Migrating a WordPress site to Hostinger sounds like a one-click job, and for simple sites it almost is. The real complication is that "simple WordPress site" rarely matches reality once you have plugins, custom themes, a few gigabytes of media, an active checkout, or email tied to the same domain. This walkthrough covers all four migration paths, the pre-flight steps that save you from the most common failures, and the verification checks that catch problems while you can still fix them.
Pick Your Method First
The four paths solve different problems. Pick once at the start so you do not jump between methods halfway through.
- Hostinger Automatic Migration Tool: Best for live, self-hosted WordPress with admin login. 30 to 120 minutes, zero downtime, no plugin install on the source site.
- Free Hostinger Expert Migration: Best for offline sites, non-WordPress sites, multisite installs, or when the automatic tool rejects your site. 24-hour SLA, no progress bar.
- Plugin-based migration (All-in-One WP Migration, Duplicator, UpdraftPlus): Best for full control or when you do not want to share admin credentials. 30 minutes to 2 hours of hands-on work.
- Manual SFTP and phpMyAdmin: Best for unusual stacks, very large databases, or when plugins fail. 2 to 4 hours of hands-on work, requires SQL comfort.
If you are still deciding between methods, the parent Hostinger setup and migration guide has the decision matrix that maps situations to methods.
Pre-Migration Checklist (Do These Before You Touch Anything)
The five steps below cut migration failure rates by an order of magnitude. They take about 30 minutes total.
- Run a fresh insurance backup with UpdraftPlus and download the archive to your local machine. This is your rollback if everything else fails. Do not skip this even if your old host has its own backups.
- Disable two-factor authentication on the source WordPress admin temporarily so Hostinger's automatic tool can log in. Re-enable immediately after migration completes.
- Disable login challenge plugins (Wordfence's reCAPTCHA, Cloudflare Turnstile, anti-bot Lite plugins) on /wp-admin for the migration window.
- Note your current PHP version and WordPress version on the source. Hostinger defaults to PHP 8.2 or 8.3; if your site requires PHP 7.4, you can switch in hPanel after migration.
- Lower your DNS TTL to 300 seconds at your DNS provider 24 hours before you plan the cut-over. Propagation finishes much faster after the change.
Method 1: Hostinger Automatic Migration Tool
This is the path most live WordPress sites should take. Open hPanel, scroll to Website, click Migrate Website, and select Request Hosting Migration. The form asks for a few specifics that vary by source type.
For WordPress sites, pick "WordPress" as the platform, paste your source URL (e.g. example.com or example.com/wp-admin), enter your admin username, and enter your admin password. Confirm that you understand DNS will not move until you change it yourself. Submit the request.
Hostinger runs the migration in the background and emails you when it finishes. Typical run time is 30 to 120 minutes for a site under 5 GB. The result lands at a temporary preview URL on a hostinger.com subdomain. Use that URL to test before you flip DNS; if anything is broken on the preview, it will be broken in production too.
The tool will fail or reject in these cases: WordPress multisite installs, WordPress.com hosted sites (use WordPress's native export/import instead), sites under 7-day-old hostinger plans where features have not propagated yet, and sites where two-factor or anti-bot challenges block the automated login.
Method 2: Free Hostinger Expert Migration
Run the same Migrate Website form, but on the platform selector pick the file-upload path. Drag your backup files into the form: .zip, .tar, .tar.gz, .tgz, .7z, or .gz for the file archive, plus a separate .sql file for the database. The form submits the request to Hostinger's migration team, who handle the import within 24 hours.
Generate the source archive however your old host supports it. Common paths: a cPanel full backup (.tar.gz), a WordPress backup from UpdraftPlus (.zip), a Duplicator package (.zip + installer), or a manual archive (.zip of /public_html plus a phpMyAdmin .sql export).
Things expert migration does NOT cover: email accounts and stored messages (configure separately under Emails in hPanel), cron jobs (rebuild from your old host's list under hPanel > Advanced > Cron Jobs), custom SSL certificates beyond Let's Encrypt (re-issue), and FTP user accounts (recreate under hPanel > Files > FTP Accounts).
Method 3: Plugin-Based Migration
Plugin migration gives you full control without sharing admin credentials. Three plugins cover most cases.
All-in-One WP Migration: Install on the source site, go to All-in-One WP Migration > Export, pick "File", wait for the export to bundle, and download the .wpress archive. On Hostinger, install WordPress via Auto Installer, install the same plugin, go to Import > File, upload the .wpress archive. The free version has a 512 MB import limit; the paid Unlimited Extension lifts that to your hosting plan's max upload size.
Duplicator: Install on the source, click Create New Package, let Duplicator build the .zip and installer.php. Upload both files via SFTP to a fresh /public_html on Hostinger, create a database in hPanel under Databases > Management, visit yourdomain.com/installer.php, and follow the wizard. Duplicator handles the database import and URL search-replace automatically.
