How to Transfer a WordPress Site to Another Server

Do you want to learn how to transfer a WordPress site from one server to another? Then this is the perfect resource for you. In this post, we’re going to learn how you can move your WordPress site from one server to another.

When working with WordPress, sometimes we have to transfer or move our website from one server to another. Whether you want to change your hosting type, or simply want to move your WordPress site to a new provider, you can follow the steps shown in this post. We’re going to use a plugin for this migration. It’s really easy to make this transfer. If you follow this tutorial, you’ll know exactly how to migrate WordPress sites within a few minutes. So let’s start!

Why transfer a WordPress site from one server to another?

There can be various reasons why you might want to transfer or move your WordPress site from one server to another. As you’re reading this post, you also have a good reason for making a transfer, right? So when you have a live WordPress website, there can be several reasons why you would want to move to a different server. 

Here are a few reasons why you would want to transfer your WordPress site from one host to another:

• Balanced price plan: Not all hosting providers offer the most suitable plans for everyone. If you feel that your hosting provider is expensive and is not offering competitive prices, moving to another hosting provider might save you money. There are several WordPress hosting providers that offer competitive and reasonable pricing.
• More hosting resources and features: As your WordPress site grows, you might need more resources such as storage, bandwidth, or processing power. Sometimes moving to a new server can provide you with these benefits.
• Improved server security: The security of your WordPress site is important. Some hosting providers have better security features than others. If you’re concerned about the security of your site, you can move to a server which is more secure. Along with a secure server you can also use WordPress security plugins for better protection.
• Better customer support: If you’re not satisfied with the customer support of your current hosting partner, switching to another hosting might be a good idea.

Whether it’s better security, better performance, more features, or better customer support, sometimes switching WordPress to a different server is the right move. This might sound complicated, but it’s really easy if you know how to move a WordPress site to a new host. That’s why, in this post we’re going to learn how to transfer WordPress sites in a simple and easy method.

How to transfer WordPress site from one server to another

To make this transfer, we’re going to use a plugin. It’s the easiest and perhaps the safest way to migrate your WordPress site to another server. But before we start, let’s take a look at the requirements of this transfer:

• Two servers with WordPress installed: Since we’re transferring a WordPress site from one server to another, it’s essential that we have WordPress installed on both servers. Since you already have a WordPress site on one server, no need to make any changes to that one. Just ensure that you have WordPress installed on the other server and you have access (credentials) to both sites.
• WPvivid Backup & Migration plugin: To transfer our WordPress site from one server to another, we need help of the WPvivid Backup & Migration plugin. Therefore this plugin has to be installed on both WordPress sites.

Now that’s all we need to make this transfer. However, do keep in mind that when you transfer your WordPress site to a different server, your WordPress credentials also get transferred. So make sure you have the credentials of your site before making this transfer.

With all that out of the way, we’re now ready to transfer our WordPress site from one server to another. Follow the steps given below to transfer your site.

Install WPvivid Backup & Migration plugin

First off, we’re going to install the WPvivid Backup & Migration plugin. To do this, you can download the plugin from wp.org and upload it to your WordPress site. Or, you can install it through your WordPress admin dashboard. For this, we’re going to go to Plugins > Add New Plugin from our WordPress dashboard. Search for “WPvivid Backup & Migration plugin”.

After you find this plugin, click on “Install” and then click on “Activate” to enable this plugin. If you don’t see the changes after the plugin is activated, simply refresh the page. You should also see a notification on top asking you to refresh the page. Once that is done, you should see WPvivid option on your WordPress dashboard.

Backup and download WordPress site files

The WPvivid Backup & Migration plugin is simple. Once it’s installed and activated, go to WPvivid Backup > Backup & Restore tab. From this section we’re going to take a backup of our site. Select the following options from here:

• Database + Files (WordPress Files)
• Save Backups to Local

Note that you can choose other options but these settings are standard for making a general WordPress site transfer. After choosing, click on the “Backup Now” button to start the backup process.

