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White-glove migration

Tell us what to move. We will move it

Send us the details of what needs moving and our team handles the migration end to end - picking the right route for each site, checking the result, and staying with you through the DNS switch. Included on every paid plan.

14 days free. No credit card. No commitment.

We do the work

Not a guide, an actual person

Same price

On renewal, every year

99.99%

Uptime, last 12 mo

Daily

Backups kept up to 30 days

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190+

Tasks Ellie handles

What you get

A person, not a knowledge-base article

Both of our self-service migration tools are good, and we would still rather do this for you - because the part that goes wrong is never the transfer, it is the twenty small decisions around it.

  • We work out the right route for each site

    Plugin or SSH, depending on what your current host allows. You do not have to know which, and you do not have to find out the hard way that your host disabled the thing the first approach needed.

  • We move the sites and check them

    Not just the transfer - somebody looks at the result. Pages load, the admin works, images resolve, the checkout goes through. A migration that technically completed and quietly broke your product images is not a migration.

  • We tell you when to switch DNS, and stay with you through it

    Your site runs on its Hostney address until you are satisfied. When you are ready we walk the cutover with you, and we are around afterwards rather than closing the ticket at the moment it gets interesting.

  • We tell you early if something will not move

    Before you commit, not after. If a site is on a platform we cannot pull from, or depends on something we do not run, you hear it while you still have every option open.

Under the bonnet, it is the same two tools

We are not hiding a third system. Your sites come across with the WordPress plugin or over SSH - the same routes documented on the other two pages, run by someone who has done it many times and knows which one your current host will tolerate.

What you are actually getting is the judgement and the checking, and those are the parts that decide whether a migration is a non-event or a bad weekend.

The process

What happens after you send the form

Five steps, and you hold the one that matters.

  1. You send the details

    The form below, or a ticket if you already have an account. What is moving, where it lives now, and anything unusual about it.

  2. We look at it and come back to you

    We check what your current host allows and confirm what we can move, what we cannot, and what we would want to change on the way across.

  3. We agree a window

    Migrations get scheduled around you rather than dropped on your site at an unhelpful moment. Busy shop in December? We work around it.

  4. We migrate and verify

    The sites come across and somebody checks them on the Hostney address before you hear the word "done".

  5. You approve, then DNS moves

    You look at the result and decide. Nothing public changes until you say so, and your old host is still running the whole time.

Nothing public changes until you say so

Your sites are migrated and verified on their Hostney addresses while your current host carries on serving your visitors exactly as it does today. The only irreversible moment in a migration is the DNS switch, and that one is yours.

Keep your old hosting running for a while afterwards. We will never ask you to cancel it first, and anyone who does is asking you to remove your own safety net.

From you

What to have ready

None of this needs to be complete before you get in touch. It is what the conversation will cover, so you know what to expect.

  • Access to the current host

    Whatever you have - control panel login, SSH, or just an admin account on the WordPress site. Different access means a different route, not a worse one.

  • A list of what is moving

    Domains and sites. If some are dormant or being retired, say so - not moving something is faster than moving it.

  • Anything with an audience

    A shop mid-sale, a site with a scheduled campaign, an API something else depends on. These change when we schedule, not whether we can do it.

  • Who controls DNS

    Often not the person asking, and finding that out on cutover day is the single most common cause of a delayed switch.

Straight answers

What we will not promise

A free migration service that says yes to everything is one that disappoints somebody. Here is where the edges are, before you plan around them.

  • WordPress Multisite

    We do not support multisite on Hostney at all, so this is not a migration we can take on. If you run a network, talk to us before you sign up rather than after - that conversation saves everybody a fortnight.

  • Email is a separate conversation

    Moving mailboxes is not part of a site migration and it has its own risks and its own timeline. We can talk about it, but do not assume it comes along in the same move.

  • We do not promise a date before we look

    How long a migration takes is mostly decided by your current host - how fast it answers and how hard it throttles. Anyone who quotes you a duration before seeing the source is guessing.

