Top 10 Best WordPress Migration Plugins (Pros and Cons)
Top 10 Best WordPress Migration Plugins (Pros and Cons). Firstly, WordPress is a content management system you can use to create website and blog content. It’s the most popular website building platform powering millions of websites worldwide. Most website owners prefer it as it’s user friendly and easy to learn. However, migrating an existing website or blog to the platform can be challenging. Hence, you have to use WordPress migration tools to move all components seamlessly.
Basically, WordPress migration tools help simplify moving content from one platform to another. In addition, they offer a wide variety of features and options for customizing websites. Whether you’re an experienced website developer or an amateur user, leveraging WordPress migration tools can provide a seamless WordPress migration.
So, shall we start with our article about Top 10 Best WordPress Migration Plugins (Pros and Cons).
Tips for a Successful WordPress Migration
Afterward, export content from your current WordPress site. Certainly, you can do this by going to the tool’s export page. After launching the export process, you can then import it into your new WordPress site. Open the import page in your dashboard and start importing the content files.
Finally, don’t forget to update your permalinks. This ensures that any links to your old site will work perfectly after the migration. By following these simple tips, you will experience a seamless WordPress migration without a hitch.
WordPress Migration Methods
As seen, WordPress migration is not as straightforward as it seems. Before diving into the tools, it’s best to understand the various migration methods. These are:
Manual Transfer. This is whereby you use the host’s File Manager or FTP client to transfer WordPress databases and files.
Cloning. Website Cloning involves using a plugin to create a fully operational copy of your site in a specific location. When cloning, you take a website as it is to a new server. Alternatively, you can also use cloning when changing a domain name or staging a website.
Automatic Migration. This is where you submit a migration request via a plugin. This is ideal when migrating multiple websites or huge sites. Once you initiate the migration process, the plugin creates copies of your database and content on a new server.
10 WordPress Migration Plugins
Here are 10 of the best WordPress migration tools to help you move your website from one host or domain to another:
1. BackupBuddy
First on our list of Top 10 Best WordPress Migration Plugins is BackupBuddy. Certainly, it provides seamless WordPress migration. As well as, it is a powerful, easy to use tool that enables you to migrate your WordPress site quickly. This tool creates a site backup, including all plugins, settings, and content. At the same time, it then transfers it to the new host and restores it such that it resembles the previous version.
Pros of BackupBuddy
Cons of BackupBuddy
- Not compatible with all hosts.
- No free trial or money back guarantee.
2. UpdraftPlus
UpdraftPlus is a robust WordPress migration plugin that lets website owners switch hosts or domains easily. Especially, it creates a WordPress clone that you can restore seamlessly. Besides, UpdraftPlus has multiple features for backing up, restoring, and migrating wordpress sites.
Evidently, its popular features include scheduled backups, weekend backups, incremental backups, and database encryption. In addition, UpdraftPlus has extensive documentation that guides users on how to use it.
Pros of UpdraftPlus
- Enhanced reporting and emailing capabilities.
- Provides an option to send all log messages to Syslog servers.
- Allows you to encrypt sensitive databases.
- You can use the scheduling feature to set exact times for creating or deleting backups.
Cons of UpdraftPlus
- Advanced configurations are difficult to use.
- Support is only helpful when on the premium version.
3. NS Cloner by WP Engine
NS Cloner by WP Engine makes it easy to migrate your WordPress site with just a few clicks. All you need is to install the NS Cloner plugin on the website you want to clone and create a backup. After that, upload the backup to your new site and restore it to its original format. At this time, NS Cloner restores everything, including your plugins, settings, and content, so you don’t have to start all over again.
Being that, NS Cloner is developer friendly and extendable. Following, it has a front end cloning feature that enables you to set up template sites and custom fields for easier blog/site registration. Besides, it has a debug logging feature and multiple actions and filters. Further, it has a robust add on architecture that enables you to create new modes effortlessly.
Pros of NS Cloner
- Designed for both novice users and experienced developers.
