How to Move Your Website to a New Host Without Downtime

By Graeme Preston, Founder & Owner · Published

Moving a website to a new host sounds risky, but most of the risk comes from doing things in the wrong order. If you keep your old hosting running until the new copy is checked, visitors shouldn't notice a thing. This guide walks through what to gather, the order to do it in, and the mistakes that cause downtime or lost email.

Before you start: what you're actually moving

A "website" is usually several separate things, and they don't always live in the same place:

  • The website files: pages, images, themes and plugins.
  • The database: most WordPress and other CMS sites keep their content, settings and users here.
  • The domain name: registered with a domain company, which may or may not be your current host.
  • The DNS: the records that tell the internet where your website and email are.
  • Your email: it might be with your current host, with Microsoft 365 or Google, or somewhere else entirely.

You can move the website without moving the domain, and you can move the domain later (or never). Treat them as separate jobs.

What you'll need

  • A login for your current hosting control panel (cPanel, Plesk, DirectAdmin or similar), or FTP details plus database access.
  • For WordPress, an administrator login to the site itself is also useful.
  • A login for wherever your domain is registered, or wherever its DNS is managed.
  • A note of how your email works today, if it uses your domain.

If you don't have these, ask whoever set the site up. A web designer or your current host can usually provide them. Without access to the files and database, a site can't be copied properly.

The safe order to do it in

  1. Don't cancel your old hosting yet. It needs to keep running until the move is finished and checked.
  2. Take a note of your current DNS records. A screenshot is fine. Pay particular attention to MX and TXT records, which control email.
  3. Copy the site to the new host. Copy the files and the database, then update the site's settings so it connects to its new database.
  4. Check the copy before anyone else sees it. Look at the main pages, forms, logins and any shop or booking features on the new server, using a temporary address or a preview.
  5. Point the domain at the new host. Change the website's DNS records (or the nameservers) to the new server. Leave the email records alone unless you're moving email too.
  6. Wait for the change to spread. Most visitors see the new server within a few hours; allow up to 48 hours for everyone.
  7. Check again, then cancel the old hosting. Give it a few days. Make sure nothing still points at the old server, and download a final backup before you close the account.

The mistakes that cause problems

Cancelling the old hosting first

If the old account closes before the new copy is live, your site goes offline. If your email was hosted there, it stops too. Old hosts often delete accounts within days of cancellation.

Forgetting about email

Changing nameservers replaces all your DNS records, including the ones that deliver your email. Before switching, make sure the MX records (and any SPF or DKIM records) are copied to the new DNS. If your email was provided by your old host, it needs moving to a new email service before the old account closes. See moving your old email.

Changing everything at once

Moving the website, transferring the domain and switching email on the same afternoon makes it hard to tell what went wrong if something breaks. Move the website first. Transfer the domain afterwards if you want to: see transferring your domain to us.

Not checking forms and email from the website

Contact forms often stop sending after a move because they used the old server's mail settings. Send yourself a test enquiry after the switch. If nothing arrives, see why your contact form has stopped emailing you.

How long it takes

For a typical small business or WordPress site, copying and checking takes from an hour to a day. The DNS change itself takes effect within a few hours for most people. The part that takes longest is usually finding the logins.

Moving to MyWebsiteHost

If you're moving to us, we'll do the move for you, free of charge, as long as you can give us access to your current hosting. We copy your site to our servers in London, check it, and then help you point your domain at us when you're happy. Your old hosting keeps running until then.

  • Choose a plan: Web Hosting, WordPress Hosting, or Managed VPS for bigger sites.
  • Open a ticket with your current host's control panel login (or FTP and database details), and tell us how your email works today.
  • We'll let you know when the copy is ready to check.

Web, WordPress and Reseller hosting come with a 30-day money-back guarantee for new customers. If you're moving several sites to a Managed VPS, see moving your websites to your Managed VPS.