Move a WordPress Site to Your Hosting

You can move an existing WordPress site from another host, or from your own computer, to your shared hosting. The easiest way is a migration plugin. You can also move it by hand.

Before you start

• Add the domain to your hosting if it isn't your main domain (see Add Domains and Subdomains).
• Don't cancel your old hosting until the site works here.
• Take a full backup of the site at your old host.

Option 1: Use a migration plugin (easiest)

1. Install a fresh WordPress site for the domain with WP Toolkit.
2. On both the old site and the new one, install the same migration plugin from the WordPress plugin directory (for example All-in-One WP Migration, Duplicator or Migrate Guru).
3. Follow the plugin's steps to export from the old site and import into the new one. The import replaces the fresh site with your old site, including its users and passwords.

Option 2: Move it by hand

1. Download your files. At the old host, download everything in the WordPress folder (including wp-content and wp-config.php) with FTP or the old host's file manager.
2. Export your database at the old host with phpMyAdmin (Export, Quick, SQL).
3. Create a new database and user here: see Create a MySQL Database and User. Note the database name, username and password.
4. Import the database with phpMyAdmin here: see Import, Export and Repair Databases with phpMyAdmin.
5. Upload your files to the domain's folder (usually public_html) with File Manager or FTP.
6. Edit wp-config.php in File Manager and change DB_NAME, DB_USER and DB_PASSWORD to the new values. DB_HOST stays localhost.
7. In WP Toolkit, click Scan so it finds the site and you can manage it there.

Point your domain here

When the site is ready, point the domain at your hosting by changing its nameservers or DNS records (see Changing Your Domain's Nameservers). It can take a few hours to update everywhere. Then install a free SSL certificate (Install a Free SSL Certificate).