- Functions smoothly in both subdirectory and subdomain modes.
- Works in the background, eliminating memory shortages and timeouts.
- Robust logging mechanism that enables you to detect problems in case something goes wrong during the migration.
- Copies all posts and pages and associated taxonomies.
Cons of NS Cloner
- The pro version is relatively expensive.
- Takes longer to clone large websites.
4. BackWPup
BackWPup is a powerful plugin for migrating WordPress sites. This plugin enables you to migrate your site from one host to another and supports both manual and automatic backups. With BackWPup, you can schedule automatic backups so you won’t lose your data. Besides, you can store these backups either in an on-premise server or in the cloud. BackWPup also comes with a restore feature, so you can quickly restore your WordPress site if something goes wrong.
Pros of BackWPup
- Seamless integration with public cloud platforms.
- You can schedule automatic file and database backups
- Detailed documentation that provides ease of use.
- Provides multisite support.
Cons of BackWPup
- Provides cloud backups when on the Pro version only.
- Limited support on the free version.
5. Duplicator
Duplicator is a free WordPress migration plugin that enables users to clone, copy, or migrate a website from one location to another. This plugin also acts as a backup tool, enabling you to completely back up your site’s database, content, files, and settings. After creating a backup, you can upload it to the new host and restore your website effortlessly.
To migrate your website, Duplicator creates a package that contains all the site’s themes, database, plugins, and files in a zip file. You can migrate the website to your preferred destination using this zip file. Besides migration, Duplicator also allows you to make your own preconfigured sites to minimize manual work. You can do this by configuring a single site and bundling it into a Duplicator package. With the package, you can duplicate the site over multiple locations to create multiple preconfigured sites.
Duplicator’s pro version comes with advanced features. These include cloud integration, multi threaded architecture, and drag and drop installs.
Pros of Duplicator
Cons of Duplicator
- Relatively high price for the pro version.
- Gets buggy at some point when working with large websites.
- Steep learning curve for inexperienced users.
6. WP Migrate DB
WP Migrate DB is an efficient WordPress plugin that helps you migrate your site across multiple hosting providers. It creates a WordPress database copy and imports it into the new host. Besides, it also migrates the existing themes and plugins. Essentially, this is a crucial process that ensures you end up with an exact version of your website. After migration, this plugin replaces the old URLs and paths with new ones, so you don’t have to update them manually.
WP Migrate DB has two versions: free and pro. The pro version enables you to push and pull databases from one installation to the other with a single click. Besides, it supports backup integration, migration profiles, and much more. The plugin also includes features for pushing and pulling files, themes, and media assets.
Pros of WP Migrate DB
- Allows users to move local sites to staging servers.
- Copies database in an organized way and provides free backups.
- Does not encounter downtime regardless of the size of the website you are migrating.
- An intuitive UI to help you through each step of your migration.
- Unconditional 30-day money back guarantee if unsatisfied.
- Extensive documentation and support.
Cons of WP Migrate DB
- Does not migrate websites made with other CMSs such as Joomla
- It does not have a free trial.
7. BlogVault
BlogVault is a WordPress backup and migration plugin designed to help you easily migrate websites. This plugin provides an easy way of migrating your website to a new host or domain with zero downtime. When migrating to a new host, it copies the complete site to the new server with minimal manual work. On the other hand, it enables you to create a staging site or migrate a site from a development environment to production.
Furthermore, BlogVault also allows incremental backups. In this case, it backs up your WordPress site incrementally, so you only need to restore the most recent backup. Besides, it performs real time backups to help keep your backup data up to date. Overall, this plugin is an excellent choice if you are looking for a robust backup and migration solution.
Pros of BlogVault
- Handles all the technical aspects of the website migration process.
- Designed to minimize downtime when migrating websites.
- Provides advanced website monitoring capabilities.
- Integrated security features such as malware removal.
- Excellent technical support.
Cons of BlogVault
- Does not allow migration of locally hosted sites.
- Has authentication errors.
