How to back up and migrate a WordPress site

Write down the current domain, WordPress address, PHP version, database name, table prefix and active theme and plugins. For a WooCommerce site, schedule the move for a quiet period and prevent new orders during the final copy so the database does not change while you are moving it.

Check that the destination host has enough disk space and supports the PHP and database versions your site needs. Keep the old site available until the new copy has passed your checks.

A full backup has two separate parts: the WordPress files and the database. Download the site files with SFTP or your host's file manager, including wp-content, wp-config.php, the WordPress core files and server configuration files that belong to the site. Export the database as an SQL file using phpMyAdmin or your host's database tool.

Store both parts together in a location outside the server, and label them with the date. Downloading the files alone is not enough because posts, pages, settings, users and orders are stored in the database. WordPress recommends backing up the database before a move and treating the files and database as one backup set.

Create the destination database and database user, then grant that user access to the database. Upload the WordPress files to the new document root and import the SQL export into the empty destination database through phpMyAdmin or the host's database tool.

Update wp-config.php with the destination database name, username, password and host if those values changed. A mismatch here commonly produces a database connection error even when the files were copied correctly.

If the domain or installation path changed, update the WordPress and site addresses in the new database or through the WordPress settings when you can still access the dashboard. Replace old URLs in the database with a method that understands serialized data, such as a suitable migration tool or WP-CLI search-and-replace, rather than using a plain text replacement across the SQL file.

Unserialised values can contain their character length, so a basic find-and-replace can corrupt widget, theme or plugin settings. WordPress specifically warns about this migration mistake.

Open the new site using its temporary URL, hosts-file entry or preview address. Check the home page, several internal links, images, forms, logins, search, uploads, scheduled tasks and the WordPress dashboard. Test checkout, payment callbacks, email notifications and order history separately on a store.

If pages return 404 errors, save the permalink settings again to refresh rewrite rules. If the site shows a critical error, check the PHP version, plugin and theme compatibility, database credentials and server error log before changing more files. Do not delete the old site until the new copy works and you have a second backup.

For a routine move, install Duplicator Pro on the source site, create a complete backup package, download or send it to the chosen storage location, and install that package on the destination site. The package contains the site files and a database copy, while the installer guides the database connection and URL replacement steps. Duplicator's documented workflow is to create the backup, copy it to the new location and run the installer; Pro also supports scheduled backups, cloud storage, cloning and recovery options.

This is the faster choice when you move sites regularly, work with large media libraries, need scheduled off-site backups or want to clone a site for staging. The manual route is still fine for a small site when you are comfortable with SFTP, phpMyAdmin and database troubleshooting.