Plan a WordPress host move and estimate your own costs

Use this for one WordPress site moving between hosting providers while keeping the same public domain. Record the destination provider's written migration scope first. A host move does not require a registrar transfer: you may keep the domain where it is and change DNS separately. This worksheet uses your numbers only; all service fees start blank.

Checklist before you request a move

1. Inventory the site: note the WordPress version, active plugins and theme, PHP/database versions, scheduled jobs, forms, and any custom SSL or DNS settings. Compare the target plan's requirements and capacity with your actual installation.
2. Scope email separately: identify where each mailbox is hosted, list the domain's mail-related DNS records, and decide whether mailboxes, messages, and delivery records are moving. Ask whether the migration service includes them.
3. Back up files and database: keep a restorable copy outside the source hosting account. WordPress documentation treats site files and the database as separate parts of a typical backup.
4. Price the move: record any destination hosting overlap, domain or DNS-related charges, mailbox or message-transfer costs, backup storage, migration service fees, and your own work hours from current account terms or quotes.
5. Copy and test before the switch: use the provider's supported staging or preview method. Check the home page, key pages, admin login, images, forms, links, SSL, mail sending/receiving, and scheduled tasks that matter to this site.
6. Switch and verify: follow the provider's DNS instructions after the copy is ready. Recheck the public site and email after the change. Keep the old account available until you have confirmed the replacement works and you have a rollback copy.
7. Close the old account deliberately: save final backups and records, verify any domain, mailbox, and renewal settings you intend to keep, then cancel services you no longer need. Check the cancellation date and billing terms directly.

To estimate hours from workload counts for sites, mailboxes, databases, and domains, use the website migration hours and labor estimator.

Enter your transition costs

Use one currency. Enter one-time costs or short-term overlap amounts that belong to the move itself. Do not enter the whole ongoing hosting plan unless you want it included in this transition budget. Use zero for a category that does not apply.

Enter values in one currency. This page does not prefill provider fees or predict downtime.

How the estimate works

The worksheet adds the five direct-cost entries, then adds the four task-hour entries multiplied by your labor value per hour. It shows estimated downtime hours separately; the optional downtime-impact scenario is your hours multiplied by your entered impact per hour. The total with that scenario combines direct costs, labor value, and the optional downtime impact. This is a planning worksheet, not a quote, invoice forecast, or professional migration estimate. It excludes taxes and any cost you do not enter.

A transfer to a different domain registrar is separate from changing the web host and may have eligibility restrictions. For example, ICANN notes that a hosting provider can sometimes be changed by updating nameservers or the hosting IP without transferring the registrar. Confirm the correct records and any mailbox implications with the DNS, email, domain, and hosting providers involved.

Sources checked November 3, 2026

• WordPress: migrating to a new server — begin with backups of the WordPress directory, files, and database; changing database details may also require configuration updates.
• WordPress: backups — files and database are separate parts of a typical backup.
• WordPress recommended requirements — compare the target server environment with current recommendations.
• Hostinger migration documentation — one provider example; its eligibility, included work, and exclusions are specific to its service and can change.
• ICANN domain transfer FAQ — registrar transfer rules and restrictions; hosting changes can be made separately in some cases.

For related planning, use the website cost calculator, website email cost worksheet, and domain renewal worksheet. For a scoped hosting-price comparison, see the hosting plan cost method. Use the website migration checklist for DNS and infrastructure acceptance checks, URL changes, and rollback steps.