Migrations

Switching hosts can feel daunting, but it really doesn't have to be. With HostFilya you can hand the whole job to our migrations team for free, or follow our self-serve guide if you'd rather drive. Either way, the goal is the same: get your site running faster on our platform without your visitors ever noticing a thing.

What our free, done-for-you migration includes

Every paid hosting plan comes with at least one free professional migration. Our team does the heavy lifting end to end, so you don't need to be technical to switch. A standard migration covers:

• All your website files — themes, plugins, uploads, custom code and everything in your document root.
• Databases — your MySQL/MariaDB databases are exported, imported and reconnected for you.
• Email accounts — existing mailboxes, messages and forwarders where your current host allows export.
• Configuration — we recreate settings, redirects and cron jobs so the site behaves exactly as before.

Once everything is copied across, we test the site on a temporary address before anything goes live, so you can preview it on HostFilya with zero risk to the version your visitors currently see.

How to request a migration

Getting started takes a couple of minutes. Follow these steps:

1. Sign up for the HostFilya plan that fits your site (you can always upgrade later).
2. Log in to your dashboard and open Migrations → Request a migration.
3. Tell us about your current host and the site you want moved.
4. Securely share the access details we need (see below).
5. Pick a preferred cutover window, then sit back — we'll email you at each stage.

What information we need

To move your site smoothly, our team will ask for a few things up front. Having these ready speeds everything up:

• Your current hosting control panel login (cPanel, Plesk or similar), or FTP/SFTP credentials.
• The name of your current host and the type of site (WordPress, static, custom app, etc.).
• Database access, if it isn't bundled with the control panel.
• Your domain registrar login, or confirmation that you'll update DNS yourself.

Tip: never email passwords in plain text. Use the secure credential field inside your HostFilya dashboard — it's encrypted, and you can revoke access the moment the migration is done.

Timeline and the zero-downtime approach

Most standard sites are migrated within 24 to 48 hours of us receiving everything we need. Larger or more complex setups can take a little longer, and we'll always give you a realistic estimate before we begin.

The reason migrations are virtually downtime-free is that we copy your site onto our servers first, while your live site keeps running untouched on your old host. Nothing changes for your visitors until you've previewed the copy and given us the green light. Only then do we switch the traffic over.

How the DNS cutover works

Your domain's DNS is what tells the world where your site lives. To move traffic to HostFilya, you (or we) update the domain's nameservers or its A record to point at your new server. Because we lower the DNS "time to live" beforehand, the switch usually propagates within an hour, though it can take up to 24–48 hours globally. During that window both copies serve the same content, so visitors always land somewhere working.

Verifying everything after the move

Once DNS has fully propagated, take a few minutes to confirm all is well:

• Click through your main pages, menus and forms to check nothing is broken.
• Confirm the padlock shows — your free SSL is issued automatically on our side.
• Send and receive a test email if you migrated mailboxes.
• Log into any admin areas (e.g. WordPress) and verify plugins and settings.

If anything looks off, our support team is on chat 24/7 and can jump in immediately. Because your old host is still intact at this point, there's always a safety net.

Prefer to do it yourself? The self-serve option

If you enjoy being hands-on, you can migrate without us. Use our one-click importer for WordPress, or upload your files via SFTP and import your database through the control panel's database tool. Our step-by-step self-serve guide walks through each part, and you can still ask support to sanity-check before you cut DNS over.

Pre-migration checklist

Before kicking things off, a little prep goes a long way:

1. Take a fresh backup of your existing site and database.
2. Make a note of any custom DNS records (email, subdomains, verification TXT records).
3. Avoid publishing major content changes during the move.
4. Confirm your domain isn't locked at the registrar if a transfer is involved.
5. Keep your old hosting active for a few days after cutover, just in case.

Tick those off and your migration should be a calm, boring non-event — which is exactly how a good migration should feel.