scripts. go slow here. delete the badge or footer block if there is one, and scripts that clearly only matter on weebly, like the customer accounts one:

<!-- delete lines like this -->
<script src="http://cdn11.editmysite.com/js/site/main-customer-accounts-site.js?buildtime=1234"></script>

reload after each removal. some of weebly's scripts (jquery, main.js) are what the theme and galleries lean on, so ripping everything out can break more than it fixes.

remote css and fonts. if you want the site to not depend on weebly's servers at all, download each editmysite.com stylesheet and font css into your folder, then grab the font files those css files reference, and point the <link> tags at your local copies. it's tedious. but it's the only way to be sure the look survives whatever weebly does with those servers later.

the contact form. it posts to weebly, so it's dead on a new host. replace it with a mailto: link or a form service. export your old form entries from the dashboard first.

5. save blog posts separately

since blog posts aren't in the zip:

• check the download my data file. weebly doesn't say what's in it, so open it and look for your post text.
• while you can still log in, copy each post out of the editor into plain html or markdown. boring, but reliable. save the images too.
• if you missed some, the wayback machine may have captures of your old blog pages.

store items are a separate thing again. there's a csv export in the dashboard, but the csv only links to product images on weebly, so download the images too.

6. host it for free

netlify drop. go to netlify drop and drag your site folder in. log in to netlify first. drop works without an account, but if you drop without signing in, the site is protected with a temporary password until you claim it. details in netlify's drop quickstart.

cloudflare pages direct upload. in the cloudflare dashboard: workers & pages > create application > get started > drag and drop your files, name the project, deploy. limits are 1,000 files and 25 MiB per file for drag and drop. see cloudflare's direct upload docs. if the archive has old junk like .swf files you don't use, delete them first.

keep your old file names (about.html, contact.html) so existing links still work.

7. move the custom domain

if you bought the domain through weebly, transfer it out before 26 dec. dashboard > websites > domains > manage > manage domain, turn off registrar lock, copy the epp code, start the transfer at your new registrar. don't change the domain's contact details before transferring, weebly says that triggers a 60 day lock. unlocking also turns off whois privacy, so turn it back on at the new place. country-code domains (like .de) and google workspace go through weebly support. all of this is on the notice.

if the domain was bought elsewhere, you just repoint it. add it in your host's custom domain settings (netlify, cloudflare pages) and copy the dns records they give you into your registrar. remove old records that still point at weebly.

dns can take a while to update, up to 48 hours. but in some reported cases the old weebly site keeps showing on the domain even after the records are right. if that happens to you, contact weebly support, since it may be something on their end.

that's it

nothing here is clever. it's a zip, two find-and-replaces, some careful script removal, and a drag and drop. the deadline is the real problem, so get the archive downloaded today even if you fix it next month.

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Written with AI assistance and checked against the Weebly, Netlify and Cloudflare docs.