  • It is a migration, not a rebuild

    We move the site you have. Fixing a broken theme, upgrading an ancient PHP codebase, or redesigning something on the way across is a different job and we will say so.

Request a migration

Tell us what needs moving

The more you can tell us now, the more useful our first reply will be. Nothing here commits you to anything.

Select...
Select...
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We will reply by email. This does not create an account and does not sign you up for anything.

Rather do it yourself?

Both self-service routes are on every plan

Including the trial. If you would sooner not wait for us, these are genuinely good and they are properly documented.

  • The WordPress plugin

    Install one plugin on your current site, paste a token, and we pull it across. No shell access needed, and your site stays online throughout.

  • Migrate over SSH

    Shell access to the source server means we can find your installation, move it with rsync, and import the database - faster, and nothing to install.

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Ellie can help while you wait

The built-in assistant can set up subdomains, databases and DNS records for you in plain English - which covers most of the small tasks that surround a migration.

Pricing

Simple, transparent pricing

Every plan includes managed WordPress, SSH access, daily backups, and enterprise-grade security. Start with a 14-day free trial.

Startup

Great for growing businesses

$7.99/mo

$94.99 billed annually

  • 1 website
  • 10 GB storage
  • ~10,000 visits/month
  • 5 MySQL databases
  • 250,000 inodes
  • 5 FTP users

What's included:

SSL & Domain

  • Free SSL certificate
  • Free starter domain

Apps & CMS

  • 1-click WordPress
  • Managed WordPress
  • WordPress staging
Most popular

Advanced

For professional websites

$14.99/mo

$179.99 billed annually

  • 5 websites
  • 20 GB storage
  • ~110,000 visits/month
  • 10 MySQL databases
  • 500,000 inodes
  • 10 FTP users

Everything in Startup, plus:

Backups

  • 14 days of backup history

Performance

  • Memcached

Pro

Maximum performance and features

$22.99/mo

$274.99 billed annually

  • 10 websites
  • 40 GB storage
  • ~200,000 visits/month
  • 20 MySQL databases
  • 750,000 inodes
  • 20 FTP users

Everything in Advanced, plus:

Deployment

  • 2 SSR applications

Backups

  • 30 days of backup history

Included on paid plans

Let somebody else do the migration

Send us what needs moving and we will take it from there - the right route for each site, the sites checked before you see them, and the DNS switch on your schedule.

Questions

Frequently asked questions

What does it cost?
Nothing extra. It is included on the paid plans, however many sites you are bringing. There is no per-site migration fee and no setup charge.
Is it available on the free trial?
No. White-glove migration is included on the paid plans. You can absolutely migrate during a trial using the WordPress plugin or SSH yourself - both of those are on every plan - and we are happy to answer questions while you do.
Will my sites go down?
No. We copy from your current host and never write to it, so your sites keep serving traffic from where they are now. They run on their Hostney addresses in parallel until you are happy, and the only moment anything changes for your visitors is when you decide to move DNS.
How long does it take?
It depends on your current host far more than on us - how quickly it responds and how aggressively it rate-limits. We will give you a realistic estimate once we have looked at the source, and we would rather do that than quote you a number now and revise it later.
Can you move sites that are not WordPress?
Talk to us. Our two automated tools are WordPress-specific, so anything else is a manual job - which we can often still do, but the answer depends on what it is built on and what your current host allows. Tell us in the form and you will get a straight answer.
Do you move email as well?
That is a separate conversation with its own timeline and its own risks, so please do not assume mailboxes come along with the sites. Mention it in the form and we will tell you what is possible.
What about WordPress Multisite?
We do not support multisite on Hostney, so it is not something we can migrate. If you run a network, raise it before you sign up rather than after.
Can you do it out of hours?
The transfer itself does not need a quiet window, because it does not touch your live site. The DNS switch is the part with any timing sensitivity, and we will arrange that around you.
What if something goes wrong after we switch?
Your old host is untouched and still has everything, so the worst case is pointing DNS back while we sort it out. That is precisely why we never ask you to cancel your old hosting before the switch, and why we suggest you leave it running for a little while afterwards.