The 9 Top Plugins for Migrating WordPress Sites

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If you are planning to move your existing website to a new hosting company, you may face several challenges, including moving the database, files, plugins, and themes, as well as minimizing downtime and preserving your website's SEO rankings. To make this process seamless and hassle-free, you will need a reliable WordPress migration plugin that can easily manage the transfer.

In this article, we will compare the top WordPress migration plugins that can help you migrate your website without any hiccups. While starting a new WordPress site is easy, moving an existing website to a new hosting company requires careful planning and execution. Choosing the right migration plugin can ensure that the entire process is smooth, efficient, and preserves your website's data and SEO rankings.

Let's dive right into the top WordPress migration plugins that can make moving your site from one hosting provider to another a breeze.


1. Duplicator Pro



Duplicator Pro is a top-tier plugin for backing up and migrating WordPress websites. It offers a user-friendly solution for a variety of migration scenarios, without requiring any technical expertise.

The plugin provides a straightforward, step-by-step wizard that guides users through the migration process. Initially, you create a migration package of your website and download it, along with an installer script, to your computer.

Subsequently, you upload the installer script and package to the new destination, such as a new server or host. After that, you run the migration wizard, which unpacks the package's content and installs it. Finally, Duplicator Pro lets you update URLs to ensure that everything runs seamlessly after the unpacking.

Here are some pros and cons of Duplicator Pro:

Pros:

Enables WordPress site migration to various destinations, such as a new host, domain name, local server, or live site.
Offers an easy-to-follow migration wizard for website movement.
Allows you to schedule backups and store them remotely, like on Google Drive or Dropbox.
Connects with cPanel hosting dashboard to automatically create databases and users.
Supports WordPress multisite migration with the Duplicator Pro plan.

Cons:
Connecting to the FTP server may be challenging for beginners. However, their customer support is helpful.
The upload process can be time-consuming if you have a slow internet connection or a large website.
Pricing:
Paid plans start from $49.50 per year, allowing for up to two websites. This package offers unlimited backups and migrations. If you want to use the plugin on more than five websites, you'll need the Pro plan, which starts at $199.50 per year. The Duplicator Pro plan enables you to migrate WordPress multisite and includes priority customer support.

2. UpdraftPlus Premium



UpdraftPlus is a top-notch WordPress backup plugin with a premium version that includes a migration tool for straightforward website migration.

Here are some of its pros and cons:

Pros:

It offers a user-friendly process, particularly if you already use it as your backup plugin. You can create a complete backup and import it to any location effortlessly.
You can schedule and store your WordPress backups remotely.
It works seamlessly with WordPress multisite networks.
Incremental backups save server resources.

Cons:

To perform a migration, you need to install WordPress on the destination manually.
Pricing:
You can purchase the Migrator Addon for $30 and use it with the free version of UpdraftPlus. Alternatively, you can buy UpdraftPlus Premium for $70.

3. Jetpack



Jetpack is a comprehensive plugin suite for WordPress that includes a robust backup feature previously known as VaultPress, which was a separate product. JetPack Backups enables easy restoration of WordPress backups and migration of websites to new servers.

Here are some pros and cons of using Jetpack backups:

Pros:

It's the most effortless way to create WordPress backups and restore them to a new location.
Incremental backups help save server resources.
The 1-click site restoration feature makes migration a breeze.
All your data is stored securely in the cloud, eliminating the need to manually re-upload backups during migration.
The backup feature comes with site security features that help safeguard your backups.

Cons:

To use Jetpack Backups, you need to subscribe to Jetpack, which includes other features that you may not need or use.
The setup process can be a bit complicated for beginners since it requires two plugins, a Jetpack subscription, and a WordPress.com account.
Pricing:
Jetpack Backups costs $1 for the first month and then $10 per month, billed annually.

4. All-in-One WP Migration



All-in-One WP Migration is a comprehensive WordPress migration plugin that offers a wide range of features. Unlike other plugins that focus solely on backup, All-in-One WP Migration is specifically designed for website migration.

Advantages:

It has been extensively tested and supports numerous WordPress hosting providers, operating systems, PHP versions, and more.
It can import data in chunks to bypass file size limits set by your host.
It supports WordPress versions as old as 3.3.

Disadvantages:

The free version has a limit of 512 MB for importing data.
To use the plugin, you need to install WordPress manually at the new location.
For exporting multisite data, you'll need to purchase a separate paid extension.
Pricing: The basic plugin is free, but the import size limit can be removed by purchasing the Unlimited extension for a lifetime license fee of $69.

