There are plenty of reasons why you might want to switch from one web hosting provider to another. It might be because your website needs more resources, or because it’s too slow, or various other factors.
While some of the reliable web hosting providers offering free migration will migrate your website without you making any effort, the real challenge comes when you have to migrate your site on your own.
When it comes to transferring a WordPress site, you’re faced with the challenge of transferring not only the content of your site but also tons of other features, such as database, plugins, and themes.
We have been in a similar situation, and so, to make your migration simpler, we have put together a simple guide about transferring your website from one company to another with a step-by-step process.
Below is a quick and easy 5-step guide to help transfer your web hosting company.
Here’s a quick index to help you navigate this article:
Let’s take a closer look at the details!
How to Transfer Web Hosting From One Company to Another (Step-by-step)
Step #1: Choose a Reliable Web Host That Offers Quick Migration
There are plenty of reasons why you might want to move your site to a new hosting provider. Whatever your reason, the first and most essential step is to choose a reliable web hosting provider.
Your new hosting provider will hopefully offer a smooth and easy transfer that will allow you to migrate your themes, plugins, and files.
Various factors need to be taken into consideration before you decide to move your website. To make your choice easier, we have identified some of our most-recommended hosting providers that offer easy migration.
The Best Web Hosting Providers: In a Nutshell
1. SiteGround: Best Value for Money Hosting (Editors’ Pick)
SiteGround is one of our top recommended web hosting providers because it offers one of the most straightforward site migration processes.
You can sit back and relax while their experts migrate your site quickly and without any hassle for free. Take a look at our SiteGround review to get detailed insights into SiteGround hosting.
Price: The base plan starts at $6.99/month. Check our SiteGround coupon to get an exclusive discount on SiteGround now.
2. Bluehost: Best Feature Web Hosting
BlueHost is a hosting provider that supports millions of websites with its reliable and secure hosting platform. It is one of the web hosting providers that WordPress officially recommends.
BlueHost provides quick site transfer for free, along with a free domain name for a year. Check out our BlueHost review to get detailed insights into BlueHost hosting now.
3. InMotion Hosting: An Affordable Web Hosting Provider
InMotion hosting offers one of the fastest web hosting services with high-security features. With a constant uptime of 99.9%, InMotion provides a smooth migration from another hosting provider.
It is known for its affordable plans and excellent features that offer a hassle-free hosting experience. Here’s our InMotion hosting review with more detailed insights into InMotion hosting.
Get Started With InMotion Hosting
4. WPX Hosting: The Fastest Hosting – FREE Website Migration
WPX Hosting is one of the fastest web hosting providers on our recommended list. It delivers highest-level performance with SSD storage and advanced caching.
It offers 24/7 customer support, so if you take a wrong turn, their experts are always there to guide you within less than 30 seconds. Here’s our WPX Hosting review with detailed insights into WPX Hosting.
One web hosting provider can’t always offer everything you’re going to need. As your website grows, there is a possibility that you will need access to resources that your current web hosting provider cannot provide.
However, by choosing one of the hosting providers above, you have completed step one. If you do need to change web hosting providers, with any of the providers above you’ll be able to do it easily.
Some of them migrate your website for you, while others provide manual migration. With that taken care of, let’s move to the next step.
Step #2: Save Your Website Files (Transfer Database & Setup Applications)
After you have chosen your new hosting provider, you must save your website’s file.
If your web hosting provider offers free migration, you can ask the customer support team to migrate for you.
If you choose a web hosting that doesn’t offer a free migration service, you can do it yourself with ease. To transfer your WordPress website, you need to undertake a number of steps, including:
- Transferring the WordPress engine files.
- Transferring the site files like uploads and themes.
- Updating the WordPress configuration.
The easiest way to migrate your website is to ask your hosting provider to do it for you.
If your website is WordPress powered, you can use plugins such as All-in-one WP Migration, which can help you export all your files and database to the portable site package with ease. This is the first step you need to take.
Then, you need to install a clean, new WordPress version of your site on your new server and install the plugin: All-in-one Migration. Once you install the plugin, it will automatically configure the page and choose the import site.
All you need to do is drag the site package you exported into the plugin. Then the plugin will restore the old site over the clean, new version.
Upload via FTP
If you’re looking to do the entire process by yourself, you can also do it with ease.
Your WordPress website can be easily transferred from your old server to the new server via FTP.
To transfer your website, you will need an application like FileZilla. Once you have the application, both of your web hosting providers – the existing one and the new one – will give instructions for accessing your website via FTP.
