Migration
Website migration cost: what you’ll pay to move a WordPress site
A free site transfer can still come with a bill. Price the website, email, and the overlap before you decide that a cheaper host means a cheaper move.
Moving one WordPress website can have a $0 migration fee. Hostinger and Kinsta offer eligible transfers at no extra charge. For a paid example, DreamHost lists $99 per site for professional migration to a standard hosting plan, with free migration to DreamPress. The official terms below explain the differences. These are specific offers, not a market-wide price range.
Your total website migration cost also depends on mailbox work, overlapping bills, software, and the hosting subscription you buy. This guide is for a small business moving an existing, self-hosted WordPress site to another host while keeping its domain and page URLs. A redesign, platform change, or domain-name change needs a separate scope and quote.
What do hosts charge for migration?
Compare the service attached to the fee. A free plugin you operate yourself and a transfer handled by a provider involve different responsibilities. Hosting subscriptions are separate from the migration fees shown here.
| Provider | Migration fee | What the offer covers |
|---|---|---|
| Hostinger | $0 Eligible external transfers |
WordPress from another host to an eligible Web, Cloud, or Agency plan. Files and databases are included; email, DNS records, cron jobs, and custom SSL configuration are separate. VPS and internal transfers do not qualify. Read migration terms |
| Kinsta | $0 Standard migrations |
Unlimited free migrations of standard WordPress installations from other hosts. Expedited service is a separate paid option. Business email hosting is not included. Migration terms Email policy |
| DreamHost | $99 per site $0 to DreamPress |
Professional WordPress migration from another provider to a standard plan costs $99; migration to DreamPress is free. Multisite is excluded. Confirm external mailbox migration separately in your quote. Read service and pricing |
Selected examples, not a ranking. Published USD service fees checked on September 21, 2026; confirm eligibility, tax treatment, and the final quote before ordering. Scroll the table on smaller screens.
Do not choose a more expensive ongoing plan solely to avoid a one-time fee. Request a written scope: which site is included, who updates DNS, and what support you receive after the transfer.
Build the budget around the whole move
1. Website transfer and paid tools
Record the agreed service fee, or any plugin license you actually need for a DIY move. Do not add both unless both are required. Make sure the quote includes your media, themes, plugins, and database. The WordPress migration documentation starts with backing up the files and database; a copy of your posts alone is not a complete site backup.
2. Email migration and replacement mailboxes
If your email is independently hosted, you may be able to leave it where it is. Confirm that the subscription survives cancelling your web hosting and preserve the required mail DNS records. If email belongs to the old hosting package, budget for both moving stored messages and paying for the replacement service.
Count actual mailboxes, not just aliases. Ask about message history, contacts, calendars, and device setup; these may have different transfer requirements. Kinsta’s email documentation also distinguishes business inboxes from transactional messages sent by WordPress. Check your contact form delivery as well as your normal inbox.
3. Extra time on the old host
Include any extra invoice needed to keep the old service available while you check the new one. Already-paid, non-refundable hosting is not a new cash payment; record the unused period separately. Do not assume a refund or a prorated month without checking your contract.
4. DNS, HTTPS, and a working site
Agree who connects the domain, checks the certificate, and verifies pages, downloads, logins, and forms. You can keep your domain registration with its current registrar when changing web hosts; a registrar transfer is a separate decision. Google’s hosting-change guidance calls for checking the new site before switching DNS and monitoring traffic before retiring the old host. Budget for that work, not just copying files.
5. Ongoing bills and your own time
List new hosting, email, and any replacement licenses, including their renewal rates. Compare the same period and features. A monthly equivalent advertised against a multiyear commitment is not the amount payable today: write down the checkout total too.
Keep your own time separate from cash costs. You can value your hours to compare DIY with paid help, but use your own estimate. A free transfer still needs someone to gather access details, answer questions, and accept the result.
Three example budgets
These are illustrative USD budgets, not provider packages or measured project costs. Each assumes $120 paid for 12 months of new hosting and one extra $20 payment to the old host. Email stays unchanged in A and B. In C, four included mailboxes must be replaced.
