Walkthrough · Intermediate · 1–2 hours, or one free ticket to us
How to Migrate a WordPress Site
How to shift a WordPress site onto a new host without a single visitor noticing a gap, without the guessing — the steps in order, the snag ahead of time, and the tip our support team repeats daily.
The short answer
One line covers it: shift a WordPress site onto a new host without a single visitor noticing a gap — a intermediate-level job of roughly 1–2 hours, or one free ticket to us.
Below is the full run of steps, the error most people trip over, and the short cut worth remembering. On Hosting & Domains plans several steps are already automated away — the guide marks each one.
By the Hosting & Domains team · Reviewed 18 August 2026
Intermediate
Experience required
5
Stages, start to finish
Free
Support included
Proven
On the platform itself
No prior knowledge assumed — a hosting account, a browser and 1–2 hours, or one free ticket to us of attention is the whole entry requirement. Every instruction runs on our platform exactly as printed, and carries over to any standard cPanel host.
A promise before step one: nothing here is a one-way door. Any step with teeth is flagged, and the way back is printed beside it.
The outline first, then the detail
Over the whole job, you will or hand us the whole job, take the files, export the database, reassemble on the new server, inspect it before the cutover and flip dns and monitor.
No part of this needs code or a terminal unless the guide says so plainly — and where it does, the exact commands are printed. The step-by-step is below, with the surrounding sections supplying the context that makes it hold.
Where it comes off, and how to stay on
Carrying the files across and leaving the database, or the other way round. WordPress needs both; restore one and what you have is an empty install wearing your theme.
Forewarned is genuinely forearmed here. This one mistake accounts for most of the frustration the topic ever causes — and it disappears entirely once somebody points it out.
A habit worth borrowing
URLs inside the database sit within serialized data, so a blunt find-and-replace corrupts settings as it goes. Use WP-CLI's search-replace or a migration plugin that understands serialization, and never a text editor on the raw SQL.
Habits this small are what separate the people who find hosting effortless from the people who find it draining. The same tools on both sides — a different way of working.
The parts that look after themselves here
Steps that never deserved your time are taken out: certificates issue and reissue themselves, the installer handles application setup, the daily copy absorbs the what-ifs, and per-site settings live in a panel rather than a configuration file. The guide covers the remainder — the part that is actually about your site.
Stopped mid-guide at an awkward hour? That is exactly what round-the-clock support is for — say which step you are on and we take it from there.
Why this job is shorter on our plans
Every walkthrough in this library is run on the platform we actually operate — cPanel, LiteSpeed, NVMe, one-click installs — so the instructions match your screen rather than gesturing at it from a distance.
NVMe storage and LiteSpeed caching sit under every tier, the smallest plan included — that is the floor here, not an upgrade.
- Every step checked exactly as published
- The snag named before it arrives
- The dull steps taken out of your way
- People reachable at any hour you stall
Why Hosting & Domains
Standard on every plan
Honest about how big it is
Shift a WordPress site onto a new host without a single visitor noticing a gap is a intermediate-level job — set aside 1–2 hours, or one free ticket to us, with the platform-absorbed steps marked.
Works exactly as printed
Every step is proven on the platform we run — none of the 'your host may vary' hedging.
The dull parts automated
SSL, backups and installs look after themselves here, leaving the guide to cover only what is genuinely yours.
The snag, flagged up front
The classic error for this particular task is named before step one, which is how 1–2 hours, or one free ticket to us stays 1–2 hours, or one free ticket to us.
Every undo written out
Any step that could bite is marked, together with the exact way to wind it back.
Taken from real tickets
These guides came out of the support queue, so every snag flagged is one people genuinely hit.
Quick Start
Order placed to site online
- 1
Or hand us the whole job
Open a ticket with the login details for your old host and we take care of the lot — files, database, mailboxes — usually inside a day, checked over before anything goes live. What follows is the do-it-yourself route.
- 2
Take the files, export the database
Download wp-content and export the database through phpMyAdmin. If handling two pieces sounds like a nuisance, a migration plugin will wrap both into a single archive for you.
- 3
Reassemble on the new server
Upload the files, create a fresh database, import the SQL dump, then set the new database name, user and password in wp-config.php.
- 4
Inspect it before the cutover
Edit the hosts file on your own computer so that your machine alone resolves the real domain to the new server. That is how you go over the finished build before any visitor sees it.
- 5
Flip DNS and monitor
Repoint the name, leave the old host running for a few days as insurance, and check the certificate has issued at the new address before you call the job done.
Built In
Fitted to every plan
- Staging copies for trying a change before it goes live
- Softaculous included for one-click application installs
- A daily copy, with restores you run yourself from the panel
- Money back within 30 days on hosting plans, 7 on reseller
- Webmail in the browser plus IMAP, POP and SMTP for any client
- People on the support desk every hour of every day
- WordPress Toolkit, with the updates seen to for you
- Free SSL on every plan, reissued before the old one lapses
- A renewal figure identical to the one you registered at
- WebP image optimisation built in, at no extra charge
Frequently Asked
The questions that come up most
Is a genuinely zero-downtime migration possible?
It is, provided the order holds. The new copy runs alongside while the old one keeps serving traffic, and DNS moves only once you have confirmed the new build works. Both ends stay live throughout propagation, so nobody meets a dead end.
Where do do-it-yourself migrations usually go wrong?
In the same three places every time: URLs mangled by a careless search-and-replace, file permissions that no longer match, and mailboxes nobody remembered to recreate. Our free managed migration exists because those three swallow whole weekends.
Will the renewal cost more than the first term?
No. The rate you order at is the rate you renew at, year after year. There is no introductory teaser here, so no second-year jump is waiting — the hosting line stays a fixed figure your accounts can plan around.
Do plans include copies I can restore myself?
Yes — every plan gets a daily copy, and the restore runs from your panel in minutes: files, databases or both, at three in the morning with no ticket queue in the way. Keeping a further copy offsite is still a sound habit, and nothing here stops you.
Keep reading
How to Secure WordPress
Shut the doors WordPress attackers actually use — intermediate level, about an hour of setup.
How to Force HTTPS on Your Site
Every arrival sent to the encrypted address, with nobody left behind on http — beginner level, about 10 minutes.
WordPress (Glossary)
The plain-English definition this page rests on, with a worked example.
Business Hosting
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Domain Names
Find, register and transfer names — year one free with annual hosting.
Changing hosts? Run through our checklist first.
A plain order of work for a move nobody visiting will notice: which files go over first, how to carry the mail across without losing a message, when exactly to repoint DNS, and the two mistakes behind nearly every outage we are asked to rescue.
The name is waiting.
Every plan carries the essentials other hosts bill as extras — and support that answers.
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