Also, they’ll guide you on how to configure an FTP program like FileZilla.
If you’re unable to find any resources about FTP transfer, reach out to customer support and ask them to help you by setting up your FTP program.
Once you setup the FTP as per the hosting provider’s guidelines, you can simply download your entire website from your old web hosting provider.
You should download everything in the directory or folder above, which mainly contains the wp-admin folder, including all the files and subfolders, to your computer.
When the download is finished, you need to disconnect from the old server, connect to your new server, and then simply upload all the files you downloaded earlier. Please have patience – these steps may take some time.
Keep one thing in mind: migrating your database and content, including your blog or website, can be complex and tricky, especially if you have no technical background. To get it done the right way, you can follow WordPress codex’s instructions to export your database from MySQL and download it to your PC or laptop.
Once you’re done exporting your database, follow the instructions to update the servers’ paths easily. Then you just need to update the WordPress configuration and set the right variables for your new server
Step #3: Change Your Name Servers
The final step in migrating your website is to file a change of address. In this step, you need to update your DNS (domain name server) to point to your new web host.
When you get started with a new web hosting provider, you generally receive a welcome email. The email often has the nameservers you should use.
If you didn’t receive that email, connect with the customer support team, and ask them to give you the authentic nameservers. The nameservers look like (for example): ns1.servername.com, and so on.
Once you have the nameservers, navigate to your domain name and update the domain’s nameservers. The process of updating nameservers varies depending on which hosting service you choose.
To find the nameserver, you need to log in to your domain registrar account and then click on your list’s domain name. Once you’re on the domain name dashboard, check for the option “Name Servers” “NameServers” or similar.
Now you need to replace the name servers that are listed with those of your new web hosting provider. Then you need to enter at least two name servers.
Once you’ve done that, save the changes, and within 12 to 72 hours, all the domain names will be forwarded to the new hosting provider.
Step #4: Test Your Website
If you have followed all the steps carefully, your website should now have been successfully migrated to your new web hosting provider.
To make sure everything is working, you need to check your website and run some tests.
You can check your website using a temporary URL; this will allow you to access your website even when the domain name is not yet pointing to the new server.
You can find the temporary URL by logging in to your account management panel. After that, you need to click on “Account Technical Details”.
There, you should be able to find a section named “Temp”. In that section, you will be able to find the temporary URL. Now you need to visit that temporary URL and make sure everything is working smoothly.
If your website looks and works like it usually should, congratulations! You have successfully migrated your website.
If your website is not working the way it should, be ready to make changes or contact the customer support team to help you out.
Step #5: Free Website Migration Service (The Ultimate Solution)
Picture This: If you are someone who does not want to get involved with all the hassle of transferring your website from one web hosting company to another, you can simply rely on WPX Hosting and let their experts undertake free migration from your previous hosting provider to WPX Hosting without leaving you tangled in all the technicalities.
WPX Hosting offers a free migration service so that you can relax while they do all the work for you.
WPX Hosting transfers your WordPress data, themes, and plugins, and makes sure that you receive better performance than your previous hosting provider.
WPX Hosting provides free migration for business accounts, professional accounts, and elite accounts.
The quickest way to transfer your web host to WPX Hosting is by contacting their customer support, which gets back to you within 30 seconds.
It’s important to note that once the migration is completed, it is your responsibility to change the nameserver immediately.
Failure to change the name server will result in additional charges by WPX Hosting up to $98. WPX Hosting will make sure that your website is transferred quickly without facing any downtime
To maintain your site’s functionality, WPX Hosting will test everything before handing it over to you. So, go to WPX Hosting and let their support team take care of your risk-free migration.
Conclusion
Switching from one web hosting provider to another comes with various hassles.
If you are unsatisfied with your hosting provider, you should consider immediately migrating to a new web host for better functionality, so that your site is at its best.
When you are performing a migration manually for the first time the process can be intimidating and overwhelming.
However, if you follow the steps that we mentioned above, it’s possible to migrate your website without too much hassle and with no downtime.
To be on the safe side, it is critical to backup your data. That way you can undertake the process without the risk of losing your database and files along the way.
If you want to entirely avoid the hassle of doing the migration process manually, we recommend choosing WPX Hosting as it offers free migration with no downtime and excellent customer support.
We hope you found our article helpful. If you are still confused about any step, please let us know in the comment section below, and we will help you figure it out.
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