How to Migrate a WordPress Site to a New Host
WordPress makes hosting migrations easier than any other platform — the whole site is files plus one database — and managed WordPress hosts compete hard on free migration help. Here's the plugin-assisted path, the manual path, and where each one bites.
Disclosure: 2 of the 2 providers listed here pay us a commission on a purchase — the ones without a paid link are captioned "Non-affiliate recommendation". Commission does not affect the ratings or the order.
Summary verdict
The short answer
If you're moving to a managed WordPress host, let them migrate you: Kinsta performs free team-handled migrations from any host on all plans, and Cloudways offers a free first-site migration plus an unlimited migrator plugin, per their published offers as of July 2026. Otherwise, a migration plugin handles the standard case, and the manual path (files + database + search-replace) is the fallback that always works.
At a glance
Comparison table
Kinsta
High-traffic premium WordPress
- Starting price
- from $30/mobilled annually (1 site, 10 GB storage)renews at $35/mo billed monthlyVerified September 2026
- Ease
- 4 of 5
- Performance
- 5 of 5
- Support
- 5 of 5
- Migration
- Included
- Not included
Cloudways
Managed cloud for growing sites
- Starting price
- from $11/mopay-as-you-go, DigitalOcean 1 vCPU / 2 GBVerified September 2026
- Ease
- 4 of 5
- Performance
- 5 of 5
- Support
- 4 of 5
- Migration
- Included
- Paid add-on
| Provider | Best for | Starting price | Ease | Performance | Support | Migration | Get it | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
KinstaPremium WordPress sites that need speed and support
|
High-traffic premium WordPress | from $30/mobilled annually (1 site, 10 GB storage)renews at $35/mo billed monthlyVerified September 2026 | Ease of use: 4 of 5 | Performance: 5 of 5 | Support: 5 of 5 | Included | Not included | |
|
CloudwaysGrowing sites that want managed cloud without ops work
|
Managed cloud for growing sites | from $11/mopay-as-you-go, DigitalOcean 1 vCPU / 2 GBVerified September 2026 | Ease of use: 4 of 5 | Performance: 5 of 5 | Support: 4 of 5 | Included | Paid add-on |
Providers in this guide
Our picks, scored
Kinsta
Premium WordPress sites that need speed and support
- Pricing
- from $30/morenews at $35/mo billed monthlyVerified September 2026
Pros
- +Google Cloud Premium Tier network
- +Excellent support and developer tooling
- +Daily backups and staging environments
Cons
- −Higher price point than shared WordPress hosts
- −Visit limits on lower plans
Confirm current pricing on the provider's site.
Visit KinstaCloudways
Growing sites that want managed cloud without ops work
- Pricing
- from $11/moVerified September 2026
Pros
- +Managed hosting on top of DigitalOcean, Vultr, AWS, GCP
- +Easy scaling and server cloning
- +Solid caching stack out of the box
Cons
- −No included email hosting
- −Add-ons can increase monthly cost
Confirm current pricing on the provider's site.
Visit CloudwaysPath 1: Let the new host do it
Managed WordPress hosts treat migration as an acquisition cost. As published in July 2026: Kinsta's team performs free migrations from any host on every plan, Cloudways gives every account one free managed migration plus an unlimited-use migrator plugin, and Rocket.net advertises free migrations handled by staff. If you're paying managed prices, you should not be doing the migration yourself.
What host migrations don't cover: your DNS cutover timing, email (managed WP hosts don't host mail at all — plan mailboxes separately), and anything living outside WordPress like standalone scripts or subdomain apps.
Path 2: The plugin route
Migration plugins package the site (files plus database) into an archive you restore on the new host. They handle the detail that breaks naive copies: WordPress stores absolute URLs throughout its database, and the plugin rewrites them for the new environment, including inside serialized data where a plain text-replace corrupts settings.
Two caveats from the field: very large sites (tens of GB of uploads) can exceed plugin and PHP limits — move the uploads folder separately by SFTP — and some managed hosts restrict backup/migration plugins that conflict with their own systems; check the receiving host's allowed-plugin list first.
Path 3: Manual, the way that always works
Copy wp-content (themes, plugins, uploads), export the database with a search-replace pass for the URL and file paths (respecting serialized data — use a WP-aware tool, not a text editor), create the database on the new host, update wp-config.php credentials, and point a test hostname at it before touching production DNS.
Then follow the standard cutover discipline from our general guide: TTL down a day early, switch DNS in a quiet hour, keep the old host alive for two weeks. WordPress adds one extra check — log in and re-save permalinks on the new host, the classic fix for 404s after a move.
Best fit for
- +WordPress owners leaving shared hosting for managed or cloud hosting
- +Anyone whose host's 'free migration' fine print needs decoding
- +Site owners who want the manual fallback documented before they need it
Consider another option if
- −Your site isn't WordPress — see our general host-switching guide instead
- −You're only changing domains, not hosts — that's a search-replace job, not a migration
- −Your WordPress install is heavily multisite — get the receiving host's migration team involved first
Questions readers ask
FAQ
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Written and reviewed by
W. Miller — Editor, Digital Hosting
W. Miller is the founder of TetraCore, LLC, the software company that owns and publishes Digital Hosting, and has spent 35 years in software development, technology and related services, including cloud and hosting. The uptime monitoring and price-collection infrastructure behind this site's original research is built and run in-house.
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