WordPress Migration Service
We move your entire WordPress site — files, database, plugins, themes, media and users — into its own dedicated container on G7Cloud. You test everything on a preview URL, then approve the switch. Your live site never goes down.
Complete, not partial
What we move — every piece of your site
A WordPress site is more than a folder of files. We move all of it, then verify each piece on the preview before you ever approve the switch.
Files & core
The full wp-content directory and WordPress core, transferred and laid out in your site’s own dedicated container — with your wp-config settings recreated, not guessed.
Database
Your complete database — posts, pages, orders, comments, settings — imported into a dedicated MariaDB database of its own. For busy sites we run a final sync at cutover.
Plugins & themes
Every plugin and theme, active and inactive, including licensed premium ones. We flag anything host-specific (old caching or “optimisation” plugins) that should be retired rather than moved.
Media library
All uploads, including the multi-gigabyte libraries that break plugin-based migrators. We transfer over SFTP or from an archive and verify the copy against the source before preview.
Users & roles
Administrators, editors, customers — accounts move inside the database with password hashes intact, so everyone logs in after the move exactly as they did before.
Email & DNS
If your mailboxes live with your old host, we recreate them on our own mail platform, configure DKIM/SPF, and reroute mail at cutover. Your DNS zone imports into our DNS hosting.
Where does the site land? In a dedicated container with its own database — see managed WordPress hosting for the architecture, or WooCommerce hosting if you run a store.
Preview first
You test the copy before the internet sees it
Once the copy is built, you get a private preview URL — your full site, running on G7Cloud, reachable before any DNS changes. This is the step one-click migration tools skip, and it is the step that catches problems:
- Click through your key pages, menus and search
- Submit your contact forms and confirm they arrive
- Log in to wp-admin and check plugins load cleanly
- Run a test checkout if you sell — with Stripe or your gateway in test mode
- Compare anything that looks off against the live site, side by side
Find something wrong? Tell us and we fix it on the preview. The cutover waits for you — there is no deadline and your live site is unaffected.
The hard parts
The gotchas that break DIY migrations — and how we handle them
Most “failed migrations” fail on the same handful of problems. We have moved enough WordPress sites to check for every one of these as a matter of routine.
Hardcoded URLs
Themes, page builders and widgets bury absolute URLs inside serialized PHP data. A naive find-and-replace corrupts those strings and breaks layouts silently. We use WP-CLI’s serialization-aware search-replace across all tables, then spot-check builder pages on the preview.
PHP version bumps
Your old host may be stuck on PHP 7.4 while your plugins are untested on 8.x. G7Cloud supports PHP 7.4 through 8.4, selectable per site — so we migrate on your current version first, confirm everything works, then help you step up versions later with the preview of a cloned site if you want one.
Oversized media libraries
Plugin migrators time out or silently drop files on 10 GB+ upload folders. We transfer media over SFTP or from a host-generated archive, compare file counts and sizes against the source, and re-pull anything that does not match before you review.
Host-specific leftovers
Old hosts leave behind must-use plugins, custom drop-ins and .htaccess rules that break elsewhere — or do nothing but slow the site. We identify them, remove what is host-specific, and tell you what we removed and why.
Mixed content after HTTPS
Sites that were http:// or behind a proxy often show broken padlocks after a move. We issue free TLS certificates before cutover and fix insecure http:// references in content so the site is fully HTTPS from the first request.
Email that quietly breaks
The classic post-migration surprise: the website moved but email died, because MX records pointed at the old host. We map your mail setup before cutover, recreate mailboxes where needed, and reroute delivery as part of the same DNS change.
After cutover
The post-migration checklist we run on every site
Cutover is not the finish line — verification is. Once DNS points at G7Cloud, we work through the same checklist on every WordPress migration before we call it done:
- Homepage and key pages render over HTTPS with a valid certificate
- wp-admin login works and the dashboard loads without plugin errors
- Permalinks resolve — no 404s on posts, pages or category archives
- Contact and checkout forms submit and deliver
- Scheduled tasks (WP-Cron) firing — scheduled posts and plugin jobs run
- Search-replace verified: no old-domain references left in rendered pages
- DKIM/SPF in place and mail routing confirmed, if email moved with the site
- Daily backup schedule enabled — and the first backup restore-tested that night
- Per-minute uptime monitoring switched on with alerts to your email
Your first backup is restore-tested the same night
Every backup on G7Cloud is automatically restored into an isolated sandbox each night to prove it actually works. That includes the very first backup of your freshly migrated site — so within a day of moving, you have a verified, restorable copy. Read more in our WordPress backup strategy guide.
Then the platform keeps watch
Per-minute uptime checks with email, webhook and Slack alerts, TLS expiry warnings, resource metrics with 90-day retention, and ScaleShield WAF and bot protection in front of the site. Ongoing care is covered on our WordPress support & maintenance page.
Want a safety net for future changes?
Site cloning is built in: duplicate your WordPress site in the dashboard before a risky plugin update or a redesign, test on the clone, then apply changes to live. WP-CLI, phpMyAdmin and SFTP (port 2222) are all included too.
WordPress migration — honest answers
How long does a WordPress migration take?
Typically 1–3 working days per site depending on size. A standard business site with a few gigabytes of media is usually ready to preview within a day; a large WooCommerce store or a site with tens of gigabytes of uploads takes longer to transfer and verify. Your live site keeps running on your current host throughout, so there is no downtime while you wait.
Will my site go down?
No. We build the copy on G7Cloud while your current site keeps serving visitors. The switch is a DNS change that only happens after you have tested the copy on a preview URL and approved it. At every moment your domain points at a fully working site.
Do my WordPress logins still work after the move?
Yes. User accounts and their password hashes live in the WordPress database, and we move the database intact — so every editor, author and customer logs in exactly as before. Nothing needs to be reset.
I run WooCommerce and take orders daily. How do you avoid losing orders?
We coordinate the cutover with you. After you approve the preview, we schedule the switch for a quiet window, run a final database sync immediately before changing DNS, and verify checkout on the new site straight after. Orders placed before the final sync come across; the window in which an order could land on the old host is minutes, and we check the old database afterwards to be certain nothing was left behind.
What does it cost, and do I need to sign up first?
The migration is free on every paid plan — from Starter at £9/month. The practical order is: get in touch, we scope the move and confirm which plan fits (WooCommerce stores need Business, £19/month, for the extra headroom and tooling), you sign up, and we start. Every paid plan has a 30-day money-back guarantee, so the risk stays with us.
My current host is a mess and I don’t have credentials. Can you still help?
Usually, yes. If you can get us any one of: a hosting control panel login, SFTP/FTP access, or a recent full backup (many hosts let you download one), we can work with it. If you tell us who the host is, we will tell you exactly where to find what we need.
Move your WordPress site without the drama
Tell us where your site lives today. We’ll build the copy, you’ll test it on a preview URL, and DNS switches only when you approve. Free on every paid plan, from £9/month.
Moving something other than WordPress? See the full migration service. Comparing hosts first? Read G7Cloud vs Kinsta or compare all plans.