How to Move Your WordPress Site to a New Host

People stay on slow, overpriced hosting for years because moving feels risky. In practice, moving a WordPress site is routine, and if you choose the right new host, someone else does almost all of it.

The Golden Rule

Do not cancel your old hosting until the new site is live and checked. Your old site keeps running the whole time. Visitors only switch to the new host when you change your domain's settings, and if anything goes wrong you can switch back.

Option 1: Let the New Host Do It (Easiest)

WPX: free, done for you, within 24 hours

WPX moves WordPress sites for you at no charge, with no limit on the number of sites, and aims to finish within 24 hours of approving your request. It moves your email too, free. You give WPX one of:

• a WordPress admin login,
• a link to a full backup, or
• access to your current hosting control panel, FTP and database.

WPX also scans your site for malware as it arrives, and cleans it if needed, which can stretch the move to 72 hours. Extras that cost money: jumping the queue ($100) and changing your domain name during the move ($98).

After the move, you change your domain's nameservers and email settings yourself. WPX tells you exactly what to enter.

SiteGround: a free migration plugin

SiteGround's "free site migrations" are done with its free SiteGround Migrator plugin: you get a token from your new account, paste it into the plugin on your old site, and it copies everything across. It does not handle Multisite networks. SiteGround also offers a professional migration by its team as a paid service, which can take up to five working days.

Option 2: Use a Migration Plugin

• All-in-One WP Migration: very popular and simple. Its makers say the free version has no fixed size limit and that the limit you hit is your host's upload limit. Some users report having to buy the paid extension to restore large sites. Paid versions are $69 to $99 a year.
• Duplicator: the free version handles large sites by splitting backups into chunks. Multisite and cloud storage need the Pro version.

Plugins work well for most small sites. Test the result on the new host before you switch your domain.

Option 3: Move It by Hand

For developers, or very large sites. In outline, following WordPress.org's guidance:

1. Back up all the files and export the database.
2. Upload the files to the new host and import the database.
3. Update wp-config.php with the new database details.
4. If the domain is changing, use a search-and-replace tool so links in the database are updated safely.

The No-Downtime Checklist

1. Lower your domain's TTL to 300 seconds a day or two before the move, so the switch takes effect faster.
2. Buy the new hosting. Do not cancel the old one.
3. Move the site with one of the options above.
4. Check the copy using the temporary address the new host gives you: pages, forms, shop checkout, logins.
5. Copy every mailbox if your email is moving too.
6. Switch your domain to the new host, by changing nameservers or the A record.
7. Test again once the change has spread, which can take up to 24 to 48 hours.
8. Keep the old hosting for a week or two, then cancel it before it renews.

Where Should You Move To?

• Want it done for you and one steady price: WPX. See our WPX review.
• Want phone support and AI tools: SiteGround. See our SiteGround review.
• Leaving SiteGround because of the renewal price: see SiteGround alternatives.

Or let us handle the move and the hosting: our website care plans include both.

Frequently Asked Questions