Organizations should feel prepared to migrate WordPress websites at any time. Hosting issues, DNS problems, security breaches or hacks–the solution is always the same: migration to another host server.
Your organization needs the best tools to move your WordPress website safely. Your content and data are valuable assets to your organization.
Here we will compare what our engineers consider to be the top WordPress migration plugins that let you make a hassle-free & quick transfer of all databases, files, themes and more.
While you can start a new WordPress site easily, moving an existing one from one server to another isn’t something everyone is comfortable with. You need to move all your critical databases, files, plugins and your theme without any downtime, so your visitor does not see a broken website.
The last thing you need is a broken website and all the unnecessary trouble that comes with it.
The most important thing you want is to perform it without causing any problems for your website’s SEO rankings.
To ensure everything goes smoothly, you should look at one of the many WordPress plugins available built to make this process easier.
The Best WordPress Migration Plugins in 2023
Migrating a WordPress website from one host to another or from one domain to another can be a difficult and stressful process. But, with the right WordPress migration plugin, you can make the process easier.
“Some plugins allow you to create a backup of your site and then import it back into another existing site that has the same plugin installed. They also take care of things like updating your database references in case you are changing your domain” explains Nick Schäferhoff of the WordPress team.
Let’s take a look and compare the best WordPress migration plugins and discuss their features in a little more detail. Let’s get started.
Here is our list of the best WordPress migration plugins for 2023:
All-in-One WP Migration
All-in-One WP Migration is a WordPress plugin that enables users to migrate their website with little technical knowledge or experience. It works with most versions of MySQL/MariaDB, and is available in 50+ translations and WCAG 2.1 AA Level compliant for accessibility.
- Supports custom uploads, plugins, theme folders, etc.
- No limitations on host or operating system
- Supports a wide range of hosting providers
This plugin also has mobile compatibility, full product support and is used by governments, corporations such as Boeing & NASA plus many universities due to its reliability. All-in-One WP Migration comes preinstalled on Bitnami WordPress sites running on AWS, Google Compute Cloud or Microsoft Azure cloud storage services.
“Overall, the All-in-One WP Migration plugin makes it very easy to migrate a self-hosted WordPress site to another host” explains the WordPress.com team. It’s ideal “if you’re unhappy with your current hosting situation, using All-in-One WP Migration to migrate to another self-hosted provider” is super easy.
All-in-One WP Migration is a WordPress plugin that makes it incredibly easy to migrate your website from one location to another, with minimal stress and no downtime.
“Whether you’re changing to a new host or moving a local development site to live hosting (or vice versa), you’ll probably encounter a situation in which you need to migrate your WordPress site at some point in your WordPress journey.”
With over 60 million downloads since 2013 and over 6,000 5-star user reviews, All-in-One WP Migration is widely loved for its simplicity of installation requirements as well as its feature list which supports users of any technical level or experience. All in One WP Migration will safely get your website moved swiftly without worry or hassle!
VaultPress – now part of Jetpack
VaultPress is a cloud backup solution providing real-time backups as users edit content, 10GB of storage, and 30-day activity log archive. It can be used to protect WooCommerce stores, news organizations, membership sites and online forums with features such as unlimited one-click restores from the last 30 days and WooCommerce order and table backups. Benefits include protecting revenue streams & content, restoring in one click from desktop or mobile devices, cloning offline sites without a developer’s assistance and best-in-class support from WordPress experts.
- Restore your site in one click from desktop or mobile
- Restore or clone offline sites
- Unlimited one-click restores from the last 30 days
- Fix your site without a developer
VaultPress is a powerful site protection service that offers automated backups, restores, security scans and file repairs. It also provides 10GB of cloud storage with 30 day activity log archive and real-time backups as you edit.
“All VaultPress backups are stored in our very own world-class infrastructure – the same one that powers and supports millions of WordPress.com sites. Because, after all, your site is too important to trust with anybody else.” they explain on their website.
VaultPress makes it easy to keep an up-to-date backup of your site with both daily and real time syncing of all WordPress content. Security features include virus scanning, malware removal, spam defense as well as restore services from desktop or mobile devices in just one click. Priority support is included should the need arise and you are able to download any backup anytime you want.
Duplicator
Duplicator is one of the most popular migration plugin for WordPress. It’s easy to use and flexible, with over a million installations globally. Move your WP site to a new server with ease, minimize data loss and keep your site backed up.
All around the world, in over 70 languages, Duplicator is making website migration easier than ever.
