Today we will discuss about website migration in WordPress using plugins.WordPress is the most commonly used CMS all over the world because it makes web development so much easier. Anything you need with websites, in most cases, you will find plugins to help you out.
Having said that, there are times when you need to move your website, i.e. migrate your website either to manage hosting or cloud hosting. It could be either to a different hosting server, or from a staging server to live server, or from a localhost server to an online hosting server. Whichever the case, you can easily do it without hassle through a few amazing WordPress migration plugins.
When choosing WordPress migration plugins, things that you would look for are
>>The simplicity of use
>>Proper instruction to migration and cloning service
>>Secured backup files.
Now, there are many plugins which claim to be able to deliver these features.
However, I decided to hand pick 10 best WordPress migration plugins which are actually capable of helping you migrate your website safely, without much hassle.
10 Best WordPress Migration Plugins
1. Duplicator
Duplicator is the best among all the WordPress migration plugins out there. This plugin allows you to create backup packages of all of your site components, including WordPress core files. These you can then store either in a cloud server or a storage device as a backup. Once you are ready to migrate, you can simply unpack them and transfer them to a new server through FTP.
The plugin has detailed documentation to help you out, however, it does need you to input hosting details and manually indicate the files you wish to migrate. Hence, you do need to invest a good amount of time if you have a larger website.
Currently, it has a 4.9 stars rating and over 1 millions active installations on the WordPress repository. You can check out the free version of Duplicator here.
The Pro version gives you few more important features such as, multisite support, overwriting live site with clone files, turning all the backup packages into a single archive file and filter option, to quickly choose the components you wish to migrate.
There are many more features. You can check out Duplicator Pro.
2. WP Migrate DB
WP Migrate DB helps you to keep a copy of your website components in the form of MySQL data dump. You can then upload these into another database management tool (such as MyPHPAdmin) and can initiate this database to the new server which will replace the existing site on that server.
Currently, it has a 4.6 stars rating in the WordPress repository, with over 300 thousand active installations. You can check out the free version of WP Migrate DB here.
It however is more popular for its premium add-on, WP Migrate DB Pro, which rather helps you perform a proper migration. It will directly keep backups of your site components in zip formats, which you can then upload on any servers and unzip any time for proper migration. However, for the migrating media files, plugins and themes, you will need to purchase add ons.
You can check out WP Migrate DB Pro here.
3. All-in-One WP Migration
All-in-One WP Migration is completely free and a brilliant migration plugin.The plugin allows you to export WordPress components, including media, themes and plugins. You can then use a FTP server to drag and drop to replace files on the other server. This method works if you wish to migrate certain parts of your website.
However, you can migrate the complete website by installing this plugin on the target server and importing the files you exported on the initial server. The plugin will perform search and replace actions to ensure the new server doesn’t have any duplicates.
The best part of the plugin is, it bypasses the 2mb limit of uploading data. When migrating, the plugin creates small data packages and uploads them, and later combines them once uploaded.
It has a 4.7 stars rating in the WordPress repository and holds over 2 million active installations. You can check All-in-One WP Migration.
4. WP Synchro
WP Synchro is an amazing migration plugin. This plugin is specially designed for developers to use to migrate sites from their dev servers or staging servers to the live hosting server.
You need to have WordPress and WP Synchro installed on both servers. You can then migrate components back and forth, move all the components of a site as a clone and perform search and replace action to avoid data conflicts, directly through the plugin.
Currently, the plugin has 5 stars rating in the WordPress repository. It only has about 200 active installations since it’s a pretty new plugin. You can check it out here.
In case you have multiple sites, then you can go for its pro version. Checkout WP Synchro Pro here.
5. UpdraftMigrator
Most people using WordPress knows about UpdraftPlus. Being one of the best backup plugins, it also has a great reputation for its extension, UpdraftMigrator.
Naturally, you can keep backups and clones of any components of your site using UpdraftPlus. To be able to migrate, you will need to purchase its extension, UpdraftMigrator.
