HostGator Website Migrations
HostGator is committed to migrating your website to your new hosting account easily. We can migrate website files, databases, and scripts to your HostGator account.
If you're looking to migrate your emails, please refer to the article:
Here are the topics covered in this article.
- Site Migration Requirements ⤵
- Free Migration ⤵
- How to Request for Site Migration via the Customer Portal ⤵
- While the Site Migration is Ongoing...⤵
- Post Site Migration ⤵
- Frequently Asked Questions ⤵
- More Info about Migration ⤵
Site Migration Requirements
Here are the things you need to check before requesting Site Migration within your Customer Portal.
- Active hosting account with HostGator - For our migration team to process your request, an active hosting package should be available in your HostGator Customer Portal. This is the "destination" hosting package, where our migration team will move your website files. If you do not have an active hosting package yet, you can add a new one to your account. Please use the following guide for the instructions.
- Migration fee - HostGator migrates one website per request ($149.99 as a one-time migration fee).
We also offer limited free migration for VPS and Dedicated hosting plans within 30 days of signup. Please check the Free Migration section below for more information.
- Access to your "source" account - Our migration team will need access to your website's files and databases to process your migration request. This may include but is not limited to access to your hosting company's control panel, account username, and password. Please visit the following article for details about the information our migration team would need to process your request.
- Backup options - Backups may also be requested if deemed necessary; however, please note that our migration team can use your backup but cannot guarantee a successful migration output as they have no way of knowing if the backup provided is complete or not.
- DNS records update - It is important to note before submitting your migration request that we do not recommend updating your DNS records while the migration is still ongoing. This could prevent our migration team from accessing your "source" hosting account and disrupt the overall migration process.
Free Migration
HostGator offers limited free site migration services for new accounts on VPS and Dedicated hosting plans within 30 days of signup. If your VPS or Dedicated hosting plan is already outside of the 30-day signup window but would still like HostGator to migrate your website for you, you can still avail of our migration professional services through your Customer Portal. Please follow the steps provided below to know how!
Free migration services are only offered for "as-is" migration of site data and content with no updates to the site configuration, aside from database connection details. To copy an existing site to a new domain name or change the URL of an existing site would NOT be free.
Example: WordPress must be configured for the location where it is installed. Migrating a WordPress site from mydomain.com/website to mydomain.com/ or myotherdomains.com/ would require re-configuration to function after the migration and would not be eligible for free migration.
How to Request for Site Migration via the Customer Portal
While the free migration service is only available for new VPS and Dedicated hosting plans within 30 days of signup, you can still avail of HostGator's professional migration services for your Shared and WordPress hosting plans and VPS and Dedicated hosting plans outside of the 30-day signup window via your Customer Portal.
To request site migration:
- Log in to your Customer Portal.
- Click Marketplace in your left-side menu.
- Within the Marketplace page, you'll notice that HostGator offers two migration services — Site Migration and Email Migration. Under Site Migration, click Claim Offer.
- A pop-up window will appear. Put a checkmark on "By selecting Buy Now, you agree to purchasing this product with Additional Terms." to proceed.
- Once done, click the Buy Now button.
- Your request is now submitted. A migration admin will be in correspondence with you via your email address on file to request details about your source hosting account.
While the Site Migration is Ongoing...
Here are the things you need to know after submitting your migration request.
- Our migration team will contact you via your email on file, requesting details of your "source' hosting account. Please visit the Information Needed for Migrating Content article for details.
- Please do NOT cancel your "source" hosting account or hosting plan while the migration process is ongoing. This will prevent our migration team from moving your website files to your HostGator hosting account.
- Do NOT make changes to your DNS records, as this will also cause a delay in the migration process. Our migration team will let you know via email if it's time for you to point your domain to your HostGator account.
- Making changes to your website while the migration is ongoing is also NOT recommended, as this will disrupt the completeness of the migrated content to your HostGator account.
- Updates about the migration process are sent via email, so please check your emails regularly.
Post-Site Migration
Once migration is complete, our migration team will notify you via your email on file. They will also provide you with post-site migration instructions you should do on your end, such as pointing your domain to your HostGator servers by updating your DNS records, which is not part of the migration process and is your responsibility as the domain owner.
Also, please note that the domain transfer is a completely different process and is not included in the migration. If you have a domain you want to transfer to your HostGator account, you can request one via the Customer Portal. Please visit the following article for the instructions.
Frequently Asked Questions
I am currently on Shared hosting. Am I eligible for free site migration if I upgrade to VPS or Dedicated hosting?
Yes! If you're on Shared hosting and would like to upgrade to VPS or Dedicated hosting, you will require a server move. As long as you request migration of your website files to your new VPS or Dedicated hosting plan within the 30-day signup window, then it is definitely free!
What advantages does the professional site migration service offered by HostGator entail?
- Complete website migration
- Expedited service
- Seamless transition
- Complete review
- 24/7 service
What features are included in HostGator site migration?