Duplicator works with all hosting platforms on the market. The free version is useful for small sites, but advanced features like daily backups cost extra. You can save backups with Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, and many other platforms. Duplicator updates all URLs on the site, making it easy to edit domain links.
Why we like it:
- Transfer any size site to new hosting
- Cloud storage (Dropbox, Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, Amazon S3, and FTP/SFTP)
- Website migration from localhost
- Daily backup options
- Multisite backups are easy
- Email notifications for everything that happens
UpdraftPlus WordPress Backup Plugin
UpdraftPlus is the world’s highest ranking and most popular backup plugin, with over three million currently-active installs. It simplifies backups and restoration, allowing users to back up their files and databases into the cloud directly to Dropbox, Google Drive, Amazon S3 (or compatible).
The paid version also allows you to back up to additional destinations like Microsoft OneDrive and Azure. Backing up your website is essential for security – UpdraftPlus makes it easier than ever by letting you “set it and forget it”.
With Updraft you can easily create a temporary clone of your website for testing or development purposes without touching your live site. Finally, if you’re multilingual then you can help others in your language use UpdraftPlus Backup/Restore too – just follow the instructions on our translation page!
- Restores, as well as backing up
- Backs up to more cloud options than any others
- Allows you to set up automatic backup schedules, for the ultimate in convenience
- Is faster, using up fewer server resources
- Has been tested on over 3 million sites
Why we love it: UpdraftPlus is easy to set up and use, is incredibly reliable, and has been tested on over 3 million sites. With it you can back up your WordPress website for ultimate security with minimal effort – what’s not to love!
It might not be for you if you need to back up to more than the locations available in UpdraftPlus.
Other options for migrating your organization’s WordPress website
We’ve discussed some really great options for DIYing a website migration. These tools are used by professionals everyday to migrated WordPress websites. Our engineers use several of the tools here on this page when migrating client websites daily.
If you’re team is less technically-inclined, and perhaps the value of your organization’s website is sizeable, you may want to consider hiring a developer or company to migrate your website for you. Learn more about the WordPress migration service and how your organization could benefit from our team’s expertise.
Planning your Site Migration
Before beginning any WordPress website migration, organizations must first map their existing data in order to understand what they have and the quality of it before gathering requirements for a data migration. Planning for a migration is critical and every migration requires a complete understanding and really needs a written plan.
Data migration experts will assess the impact of the migration on the organization, identify key stakeholders, assign responsibilities, set budget and timeline constraints, and plan for communication about the project.
Consider the following:
- How much downtime can you tolerate?
- What is the size of your website?
- What hosting provider are you moving to?
- What is the current version of WordPress and of the plugins you are using?
- What type of content (pages, posts, images, etc.) do you have?
- How is the website developed?
- Does the website use custom themes that may required core updates?
- Will the website require unique custom development?
- What existing technologies does the website utilize?
When designing a WordPress migration plan, leaders should work with their migration team or migration engineer to plan the software and/or hardware they’ll use and begin to create specifications for the site migration, and work to determine the timing and planning for the action data migration to happen.
Implementing a WordPress migration
Once the planning for a data migration is complete and the migration plan is finalized, migration engineers begin implementation.
The plugin you choose to use in your organization’s migration will be vary depending on your specific needs, the source and destination server, and many other factors. Once a tool has been selected, or if it has been decided an off-the-shelf plugin isn’t capable enough for the existing implementation, then the migration can begin.
Migration engineers will typically begin by setting up the target server. In many cases, the migration engineer will create a backup of the existing WordPress site and then copy the data to the destination server. The engineer will then install the new version of WordPress and its plugins, configure the data, and apply the necessary security measures.
Depending on the size of the website, the migration process can take anywhere from a few hours to multiple days.
Once the migration is complete, the engineer will test the website to ensure it is running smoothly and that all of the content has been transferred successfully.
If any issues arise, they will need to be addressed and the migration process may need to be repeated.
Conclusion
Migrating a WordPress website can be a complex process and it’s important to get it right.
Selecting the right WordPress migration plugin for your organization is key to ensuring a successful migration.
Organizations should feel comfortable and confident in their ability to migrate WordPress websites. By selecting the right WordPress migration plugin, they can make the process easier, quicker and less stressful.
The above tools are some of the best, most reliable WordPress migration plugins available on the market. With any of these plugins, organizations should be able to migrate their WordPress websites with confidence.
We hope this article has helped you choose the best one for your organization.