8. Jetpack
Jetpack is a multipurpose WordPress plugin that helps perform various activities, including site migration. It provides a simple one click migration, enabling you to migrate a website in minutes. With Jetpack, you don’t require technical skills as it’s easy to use. All you need to do is simply install Jetpack on the hosts and follow a set of instructions to migrate your website.
After installation, Settings > and click on the “Authorize” button under “Site Migration”. Once you authorize the migration, simply the site and enter your login credentials and proceed. After that, the migration process kickstarts immediately. You can monitor the migration process from the Jetpack dashboard.
Pros of Jetpack
- Performs automatic malware scans and fixes website vulnerabilities.
- Unlimited CDN bandwidth.
- Powerful spam protection for forms and comments.
- Real time website backups.
- Unlimited backup storage.
Cons of Jetpack
- Additional charges for features such as backup.
- Incompatible with other WordPress management plugins.
- Not mobile friendly.
9. WPVivid
WPVivid is an easy to use WordPress migration plugin that enables you to transfer websites in minutes. This plugin enables you to create WordPress site backups and migrate your website to a new server or domain. It has advanced backup capabilities that enable users to set backup schedules and save the backups in cloud platforms such as Google Drive, Amazon S3, and Dropbox, among others. You can use these backups to restore the entire website in the event that something goes wrong. Also, you can choose to exclude some folders or files from a backup, depending on your preferences.
Pros of WPVivid
- Provides multisite support.
- Supports large databases.
- Cleans temporary and junk files.
- Great UI.
- Has a built in snapshot tool that helps with the restoration.
- Compatible with the majority of page builders and themes.
Cons of WPVivid
- High memory consumption.
- Cloud restoration often experiences latency issues.
10. BackupGuard
Last on the list of Top 10 Best WordPress Migration Plugins is BackupGuard. Finally another top WordPress backup and migration tool that enables users to back up, migrate, and clone websites in a few clicks. This plugin’s backup keeps your website safe from human errors, crashes, or hackers.
You can perform full or custom backups with a single click. If you encounter an interruption, you can easily restore the website backup. Besides local backup, you can backup your WordPress in resilient cloud platforms such OneDrive, Amazon S3, Dropbox, or Google Drive. BackupGuard enables you to restore your website in any server or domain when performing a migration.
Pros of BackupGuard
- Fast and reliable backup solution.
- Schedule automatic backups to keep it up to date.
- Low RAM and CPU usage.
- Relatively cheaper compared to similar WordPress migration plugins.
- Flexible archiving feature.
Cons of BackupGuard
- Limited technical support.
- WordPress migration feature not available in the free version.
Install WP Cloud SAML Security plugin for WordPress maximum security
Our recommendation from the point of security is to install WordPress WP Cloud SSO hardening tool. That tool limits login attempts to your WordPress site.
- Firstly with WP Cloud SSO there is WordPress SSO Single Sign On to secure your WordPress logins.
- Login to WordPress (WP) using Azure AD, Azure B2C, Okta, ADFS, Keycloak, OneLogin, Salesforce, Google Apps (G Suite), Shibboleth, Ping, Auth0 and other IdPs (Identity Providers).
- The SAML SP (Service Provider) which can be configured to establish a trust between our WordPress SSO plugin and IDP to securely authenticate and enable SSO / Login for the user into the WordPress (WP) site.
Thank you for reading Top 10 Best WordPress Migration Plugins (Pros and Cons). We shall conclude.
Top 10 Best WordPress Migration Plugins (Pros and Cons)- Conclusion
Summing up, whether you are an amateur user or an experienced developer, you can rely on any WordPress migration plugin. Where there are numerous plugins to choose from, it’s best to consider the nature of your website before setting for one. Besides, it is also good to consider the price, as each plugin comes at a cost. Also, some plugins are easy to use, while others may be a bit challenging. Other factors to consider are customer support, hosting features, and security. This way, you’ll land a robust WordPress migration plugin.
For more WordPress tips like these, navigate to our blog here!