- Migrating WordPress sites only
- Migrating from Linux-based hosting servers only
- 1 website per migration request
What features are NOT included in HostGator site migration services?
Here are some out-of-scope items when requesting site migration.
- Migrating websites from Windows servers
- Migrating websites not created from WordPress
- Cron jobs, auto-responders, spam filter settings
- Migrating emails - (Please check out the article Will my existing email accounts be migrated over too? for the details.)
- Contacts from webmail
- Websites with malware
- DNS records settings (Our migration team will let you know when and how to point your DNS records via email.)
- SSL certificates
- Website modification, such as URL changes, troubleshooting existing website issues, domain changes, etc.
- Domain transfers
- Moving FTP accounts is not included.
- Moving SSL certificates is not included.
Are emails included in the site migration?
No. While we do not transfer emails while migrating your website to your HostGator hosting server, we offer a separate email migration service via your Customer Portal.
For more information on how to migrate your emails to your HostGator hosting server, please visit the following article.
What websites can be migrated to your HostGator server?
HostGator migrates one website per request ($149.99 as a one-time migration fee). Our site migration service only includes WordPress sites from Linux-based hosting.
Please note that we do migration "as-is," and our migration team will be unable to make modifications or fixes on your WordPress website. Additionally, migrating WordPress sites from WordPress.com is not recommended; however, our migration team will still proceed with your migration request, provided that you agree to a disclaimer.
My site is infected with malware. Can you still migrate my site to my HostGator account?
One of our top priorities is to safeguard our servers from malware and unknown cyber intrusions. In alignment with this, we do not migrate infected websites to our servers. We recommend reaching out to your hosting company so they can assist you in fixing or removing malware from your website before requesting migration.
What websites can we not migrate?
While HostGator has a well-trained and very experienced migrations team, some sites cannot be moved due to technical limitations. Our current list of sites/hosts which we cannot migrate from is as follows:
- Google Sites
- Intuit
- Microsoft Office Live Small Business/Microsoft 365
- MobileMe
- SMCing.com
- VistaPrint
- Website Builder
- Website Tonight
- Weebly
- Wix
We also cannot migrate from hosts that do not allow access to your site files (typically by FTP) or databases or the data in those databases. Without access, we cannot copy and migrate your site.
Did you know upgrading from a hosting plan of the same type usually does not require a server move and, therefore, does not need a migration?
For example, upgrading a Shared hosting account from Shared Baby to Shared Business does not involve moving any files; instead, you are allocated more resources. Migrations are only required for upgrades to a different hosting type, like going from Shared to VPS.
To learn more about the upgrade/downgrade process, please read the following article:
More Info about Migration
Types of Migrations
Three types of migration can occur when migrating your current hosting plan to a new hosting plan. Please refer to the sections below for a more detailed explanation of inter-server migration, intra-server migration, and manual migration.
- Inter-Server Migration ⤵
- Intra-Server Migration ⤵
- Manual Migration ⤵
- Lateral Migration ⤵
- Site Clones ⤵
Inter-Server Migration
An Inter-server migration is a migration between two physical servers.
Examples of Inter-Server Migrations
The following examples illustrate some cases in which an inter-server migration will occur and reflect the cost or actions that may need to be taken.
- Shared Business Plan to VPS Snappy 2000 - Suppose you are moving from a Shared Business account to a VPS Snappy 2000. If the destination account has been created within the past 30 days, the migration will be free; otherwise, you will be responsible for moving your data, or you can request migration via your Customer Portal, which will be a paid service.
- VPS Snappy 8000 to Dedicated Value hosting plan - Suppose you are moving from a VPS Snappy 8000 to a Dedicated Value plan. If the destination account has been created within the past 30 days, the migration will be free; otherwise, you will be responsible for moving your data, or you can request migration via your Customer Portal, which will be a paid service.
Intra-Server Migration
An intra-server migration is a migration between accounts on the same server. This includes upgrades such as a Shared Baby to Shared Business and VPS Snappy 2000 to VPS Snappy 4000. These are "in-place" upgrades in which no files are moved, and your account limits or resources are raised.
Manual Migration
Manual migration includes most things that are not cPanel to cPanel migration. Additionally, this includes work such as splitting addon domains into cPanel accounts. A few examples are:
- Migration from a host without cPanel
- If moving addon domains into new cPanel sub-accounts
- If moving the addon domain to another addon domain
- If moving a cPanel account to an addon domain
- Moving the addon domain to the cPanel account and anything that cannot be packaged and restored without additional work.
Lateral Migration
A lateral migration is when content is moved from one package to a different package of the same type on a different server, using the same domain name for both.
Site Clones
Website clones are when a customer wants to move a website installation from one domain to another different domain, a subdomain, a subfolder, a temporary URL, or basically any move that is going to change the URL the website operates on. These are a whole different breed of migration altogether, and clone work is never free (even within 30 days of signup). If you want to clone your website hosted with HostGator, you can clone an installation with Softaculous.