At WP Engine, we strive to ensure every customer has a great experience, which includes a seamless migration from your old host to WP Engine. One of the great features of our platform is our WP Engine Automated Migration Tool, which you can use to easily migrate your site’s content and database with one click.
If you’re unable to use our Automated Migration Tool, or prefer the manual method, that’s okay too! We have a helpful checklist available from your User Portal which offers guided navigation through the entire Manual Migration process. It also offers some useful tools to help guide you, such as:
- One-button site preview–This unique and powerful tool allows you to simply press a button to preview your site in a new tab before you complete the migration.
- DNS propagation detection–Because DNS propagation can sometimes take some time, we’ll let you know that you’ve successfully migrated DNS to WP Engine with an email notification.
- Tracking migration progress–Exporting your database and wp-content folder from your old host and importing them both into the WP Engine platform.
- Personalized instructions–SFTP credentials and domain configuration
Navigating to the Manual Migration checklist
To navigate to the Manual Migration checklist, just log in to your User Portal and navigate to your environment on the Dashboard or Sites page. Then click Site migration from the left-hand navigation. Last, click “Manually migrate your site” in the top right of this page, to access the Manual Migration checklist!
We have comprehensive Support articles for every step of the Manual Migration process–you will find the articles broken up by each step in the sections below.
Setup
These steps involve setting up your WP Engine User Portal to make the following export and import steps easy for you.
Update
These steps ensure your website content is ready to move to WP Engine before exporting it for the move.
- Back Up Your Site With Your Current Host
- Make Sure You Are Not Using Disallowed Plugins
- Update Plugins, Themes, and WordPress Core
Export
These steps walk you through exporting your existing website’s content in preparation of importing it to WP Engine.
Import
These steps involve importing the database and content you prepared and exported in the previous steps.
Verify
These steps simply verify your website is ready for launch in the upcoming step by previewing your content and syncing any new changes or posts.
Launch
Last, launch your website using these steps.
Optional
These steps, while optional, could be very important for your website. Be sure to review and see if you need to bring over or add an SSL certificate, or add redirects for your domain.