Transferring ownership of a Wix site

To transfer a Wix site to someone else, open the site's dashboard, click the Site Actions icon, choose Transfer site, fill out the Transfer Ownership form, then click Continue and Transfer Ownership. The recipient gets an email invitation, accepts it within 3 days, and becomes the owner. On the form you choose whether the site plan, the domain and business email, and the premium apps move with the site.

A transfer is the only way to change a site's owner. Wix has no setting that promotes a collaborator to owner, and even the most powerful collaborator role, Admin (Co-Owner), can't transfer or delete the site. So the first decision is whether you need a transfer at all, or whether inviting someone with the right role does the job.

This guide covers that choice, what does and doesn't move, the steps for both sides, and how agencies and freelancers should hand a site to a client.

Transfer or collaborator: which do you need

Wix treats the owner as the person whose email is on the account the site was created under. Everyone else is a collaborator: someone invited to one site with a role that limits what they can do. The difference matters most for billing and control.

If you own a business and the site sits in someone else's account, ask for a transfer sooner, not later. Wix's own advice to owners is to use an email address only you control and to buy the domain yourself.

What moves with the site, and what doesn't

The Transfer Ownership form has three options: Transfer site plan, Transfer domain & business email and Transfer premium apps. Tick the ones that should go with the site. Wix lists the details in its article on transferring a premium site to another Wix account.

Three of those rows deserve a closer look before you start.

• Blog posts. Wix says existing posts can't be edited after a transfer. If the blog is active, fix anything that needs fixing first, and tell the new owner what to expect.
• Payments. A store or booking site can't take money until the new owner connects their own payment account. Our guide to Wix Payments fees and payment options covers the setup.
• Facebook ads. A site with Facebook ads bought through Wix can't be transferred until that service expires.

Before you start: a short checklist

• Check the 14-day window. Transferring a site during the first 14 days of its plan forfeits the refund. If the recipient might want their money back, read how Wix cancellations and refunds work first.
• Confirm the recipient's email. The invitation goes to the address you enter, and they have 3 days to accept.
• Decide about the domain. Moving the domain with the site is the simplest handoff. If the domain should stay where it is, the site will need a domain connected again in the new account.
• Decide whether you stay involved. The form has a checkbox, "Keep my role as Co-Owner of this site after the transfer." Tick it if you'll keep maintaining the site.
• Keep a copy if you need one. A second checkbox, "Create a copy of this site and keep it in my account," leaves you with a duplicate.
• Record what won't move. Note Velo secrets, ad accounts and anything else from the "No" rows above so it can be rebuilt.

How to transfer a Wix site

1. Sign in to the account that owns the site and open the site's dashboard.
2. Click the Site Actions icon.
3. Click Transfer site.
4. In the Transfer Ownership form, enter the new owner's email address and choose a description of your relationship.
5. Select what goes with the site: Transfer site plan, Transfer domain & business email, Transfer premium apps.
6. Tick the optional checkboxes if you want to stay on as Co-Owner or keep a copy.
7. Click Continue, review the transfer summary, select the confirmation checkbox, then click Transfer Ownership.

The site stays yours until the recipient accepts. You can track the request under Roles & Permissions, where a pending transfer shows as "PENDING OWNERSHIP." From there you can resend the invitation or cancel it.

What the new owner does

The recipient opens the invitation email and accepts within 3 days. If they miss the window, the sender resends it. During acceptance Wix asks for billing details. Wix states the recipient is "not charged while accepting." The details are there so future renewals of the plan, domain and other subscriptions bill to the new owner.

After accepting, the new owner should work through a few checks:

1. Open Premium Subscriptions and confirm the plan, domain and any mailboxes are listed with the right renewal dates.
2. Connect a payment provider if the site sells anything.
3. Re-upload digital product files in Wix Stores.
4. Review Roles & Permissions and remove any collaborators who should no longer have access.
5. Reconnect tracking and ad accounts that were tied to the previous owner.

The step-by-step from the recipient's side is in Wix's article on accepting transferred site ownership.

Roles and permissions when a transfer isn't needed

To invite someone, go to Roles & Permissions → Invite Collaborators, enter their email, tick one or more roles and click Send Invites. Invitations last 30 days.

If none of the preset roles fits, you can build your own under Roles & Permissions → Manage Roles → + Create New Role. Custom roles apply per site.

Whatever role you choose, some actions stay with the owner. No collaborator can delete, duplicate or transfer a site, buy or manage business emails, or reassign plans.

The number of people you can invite depends on the plan, as of October 2026:

Going over the limit after a downgrade doesn't remove anyone. You just can't invite more. One practical note: in the Wix Editor, two people shouldn't edit at once. Wix says concurrent editing is only available in the Studio Editor. The full plan breakdown is in our Wix plans comparison.

Agency and freelancer handoffs

If you build sites for clients, decide on the ownership model before you build, because a transfer has side effects on Wix Studio.

• Collaborator seats shrink. Sites in a Studio workspace get up to 5 free collaborator seats, even on free plans. Move the site to a non-Studio account and that drops to 1 until the site is upgraded.
• Plan credit may not follow. If a transferred Premium plan is later upgraded to a Studio plan, credit from the old plan applies only if it was bought in the same Wix account, not if it was transferred in.
• Revenue share depends on first ownership. Wix says a Partner must be the site's first owner to earn revenue share on its plan, even if the Partner no longer has access to the site.
• Clients can pay without owning. Wix Partners can send a payment request so the client pays Wix directly for the site's plan and manages renewals.
• Clients can edit without breaking things. Studio clients get either Content mode, which limits them to content, or Full mode.

Neither model is wrong. Agency-owned sites are easier to maintain. Client-owned sites protect the client if the relationship ends. What matters is that both sides agree in writing who owns the account, the domain and the content. Wix states plainly that it "cannot mediate disputes between you and any other party." If you're choosing between editors for client work, see our comparison of Wix Studio and the Wix Editor.

If someone else holds your site

When a designer, former employee or agency built the site in their own account, the transfer has to start from that account. Ask them to run the steps above and send the invitation to an email address you control.

If they can't or won't, Wix points owners to its Account Recovery form. For paid sites, Wix says ownership "is typically tied to the billing details," and for domains it may give priority to the registrant. That is why paying for the plan and registering the domain in your own name matters. A domain can also be moved separately between Wix accounts from Domains → Domain Actions → Transfer to a different Wix account, and our guide to domains on Wix explains how registration and connection differ.

This is general information, not legal advice. If ownership is disputed, check your contract and speak to an attorney.

Free sites and other special cases

Free sites can be transferred too, with one catch: the site's URL changes, because the first part of a free Wix address belongs to the account, not the site.

Conclusion

Transferring a Wix site is a short form and an email, but the details decide whether the handoff is clean. Choose what moves, warn the new owner about what doesn't, avoid the first 14 days of a new plan, and make sure payments are reconnected before the site needs to sell. When the other person only needs access, a collaborator role is faster and reversible. If you're taking over a site and want it reviewed or rebuilt after the handoff, our Wix website services team can help. More guides are in our Wix hub.

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