Migrating your WordPress website to a new host

Migrating your website to a new host used to be an arduous task but if you're running WordPress, it's not so bad. If you haven't already chosen a new host for your site, check out my article on choosing a good website host to help you with your decision. WordPress keeps all of it's stuff in two places. All of your files, your themes, plugins, photos and such are kept in the /wp-content folder. And all your settings, your posts and pages and such are stored in the WordPress database. Here's how to tackle migrating your WordPress website to a new host.

Manually

Migrating your site isn't actually that hard if you're a computer nerd. To migrate your files to your new host all you have to do is log into your host via FTP using a client such as Cyberduck or Filezilla. Drag the wp-content folder to your desktop and when everything is done copying, voila! You now have a backup of your files. The second part is a little harder. If you know how to deal with MySQL or think you can handle it, just export all the tables from that database into a .sql file and you can import them into your new host via SSH or their control panel. Don't forget to update or copy your wp-config.php file depending on how your new host's database and settings are configured.

Automatically

Fortunately for those of us who are either not tech-y or are very lazy(I'm this one) there are other options for backing up and migrating your site.

MyEASYbackup: I used to always use this plugin for backups and later for migrations. It's very useful. Once you configure the settings page, you just click a button and you have a downloadable backup of all your database tables and your files. It even comes with an installer script to put things back in place for you. Unfortunately, this plugin is now commercial and the settings page is VERY complicated. I like this one but I'd recommend one of the other options unless they don't work for you.

VaultPress: When it comes to backups, VaultPress is probably the best. It was recommended to me by somebody at WP Engine so you know it's gotta be decent. This is by and far the simplest backup solution I've found. You just install the plugin and it automatically backs up your entire WordPress install. Then it continues to back up every change you make to the site, right after you make it. I have to confess that I could not get VaultPress to work as a migration solution and their tech support people were completely useless. Worst help I've ever gotten. But it's a fantastic product and I think that migration issue was just me for some reason.

Duplicator: My new favorite backup and migration solution is Duplicator. It creates a backup of all your files and your database tables in one click, it's very easy to use and it seriously just copies and pastes your entire site into a new location if you use it for migration. It's the best thing I've found so far and it's free. This is the plugin that I would recommend to everyone except the least experienced people. For those, use VaultPress, for everybody else, use Duplicator. It's amazing.