Migrating WordPress to GoZen Host

9 min read

There are three ways to move a WordPress site to GoZen Host. Our engineers can do it for free, you can use a migration plugin, or you can copy the files and database by hand. In all three, your old site keeps running until the very end, so visitors never see an outage.

If you’re not sure which to pick: use the free migration unless you enjoy this kind of work. It costs nothing and includes your email accounts, which the do-it-yourself methods don’t.

Before You Start link

Have these ready:

• Your GoZen Host cPanel login
• Access to your current hosting account (cPanel, SSH, or FTP)
• A recent backup of your current site (files + database)
• Your domain registrar login, for the DNS change at the end

If you plan to switch by changing the domain’s A record, lower that record’s TTL to 300 seconds at least a day beforehand, so the change reaches visitors within minutes instead of hours. This doesn’t help if you’re changing nameservers: how fast that takes effect is set by the domain registry, not by you. DNS Propagation Explained covers the details.

Option 1: Free Migration (We Do It for You) link

Free on all plans. We move the files, databases, email accounts, cron jobs and PHP settings.

1. Order a GoZen hosting plan
2. Open a support ticket asking for a free migration, with your old host’s login details (what to include)
3. We copy everything to GoZen while your old site stays live, then send you a preview link
4. You check the copy and tell us when you’re happy
5. At a time you choose, we sync any last changes and switch DNS over

This is the best route for WooCommerce stores, multisite networks, and any site you’d rather not touch yourself. Requesting a Free Migration has the full process and typical timings.

Doing It Yourself link

The two methods below move the website only. Email accounts stay on your old host until you recreate them on GoZen (see Email Migration).

From the moment you export your site until DNS has switched, treat the old site as frozen. New posts, comments or orders added there in the meantime won’t exist on the new server.

Preview the New Server Before DNS Changes link

Until you change DNS, yourdomain.com still opens your old host. To work on the GoZen copy (log in, run an installer, test), point just your own computer at GoZen by editing its hosts file:

• Windows: C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts (open Notepad as administrator)
• Mac/Linux: /etc/hosts (edit with sudo)

Add these two lines, using your GoZen server’s IP from your welcome email or cPanel:

  YOUR.GOZEN.SERVER.IP  yourdomain.com
YOUR.GOZEN.SERVER.IP  www.yourdomain.com
  

Use a private/incognito window so cached pages from the old host don’t fool you. Your browser may warn about the SSL certificate. That’s expected, because GoZen can’t issue one until DNS points to it, and it’s safe to click through while testing. Remove the two lines once DNS has switched.

Option 2: Migration Plugin link

The quickest do-it-yourself route, and the practical one if your old host gives you no SSH access.

All-in-One WP Migration link

On your old site:

1. Install and activate All-in-One WP Migration
2. Go to All-in-One WP Migration > Export > Export To > File
3. Download the .wpress file when the export finishes

On GoZen, with your hosts file pointing at GoZen:

1. In cPanel, open Softaculous and install a fresh WordPress on your domain
2. Log in to that new install and add All-in-One WP Migration
3. Go to All-in-One WP Migration > Import and upload the .wpress file
4. When it finishes, you’ll be asked to log in again. Use your old site’s username and password, because the import replaced the fresh install’s users along with everything else
5. Go to Settings > Permalinks and click Save Changes without changing anything. This rebuilds the rewrite rules and avoids 404s on every page except the homepage

The free version of the plugin caps imports at around 512 MB. For bigger sites, use the plugin’s paid Unlimited Extension, the manual method below, or the free migration.

Duplicator link

Duplicator builds a package that installs itself on the new server, so there’s no fresh WordPress to set up first.

1. Install Duplicator on your old site and go to Duplicator > Backups > Add New (called Packages > Create New in older versions)
2. Download the two files it produces: the archive (your site) and installer.php
3. On GoZen, create a database and user in cPanel
4. Upload both files to your domain’s document root (usually public_html/) with File Manager or FTP
5. With your hosts file pointing at GoZen, open yourdomain.com/installer.php
6. Follow the wizard, entering the database details from step 3

Afterwards, make sure installer.php and the archive are gone from the server. Duplicator offers to delete them, and you should let it, since anyone who finds the installer can overwrite your site.

Option 3: Manual Migration (Full Control) link

Use this when the site is too big for a plugin, or you want to see every step.

Step 1: Export Your Database link

On your old host, open cPanel > phpMyAdmin, select your WordPress database, and click Export > Quick > SQL format > Go.

Or via SSH:

  mysqldump -u dbuser -p database_name > wordpress_backup.sql
  

Not sure which database is WordPress’s? It’s the DB_NAME value in the site’s wp-config.php.

