Hi everyone,
I understand I cannot switch themes, but what to do if I have paid plan for one site and would like to use a different theme with it. How do I change it to the new one?
Thank you
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Hey @DariaSchumm If you want to use a different Template, you will have to redesign your site with the new Template as a new project. You cannot swap. Then when your new project is all designed, you can purchase hosting for the new project and then move your domain over to the new project.
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I already paid for hosting. Why would I need to purchase it again for new project?
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Site hosting is just for one project and canāt be transferred in the Dashboard. You would need to cancel the old one and purchase a new one.
If you contact support they have the ability to swap it for you. 
I have a blog. If I follow these steps to create a new project (new design or new theme for the blog)ā¦ Would I be able to transfer/migrate all of the blog posts from the old project to the new project? And all the pages and all the content on the whole site? Or do I have to re-manually build everything on the new project again?
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I find this fascinating ā you can buy a paid theme (hyper tightly coupled toā¦) hosting for ~ $300/yr but if you wish to change the theme at any point, you simply cannot OR maybe you can contact customer service? Surely you can purchase a theme accidentally for $49 and have an option to change out that theme for a newly purchased theme after paying for annual hostingā¦
Do I have the above correct?
If swapping themes direct via consumer is not on a feature roadmap for paid CMS hosting, it should absolutely be considered.
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Hey @MrRothbard
Templates in Webflow are not quite the same as Themes in other platforms. A template is a starting point in your project, and you cannot apply a new one to an existing project. Using Webflow templates is a great way to jump-start your website process if youāre short on time or need a little extra design inspiration.
If you want to change the look of your site, you would need to purchase a new template or design a new site without one. When you are ready to make the site live, you would need to purchase a site hosting plan for the new project, or support can transfer your existing site plan for you.
I hope that answers yoru question. 
Hi Drew
Thanks for explaining this to me.
My question is, when you have an existing domain with CMS hosting already in Webflow. Then you buy a new theme, and set up a new website as mentioned. When you buy a new hosting plan, and CMS etc will the database be transferred across? I have over 300+ URLās and need to see the website in context. Can I export a database and reupload to the new template/hosting/CMS?
Thanks
Hey @Gerry_Scullion
If you are setting up a new project using a new template and hosting plan the database canāt be transferred across. However, you can use the export/import feature in the CMS to move over those items. Static pages would need to be manually created and content added.
Here is some info on the export feature: Export Collectionācontent | Webflow University
And the import feature: Importācollection items | Webflow University
Hope that helps.
Hi
THIS IS A SHOCKER, WEBFLOW IS A SELF-MANAGING PLATFORM BUT WE HAVE TO MANUALLY REQUEST A THEME CHANGE/UPDATE OR THE ALT IS TO PURCHASE A DUPLICATE HOSTING PLANā¦BIZARRE; AM CURIOUS WHY?
@Drew_Schafer is the above still the default process for a new theme in 2023, either
- GO DUPLICATE buy a new webflow hosting plan for the new theme template i want to publish, and cancel old hosting plan
or - GO MANUAL contact webflow support and get it transferred over
OK this is bad. 16 hours no support on the above. Exposes a weak point in Webflow. I also work in Shopify which has features baked in making it easy, fast and satisfying to test and change across multiple themes and self-publish in real time.
Also worth adding apart from all the world class free themes from Shopify, many third party premium paid-for themes are available as free until you publish. Unlike Webflow where you pay for the theme upfront and only testing possible is in a read-only version of the theme.
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HI @Drew_Schafer , just to confirm:
If we want to update the template of a website, then we need to redo everything manually? This canāt be serious?
All the CMS collections, automation, custom code etc has to be manually done again?
Because as far as I understand, if we duplicate a project then it wonāt be possible to change the theme on the copy? So no matter what we do, the entire process has to be done again?
I must be getting something wrong?
Hey Max,
I hope I am fully understanding what you are asking. Are you looking at editing the project you made that is based on a template? If so, you can just go right into your project and edit it.
However, if you want to create a site based on a different template, you would need to do this in a new project. You can copy and paste between projects, as well as export CMS data and import it back into the new project.
Alternatively, you can copy content from the new template to your existing project. This will bring over most of the styling, however, styles applied to HTML tags directly (such as the body, all paragraphs, etc) will not be copied over.
Adding to Drewās comments, this is something weāre confronted with often, since most of our clients want to refresh their website look every few years.
Webflowās approach is to 100% integrate the template content into the site itself, thereās no abstraction so thereās no ability to swap in a new one. Unlike Wordpress, that gives you complete design freedom. Also unlike Wordpress, that makes it much harder to migrate to a new design.
Iāve collected some notes and tips on how you can approach this that might help.
FWIW these days, we almost always use the āre-template by mergeā approach, because the risk of interruption to integrated systems is too great and would have very expensive consequences to our clients.