Swipe the table to compare all three budgets.
| Budget item | A · Free site transfer |
B · Paid site transfer |
C · Site + four inboxes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Website transfer | $0 | $99 | $99 |
| One-time email help | $0 | $0 | $100 |
| Extra old-host payment | $20 | $20 | $20 |
| Transition subtotal | $20 | $119 | $219 |
| New hosting · 12 months | $120 | $120 | $120 |
| Replacement email · 12 months | $0 | $0 | $144 |
| First-year spending | $140 | $239 | $483 |
The $99 input mirrors DreamHost’s published standard migration fee. The $100 email labor and $3 per mailbox per month are assumptions, not quotes. Tools are assumed unnecessary. Taxes, owner time, domain renewal, and unchanged email bills are excluded; add applicable amounts to your own comparison.
The third budget is higher because the move replaces an included service with a paid one. A website-only quote would miss $244 of email costs in that first year. Get those numbers before you cancel the package that currently runs your inboxes.
When will switching actually save money?
Compare the future cost of staying with the future cost of moving over the same period. Exclude identical bills from both sides. Include any confirmed refund on the moving side, and include the full payment commitment when deciding what you can afford today.
For unchanged monthly rates
Months to break even = transition cost ÷ monthly saving
Monthly saving = old hosting + old email − new hosting − new email
Use this only when the monthly saving is positive.
Suppose staying costs $240 for the next year, or $20 per month. In A and B, new hosting is $10 per month and email is unchanged, leaving a $10 monthly saving. A recovers its $20 transition cost in two months. B recovers $119 in 11.9 months, leaving just $1 saved in year one.
When the move pays for itself
Illustrative first-year costs, spread across months.
Cumulative cost over 12 months in USD. Staying costs $20 per month, reaching $240. A starts with $20 in transition costs, then adds $10 per month: it breaks even at month 2 and reaches $140. B starts at $119, then adds $10 per month: it breaks even at month 11.9 and reaches $239. These are illustrative budgets with unchanged email costs, not provider quotes or payment schedules.
Stay: $20/month. A and B: $10/month, plus $20 and $119 in transition costs respectively. At month 12, B has saved just $1. Costs are allocated monthly; actual invoices may be paid upfront.
For C, assume the old $240 package includes the four mailboxes. New hosting plus email costs $22 per month. Recurring costs have increased, so there is no cost-saving break-even point. The move might still solve a service problem, but saving money would not be the reason to do it.
This shortcut allocates cost across months; it does not change when annual invoices are paid. If a promotional rate expires before you break even, calculate the periods separately for each hosting plan, then add email and transition costs. A $120 first year that becomes $240 at renewal can wipe out the apparent ongoing hosting saving.
When is paid migration help worth it?
Start by checking the destination host’s included service. If it covers your site and you can handle the remaining checks, there may be little reason to buy duplicate migration work. Pay for an identified gap: mailbox history, a custom integration, difficult access, or someone to coordinate the whole handover.
Request a tailored quote for a large archive, WordPress Multisite, custom server configuration, or a site taking live orders. For changing data, agree a final sync or maintenance window and how new submissions will be protected. Kinsta’s migration process explains that changes made after its copy starts are not automatically reflected in the migrated site. A rollback also needs a plan for data created on the new server.
Ask for named deliverables and an acceptance checklist, whether the price is fixed or hourly. Confirm who handles follow-up fixes and for how long. A low fee is only useful when it buys the work your business actually needs.
Before you book the move
Send the provider these questions so you can compare written quotes:
- Does the fee cover my exact site, including its database, media, and custom configuration?
- Which mailboxes and message history are included, and what will email cost afterward?
- Who owns the backup, DNS changes, HTTPS setup, and final checks?
- How will new orders or submissions be handled during the switch and any rollback?
- What is payable now, what renews later, and which extras need my approval?
- What must be verified before I can cancel the old hosting and email services?
Keep the old service until the website, required email services, and essential business functions are verified. A working homepage is only one check. Put an owner and a completion condition against each item before scheduling cancellation.