Step 2: Download Your Files link

You need the whole WordPress directory, usually public_html.

Via SSH, pack it into one archive and download that over SFTP:

  cd ~
tar -czf wordpress_files.tar.gz public_html/
  

Via cPanel File Manager: open public_html/, select all, click Compress, and download the .zip.

With FTP only, download the folder with FileZilla. It works, but thousands of small files take a while.

Step 3: Upload Files to GoZen link

Upload the archive to your GoZen account with cPanel File Manager or FTP, then extract it. GoZen shared and WordPress plans have no SSH or SFTP access, so use File Manager there: upload the .zip or .tar.gz into public_html/, select it and click Extract.

On a VPS, Business Cloud or dedicated server you can upload over SFTP and extract via SSH instead:

  cd ~
tar -xzf wordpress_files.tar.gz
  

Check where the files landed. wp-config.php should sit directly in public_html/, not in public_html/public_html/.

Step 4: Create a Database on GoZen link

1. Go to cPanel > MySQL Databases
2. Create a new database (e.g., gozenuser_wordpress)
3. Create a database user with a strong password
4. Add the user to the database with All Privileges

cPanel puts your cPanel username in front of both names, so wordpress becomes gozenuser_wordpress. Use the full prefixed names everywhere below.

Step 5: Import Your Database link

In cPanel > phpMyAdmin, select the new database and click Import > choose your .sql file > Go.

On a VPS, Business Cloud or dedicated server, you can import via SSH instead:

  mysql -u gozenuser_wpuser -p gozenuser_wordpress < wordpress_backup.sql
  

phpMyAdmin may refuse very large files. On shared or WordPress hosting, open a support ticket and we’ll import it for you; on a VPS, use the command above.

Step 6: Update wp-config.php link

Edit wp-config.php on GoZen so it uses the new database:

  define('DB_NAME', 'gozenuser_wordpress');
define('DB_USER', 'gozenuser_wpuser');
define('DB_PASSWORD', 'your_new_password');
define('DB_HOST', 'localhost');
  

Step 7: Only If Your Domain Is Changing link

Keeping the same domain? Skip this step.

Moving to a new domain means WordPress still thinks it lives at the old one. Update the two core settings in phpMyAdmin:

  UPDATE wp_options SET option_value = 'https://newdomain.com' WHERE option_name = 'siteurl';
UPDATE wp_options SET option_value = 'https://newdomain.com' WHERE option_name = 'home';
  

If your tables don’t start with wp_, use the prefix from $table_prefix in wp-config.php. Then replace the old domain inside posts, pages and settings with the Better Search Replace plugin. Don’t do that part with a raw SQL find-and-replace: WordPress stores some settings in a format that breaks if the text length changes, and the plugin handles that for you.

Test, Then Switch DNS link

With your hosts file pointing at GoZen, open the site in a private window and check:

• The homepage and a handful of posts and pages
• Images and downloads
• Logging in to wp-admin
• Contact forms, and checkout if you run a store

Before you switch, create the same mailboxes on GoZen, or keep the MX records pointing at your old host until you’ve moved email. Otherwise mail sent during the switch can bounce. Email Migration covers the order of steps.

When everything works, point your domain to GoZen, either by changing the nameservers at your registrar or by updating the A record to your GoZen server’s IP.

An A-record change with a low TTL shows up within minutes. Nameserver changes usually take a few hours and can take up to 48. During that window some visitors reach the old host and some reach GoZen, which is fine as long as both copies match. You can watch it happen in the GoZen DNS Inspector.

After the Move link

Once DNS has switched over, whichever option you used:

• Remove the lines you added to your hosts file
• Run AutoSSL in cPanel (Security > SSL/TLS Status), then confirm the certificate with the GoZen SSL Auditor
• Test pages, forms and checkout once more, this time without the hosts file
• Finish moving email (sync old messages, update MX if you kept it on the old host, reconnect mail clients) (Email Migration)
• Clear every cache: browser, caching plugins, LiteSpeed
• Turn on LiteSpeed Cache if it isn’t active
• Set up Backuply so GoZen backups start from day one
• Run a speed test at PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix
• Check Google Search Console for crawl errors after a few days
• Cancel the old hosting account, but keep a full backup of the old site for 30 days

Troubleshooting link

What to Do Next link

• Requesting a Free Migration - let us handle it
• Website Migration Checklist - the checklist for any site, not just WordPress
• Email Migration - move email without losing messages
• DNS Propagation Explained - why the switch takes time
• LiteSpeed Cache for WordPress - set up caching on your new server