You simply install and activate UpdraftPlus and UpdraftMigrator on both the servers, and you can initialize migration or cloning of your site online, without any manual download and upload requirements.
UpdraftPlus itself has over 2 million active installations with 4.8 stars rating in the WordPress repository. . And almost 50% of these users use UpdraftMigrator. You can check it out here.
6. BackupBuddy
BackupBuddy is a backup plugin which is also considered as one of the best premium WordPress migration plugins.
First of all, it is one of the most trusted plugins to keep backups of your website. Second, they provide detailed instructions for you to manually migrate your site to another server without the need to do complex configurations or initiations.
Here’s how it works:
>>The plugin will take a backup of your complete site, including WordPress core files.
>>You will be provided with a script named importbuddy.php. You simply need to upload this .php file, along with the site backup files to the new server through FTP (making sure you do not have WordPress installed there since the backup already has WordPress core files).
>>Once copied to the target server, open the importbuddy.php file. This will ask for some details. Once you provide the required data, the migration process will start.
This plugin one of the most preferred plugins to securely migrate website files from one server to another.
You can checkout BackupBuddy.
7. VaultPress
VaultPress is mainly a backup plugin developed by Automattic. You can use the backup files of this plugin to manually migrate your site to another server. The main reason why I listed this plugin here is because of its credibility (since it is developed by the developers of WordPress itself).
The backup files generated by this plugin are flawless. It doesn’t take backups of the core files. You can simply upload the backup files using FTP to the new server (with WordPress installed in it). There is almost no chance of files being corrupted and no chance of duplications.
Currently, it has a 4,1 stars rating in the WordPress repository, with over 80 thousand active installation.
You can check out VaultPress here. It’s completely free.
8. Migrate Guru
Migrate Guru is one of the simplest WordPress Migration plugins to fulfill your need. You simply need to follow 4 simple steps and your migration is on the way.
>>You need to install and activate the plugin on the site you wish to migrate.
>>Then install WordPress in the target server for migration.
>>Provide the plugin with the web host details of the required migration destination. And that’s it. The whole migration process will take place online, through their own FTP servers.
Currently, it has a 4.8 stars rating, with over 10 thousand active installations in the WordPress repository.
This plugin are proud migration partners for WP Engine and Pantheon.
Checkout Migrate Guru.
9. Super Backup & Clone
Super Backup and Clone is one of the highest sold premium WordPress migration plugins out it. It is so popular because it has all the possible feature that you could ask for in a migration plugin. The plugin allows you to safely migrate your website to other hosting servers automatically with a few clicks. You do not need to manually sort, download or upload any files unless you wish to keep a back.
The plugin allows you to keep screenshot logs for your backups, allow you to integrate backup with cloud servers, custom filter options to migrate specific components only and many more. This is a powerful plugin for both backup and migration.
You may checkout Super Backup & Clone here.
10. Backup Guard
Backup Guard is a reasonable WordPress plugin for backup and migration. The main function of this plugin is to make secured backup files and storing them in cloud servers. However, it’s pro version offers site migration feature.
This plugin has all the features required in a backup plugin for free. Once you upgrade to pro, you will get migration features which allows you to move your site to a different server without any manual process.
The plugin currently has 4.5 stars rating and over 70 thousand active installations in the WordPress repository. You can checkout it’s free version here.
However, to be able to migrate websites, you should check out the premium version of Back Guard.
Authors Opinion: WordPress migration plugins
All of these plugins are great for backups and are the best out there among so many more WordPress migration plugins.
When I first went for site migration, I went and checkout over 20 plugins that offers this service. And finally found 2 plugins that suits me. I personally prefer Duplicator and WP Migrate DB Pro. However, all the plugins I mentioned in this list are amazing, with great support teams. Hence you may checkout all of them before choosing one.
Word Of Advice: Remember to check all the backup files to make sure they are not corrupted before performing a migration. Although all the plugins in this list are secured, it’s always best to be safe.
Why don’t you share your Website migration experience and your prefered WordPress migration plugins with us. Leave a comment below.