This should take a few seconds/minutes to complete (depending on your site’s size). Once the backup is done, you can check the “Backups” tab below. The backup that was just made will show up here. You’ll also see a “Download” button.

Once you hit Download, you should see the zip file of your site along with the size. Click the “Download” link to download your website backup.

Now you have your WordPress backup file.

Change your DNS to point the domain to the new server

At this point, you need to change the DNS information of your website domain name. This is necessary to point your website address to the new server. Otherwise the visitors will be redirecting to the old server. So change your DNS settings from your domain name registration service. This might take some time to take effect. In the meantime, your old server’s site might be displayed. You can contact your domain name registrar for help.

Get a fresh new WordPress instance

Now you need a new WordPress installation on your new server. So set up a fresh WordPress site on your destination server. After successfully changing the DNS information you’ll see this blank WordPress site when visiting your website address.

Install WPvivid Backup & Migration plugin on the 2nd site

Now log in to the WordPress site on the new server (server you want to move your WordPress site to). Install and activate WPvivid Backup & Migration Plugin on this site as well.

Upload the backup to the new server

Once the plugin is installed and activated, go to WPvivid Backup > Backup & Restore once again. But now click on the “Upload” tab down below.

Here you have the option to drag and drop the backup zip file that was downloaded earlier. Alternatively, you can click on the “Select Files” button and choose the backup zip file from your computer.

Once you’ve placed the zip file on the upload section, it should show up right below. Now click on the “Upload” button to upload the backup file.

Now this will take some time but at the end, all your WordPress files from the previous server will be transferred onto the new one.

Restore the backup on the new server

After the zip file (backup) of your WordPress site has been uploaded to the new server, it should show up on the “Backups” tab. Now we have to restore the backup. This can be done by simply clicking on “Restore”.

This will open up a new tab called “Restore”. Here you can click on the “Restore” button to start the restoration process.

Note that you might face a “max_allowed_packet” warning. In some cases we can ignore this warning and start the restoration. But if you have a larger database, it will be wiser to increase your max_allowed_packet limit. To increase the packet limit, contact your hosting provider to increase it to at least 16M. You can check your packet limit by going to WordPress Dashboard > Tools > Site Health then click on the Info tab. Then expand the Database option and find the “Max allowed packet size”.

After you click on the “Restore” button, it will take some time but when it’s done, your WordPress site will be transferred to the new server. As soon as the restoration is completed, you’ll be logged out of your WordPress site. Now you have to log back in using the credentials of your 1st WordPress site (the original one).

That’s all you need to do. So that is how you can transfer your WordPress site from one server to another. After logging in, check the frontend of your WordPress site. See if all the pages transferred successfully. Also see if there is any notification/instruction provided by the WPvivid plugin.

Some pages are missing?

In most of the cases, when you transfer your WordPress site from one server to another using this method, you shouldn’t face any errors. All your pages should transfer successfully. But if you’re facing an Error 404 when accessing other pages of your site, then there’s a simple solution to this.

To solve this error, we need to save our WordPress Permalink settings. From your WordPress dashboard go to Settings > Permalinks and click on the “Save Changes” button. That should solve your error. Now try accessing the other pages of your WordPress site.

👉 Video: How to Change WordPress Hosting Server

Conclusion

That brings our post to an end. As you can see, it’s super easy to migrate your WordPress site to a new server. If you’ve read this entire post, you now know how to transfer WordPress site to another host. If you’re using the WPvivid Backup & Migration plugin, you can easily backup your WordPress site and also transfer your site to a new host. You don’t need anyone’s help in doing this task.

Maintaining a WordPress website is not that easy, we know. But if you have the proper tools, it become a lot easier. If you decide to change your hosting partner, you can now rest easy because transferring your WordPress site to another server shouldn’t pose a challenge to you. So, what do you think? Let us know your feedback in the comments!