UpdraftPlus: Install on both sites, run a full backup on the source (database + files + plugins + themes + uploads + others), then on Hostinger install UpdraftPlus on a fresh WordPress install, go to Settings > UpdraftPlus Backups > Restore, upload the backup files in pieces, and run Restore. Works well when you already use UpdraftPlus for routine backups.
Method 4: Manual SFTP and phpMyAdmin Migration
Manual migration is the most labor-intensive path and the most reliable when nothing else works. Allow two to four hours.
On the source: connect via SFTP (FileZilla, Cyberduck, or your IDE) and download the entire WordPress root (usually /public_html or /home/user/public_html). Open phpMyAdmin or your host's database tool, select your WordPress database, click Export, choose "Quick" with SQL format, and download the .sql file.
On Hostinger: create a database under hPanel > Databases > Management, note the database name, username, and password. Upload the WordPress files via SFTP to /public_html on Hostinger. Import the .sql file through hPanel's phpMyAdmin under Databases > phpMyAdmin > Import.
Edit /public_html/wp-config.php with the new database credentials. Then run a search-replace across the database to update URLs:
- Use the Better Search Replace plugin (safest for non-developers) or WP-CLI:
wp search-replace 'http://oldsite.com' 'https://newsite.com' --all-tables - Run the dry run first to confirm matches, then run for real.
- Search for the old hostname WITHOUT the protocol prefix too (oldsite.com), in case some references are protocol-relative.
If your domain is changing (rare during a host migration but common during a rebrand), repeat the search-replace for the path portion too.
Post-Migration Verification
Run these checks on the Hostinger preview URL BEFORE you change DNS. Fixing them on the preview is invisible to real visitors; fixing them on the live site is not.
- Home page and 10 top-traffic pages load with HTTP 200 (use httpstatus.io to bulk-check).
- SSL certificate shows a valid padlock, no mixed-content warnings in the browser console.
- Forms submit and confirmation emails arrive; check the spam folder too.
- WooCommerce checkout completes end-to-end with a real card or Stripe test mode.
- WordPress admin login works; all plugins activate without errors; scheduled posts are queued.
- Images render; if some show broken icons, you missed an /uploads/ folder.
- Permalinks resolve; visit Settings > Permalinks and click Save to flush rewrite rules.
- Search Console is verified on Hostinger so you do not lose the verification token at cut-over.
Change DNS to Complete the Move
Only after the preview URL passes the checklist, change DNS to point at Hostinger. Two paths: change nameservers at your registrar (Hostinger takes over DNS, simpler) or change the A record and CNAME for www (keeps DNS at your existing provider, more surgical). For most migrations, change nameservers. For sites with complex Cloudflare setups or third-party email rules you do not want to rebuild, change A records only. The dedicated domain pointing guide walks through both with registrar-specific steps.
Critical email step: if you use Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, or Zoho Mail, copy your MX, SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records to Hostinger's DNS zone (under DNS > Manage in hPanel) BEFORE you change nameservers. Forget this and email goes dark for 24 to 48 hours during propagation.
Common Migration Errors and Fixes
Six failures cause about 90% of WordPress-to-Hostinger migration tickets. Skim these so the symptoms ring a bell when you see them.
- Migration stuck on "Importing database": Bloated wp_options autoload or huge transient tables. On the source, run
DELETE FROM wp_options WHERE option_name LIKE '%_transient_%'and retry. - White screen of death after migration: PHP version mismatch or a plugin incompatible with Hostinger's PHP. Rename /wp-content/plugins via SFTP, log in, re-enable plugins one at a time to find the culprit.
- Login redirect loop: WP_HOME and WP_SITEURL in wp-config.php point at the wrong host. Set both to your real domain and clear the wp_options siteurl and home values.
- Mixed content warnings (broken images, blocked scripts): Hardcoded http:// URLs in the database or theme. Run Better Search Replace from http://yourdomain.com to https://yourdomain.com.
- "Error establishing a database connection": wp-config.php has wrong database credentials. Verify DB_NAME, DB_USER, DB_PASSWORD against hPanel > Databases > Management.
- Email broken after DNS change: MX records not migrated. Re-add them under hPanel > DNS > Manage with TTL 3600 and wait one propagation cycle.
What to Do After Migration Completes
Within the first 24 hours, configure LiteSpeed Cache and Object Cache for the speed win Hostinger's stack is built around (the broader how to set up Hostinger walkthrough covers the exact toggles). Re-enable two-factor authentication on the WordPress admin. Re-enable any anti-bot plugin you disabled for migration. Submit your sitemap to Search Console pointing at the new host. Keep the old host paid up for 7 days as a fallback. The Hostinger hosting guide goes deeper on long-term operations.