5. Migrate Guru

Migrate Guru is a WordPress migration plugin developed by the team behind Blog Vault, a well-known WordPress backup solution. It is specifically designed for migrating websites to a new host or server.

Advantages:

It supports nearly all popular WordPress hosting providers.
The migration wizard is easy to use - simply enter your destination host's FTP or cPanel credentials, and the plugin will take care of the rest.
It handles serialized data and updates WordPress database URLs.
It can migrate large websites without causing performance issues on your server.

Disadvantages:

It does not support transfers between localhost and live websites or from live to localhost.
Multisite migrations are not fully supported.

6. BackupBuddy




BackupBuddy is a popular backup and migration plugin for WordPress that has been available since 2010 and has a large and dedicated user base.

Advantages:

Provides automated scheduled backups, restoration, and migration features in one comprehensive package.
Allows you to customize backup schedules, choose what data to back up, and store it remotely on platforms like Google Drive, Dropbox, Amazon S3, and others.
Offers easy website transfer using a complete WordPress backup.
Can quickly deploy a WordPress staging site to a live server with just one click.

Disadvantages:

Does not support WordPress multisite.
Restoration and migration features may not be as straightforward for beginners compared to some other plugins on this list.
Pricing: Starting at $99 per year for a single site license.


7. Migrate DB Pro



Migrate DB Pro is a powerful WordPress migration plugin that is specifically designed to move WordPress databases from one installation to another. It can also transfer media files, themes, and plugins with the help of separate add-ons.

Advantages:

Ideal for quickly copying a WordPress database from one site to another.
Offers powerful features that make it an excellent choice for developers.
Enables you to back up your existing database before replacing it with a new one.
Allows you to find and replace any text in your database.
Well-suited for large websites and complex hosting server environments.

Disadvantages:

To access media and file add-ons, you will need to purchase a developer license, which can be expensive.
May not be as user-friendly for beginners as some other plugins on this list.
Pricing: Starting at $49 for a single site. You will need a developer license, which costs $189, to access media and file add-ons.

Bonus Plugins: These WordPress migration plugins are best suited for specific situations and are a good option for beginners.

8. Bluehost Migrator



If you're migrating your WordPress site to Bluehost, this plugin is designed to help you move your website to Bluehost hosting servers. Bluehost is one of the best WordPress hosting providers and an officially recommended one as well.

Advantages:

This plugin is specifically designed to transfer your website from any hosting company to Bluehost.
It is very easy to use, requiring only a token from your hosting control panel, and the plugin takes care of the rest.
If you're not changing your domain name, it will automatically create a temporary domain for the transferred site, and you can change the DNS later to point your domain name.

Disadvantages:

It cannot be used to transfer from localhost to a live site.
Does not support WordPress multisite.

9. SiteGround Migrator



SiteGround Migrator is a plugin designed by SiteGround to help users migrate their WordPress sites to SiteGround hosting servers. SiteGround is one of the best WordPress hosting providers, and an officially recommended one.

Using the plugin is very simple, as all you need to do is enter a token from your hosting control panel, and the plugin takes care of the rest. Moreover, it can automatically create a temporary domain for the transferred site, in case you're not changing your domain name. Later, you can change the DNS to point to your domain name.

However, note that the plugin can't be used to transfer from localhost to the live site, and it does not support WordPress multisite. In case you don't want to use the plugin, SiteGround offers one free website migration with their GrowBig and GoGeek plans, and their support team can help you with the process. The plugin is best suited for a specific scenario of transferring from any hosting company to SiteGround. The plugin is free to use.


Bonus: Free WordPress Blog Setup



As an AI language model, I do not have the capability to make purchases or commissions. However, I can provide information about the WordPress migration process.

The WPBeginner team offers a free blog setup service that includes transferring a WordPress.com blog to a self-hosted WordPress.org website. This service is helpful for beginners who may find the migration process complicated. The WPBeginner team will migrate your content, comments, images, and media, and also install must-have WordPress plugins on your site to give you a solid start.

The service is free, but you will need to purchase a hosting plan from one of WPBeginner's recommended WordPress hosting providers. It is important to note that WPBeginner earns a small commission when you sign up for one of their recommended hosting providers, but they only recommend products they use personally and believe will add value to their readers.