As of yesterday (1/16/25) WordPress removed the Classic Editor option unless you pay to upgrade. My blog is very simple - I use the free version - I have no plugins and it’s not monetized. I barely have any comments or followers. My writing was simply for my own enjoyment and mental health. I loved my classic editor! I went looking for an alternative and found Classic Press!
As a free user of WordPress, I’m not sure if the migration option is available to me? I’m reading about installing things…I’ve never “installed” wordpress. I simply use one of their free templates that I’ve customized a bit. I don’t even have a custom domain (and I don’t care if I have to change it. I just want to be able to keep writing using the classic editor interface).
I found this website that seemed to go through a step by step but I would like to know if the migration option is available to free wordpress users?
And really if so, how do I go about migrating? I need step by step instructions.
The problem is that WordPress.com is a service you are using, but the information you are reading relates to hosted WordPress sites (either something you self host or install on your hosting account). No hosting is free, so one question would be how much is the cost to upgrade? That may end up being the easiest way to handle it for the short term at least.
I am unsure if WordPress.com has tools that allow you to export the contents of your site (so you could import them into a hosted version of ClassicPress), so I guess that would be the 2nd question - if you can, then you could look into what the easiest way to move forward is.
WordPress says you need to have the “Business Plan” or higher which is $20 a month in order to retain use of the classic editor (they offer 2 levels below that for cheaper but they are not called “business plans” so I don’t think they qualify). I don’t want to pay that. I would much rather donate a couple of dollars a month to an open source situation such as this.
I looked. It seems that I can export my site. I copy/pasted the info showing on the export page:
Export:
When you click the button below WordPress will create an XML file for you to save to your computer.
This format, which is called WordPress eXtended RSS or WXR, will contain your posts, pages, comments, custom fields, categories, and tags.
Once you’ve saved the download file, you can use the Import function in another WordPress installation to import the content from this site.
Choose what to export:
-All content
This will contain all of your posts, pages, comments, custom fields, terms, navigation menus, and custom posts.
So it seems as though ClassicPress is only available as a “hosted” thing? In other words It wouldn’t be the same situation I have over at WordPress where I’m just using their free template and never installed anything? If I want to move over to ClassicPress, I would indeed have to have it “hosted”? (meaning I would have to install something?)
It does sound like you can export, so would be able to import into a hosted ClassicPress site. You are correct though, you would need to find a hosting service (some are not too expensive). Give this post some time, several people here may be able to guide you to something easy and inexpensive (several of of us do host our own sites and/or provide at least limited hosting services, so that may be an option as well).
You need a domain name and (as mentioned before) hosting (web space) for your site (hosting will include mail as well). This domain can be something similar to your wp com domain (if still available). When looking for budget hosting make sure they offer an installing tool for installing ClassicPress (etc), this makes it easier setting up the site.
I’m willing to help you with hosting and installing ClassicPress, but I’m guessing your not from my country (Netherlands). So that may not be very handy.
@DamagedPersonInRepair As @EliteStarServices mentioned, it would be helpful to know where you are in the world. If you’re in North America, @web242 might offer a good option for you, so I’m pinging them.
Hmmm. Well as I mentioned I did not have a domain name before. I just used whatever the free version of WordPress gave me. I’m not sure I want to go that route of purchasing domain name and hosting it which would be an added expense on top of the domain name. Since I don’t make money off my site and don’t intend to, I’m starting to understand that this might not be the right thing for me.
Actually, it would almost certainly work out much cheaper for you to use a host. A domain name typically costs about $10 per year, and hosting costs typically $5 to $10 per month.
They could move your site for you and put it on WP, and then you’d use the CP migration plugin to switch it over to ClassicPress. (I could help you with that, as I’m sure @EliteStarServices could do too.)
I run my own servers (self host), so as Tim said, we can offer guidance, assistance and perhaps even the hosting you would need. Will be some work on your end also, but when finished you will also have more ownership and control over your content than you do now.
I assume web242 may find this news interesting if he is not already aware, could be he can come up with something for you and others in your situation.
Hmmm. I just looked at my stats. In the 8 years I’ve had my blog I’ve had less than 1000 views and less than 500 visitors TOTAL. I only have a few comments and frankly I don’t care if they transfer over. Traffic would be non-existent. I do include photos on my posts but I’m only using 28 mg of media space at the moment.
If I could find someone willing to host me for free, I suppose I would be willing to pay for a domain. I’ve owned them before. I really want to pay as little as possible for this since this is not a money making operation.
I’m willing to do the work if I have help.
You can get a free domain at: https://www.freenom.com/
I think you have to manually renew it every 6 months or something, but I have used it in the past and it works.
I would like to wait until web242 can chime in, but it is not out of the question that I could (at least temporarily) host a site so you can get your stuff moved over and retain the ability to make posts.
Let’s break it down. I didn’t read above but I worked there so I know how you can resolve the issues.
A note, even with business plan you can’t install the migration plugin in a site hosted on .com. they aren’t so “stupid” to allow people on a paid plan to use CP on their premises, and basically the removal of Class editor means that even if you install it, they are going to remove it very soon from all plans and are trying to upgrade people using that lever.
WP.com (that you use) is basically an hosting offering a free tier hoping you scale up.
You have two options: a free and a paid one. Both involve hosting CP yourself.
Free option: go to newtons.com, point your mouse on “hosting” in the menu and click free web app. They will give you a free self hosted CP with a domain like xxxxx.netsons.org.
You will have to follow these steps:
select WP from their choices
access CPanel and uninstall WP
go to the SSL settings and run autossl by selecting all and clicking the button (installs SSL let’s encrypt free)
go to softaculous tab, search for CP and install it using softaculous tutorial you can find on CP blog
log into your CP
The paid option involves all the above steps but purchasing your own hosting+domain. Thins might involve finding a cheap one.
I would not recommend the paid option unless you decide you want to for example do affiliate marketing to monetize (for example sharing links from sites like Amazon or booking.com that pay you when people purchase using those links to access their shops).
Now, about the content, yes you can export your posts and pages (go to tool>export in WP.com and do the exporting procedure for all content, then go to tools>import in your CP site to import it).
Since you were using Classic editor there should be no issues.
In all this you might have to change the theme, because some themes do not work in CP. But this I think you can easily do.
Freenom’s free domains are already gone in 2024 unfortunately.
https://names.co.uk provides some free domains for 1 year as far as I can tell, and that’s the only option for a free domain like freenom did in the past I can think of recently.
since the OP as of now uses sitename.wp.com I think they can use netsons which provides sitename.netsons.org. They are stating they do not need the site to be “professional” because it’s just a writing outlet for them, so no need to acquire such domains (that usually are associated with botnets and whatnot).