Free Website Migration: What a Good Host Should Do for You
Almost every hosting company puts the words “free migration” somewhere on its pricing page. It is one of the least standardised promises in the industry. At one host it means a technician logs in, moves the lot, tests it and tells you when to switch. At another it means a link to a plugin and a support article with screenshots of a control panel nobody uses any more.
Both are described the same way on the sales page.
What follows is what the phrase should mean, what usually sits outside it, and the questions that tell you which sort of host you are dealing with before you commit.
Short answer: A free website migration normally means the host copies your files and database to their server, sets up the domain and certificate, and helps you check the result before you change DNS. What differs between hosts is how many sites are covered, which platforms qualify, how fast it happens, and who fixes whatever breaks afterwards.
What does free website migration actually include?
At a minimum: a full copy of your files and database, a working site on the new server, an SSL certificate, and a way for you to preview it before your domain points anywhere new. Anything less is a file transfer, not a migration, and the difference shows up on launch day.
The line between a migration and a rebuild is worth understanding, because that is where most disagreements start.
| Task | Part of a typical migration offer? |
|---|---|
| Copying files and database | Yes |
| Recreating cron jobs and redirects | Usually, if you flag them first |
| Issuing an SSL certificate | Yes |
| A preview before the switch | Yes, and ask how you get it |
| Fixing a plugin that was already broken | No, that is development work |
| Upgrading PHP and testing the site on it | Usually quoted separately |
| Moving mailboxes and message history | Usually a separate job |
| Rebuilding a site that will not run on current software | No |
What does a host need from you before it can start?
Access and an inventory. A host cannot copy what it cannot reach, and it has no way of knowing that the subdomain nobody mentioned is running your booking system. The faster you supply logins and a list of what exists, the faster the whole thing moves.
- Control panel or FTP and database access at the old host, or a full backup file you have downloaded yourself.
- Registrar access, or a willingness to change the nameservers yourself when told to.
- A list of every domain, subdomain and site involved, plus anything that runs on a schedule.
- A contact who can answer a question on the day, so the migration is not waiting three days on an email.
The pre-migration checklist lists these in the order you will be asked for them, which is easier than assembling them one panicked email at a time.
Where do hosts usually draw the line?
At the point where copying becomes fixing. Moving a working site is a defined job with a known end. Making a site work that was already limping, on a newer PHP version, with a plugin the developer abandoned, is open-ended development, and no host can offer that without a quote.
Two other limits come up constantly. The first is site count: an offer written for one site is often applied to whoever asks, until somebody arrives with fourteen. The second is platform. WordPress, Joomla and plain HTML are routine. A bespoke application with its own deployment process is not, and an honest host will say so rather than discover it halfway through.
How fast should a migration be, and who decides when it goes live?
You decide when it goes live. That is the part worth insisting on. A reasonable host copies the site, gives you a preview link or hosts file instructions, waits for you to confirm it looks right, and only then tells you to change the nameservers. Never the other way round.
Speed depends on the queue and the size of the site, so ask for an estimate rather than a promise. The honest comparison matters here: several large international hosts run migration desks around the clock and can start within hours at any time of night. GoodHost’s support runs Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm AEST, so a Saturday request waits until Monday. If your move has to happen at 2am on a Sunday, say so up front.
What should you ask before you hand over your logins?
Five things, and the answers tell you more about a host than any feature table. Ask them in a pre-sales ticket so the reply is in writing, then keep the ticket. It costs you ten minutes and it is the cheapest insurance available on a job like this.
- How many sites does the offer cover, and how do you count a site?
- Will I get to preview the site on your server before I change any DNS?
- Who changes the nameservers, and what TTL do you recommend beforehand?
- What is your rollback if something is wrong after the switch?
- What is specifically excluded, and what would you charge to do those parts?
There is a longer list in the questions to ask before switching web hosts, which covers the plan and the support arrangement as well as the move itself.
How does GoodHost handle a migration?
The same shape as above: copy first, preview second, DNS last, and the old site untouched until you sign off. Sites land on Australian infrastructure with a free SSL certificate, daily backups and JetBackup restores from day one, on plans with no lock-in contract and a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Domains are a separate thing, though they often move at the same time and get confused with the site itself. Transferring a .com.au, .net.au, .org.au or .au in to GoodHost is free; a .com transfer is $41 and a .net $43, each adding a year. None of it affects where the website is hosted.
The other guides on switching hosts cover the surrounding worries, including whether the site drops offline while it happens. The migration service page sets out what the team does.
Frequently asked questions
How many sites will a host move for free?
It varies, and the number is usually in the terms rather than on the pricing page. Some hosts move one site per account, some move everything on the old server, and some count each subdomain separately. If you have five sites and a staging copy, get the count confirmed in writing first.
Can a host migrate my email as well as my website?
Sometimes, and it is worth asking separately because mailboxes are a different job from files and a database. Moving mail means copying message history, recreating accounts and passwords, and changing MX records at a moment when nobody can afford to lose a message. GoodHost’s email hosting product has not launched yet, so ask what the position is for your mail before you move the site.
Is it safe to give a host my logins?
Reasonably, with ordinary precautions. Create a separate administrator account for the migration instead of handing over your own, send credentials through the ticket system rather than plain email, and delete the account once the move is signed off. A host asking for your registrar password rather than just nameserver values wants more than the job needs.
Does a migration affect my search rankings?
It should not, provided the URLs stay identical and the pages return the same content. Search engines index addresses, not server rooms. Ranking drops after a move almost always trace back to something concrete: a staging site left open to indexing, a redirect rule that did not travel, or a robots.txt copied from a test environment.
What if the migration goes wrong?
Usually not much, provided the old site is still running. That is the reason a sensible process copies first and switches DNS last: the original stays untouched and reachable until you agree the new one is right, so the fallback is simply not changing the nameservers yet. Ask the host what their rollback plan is, and keep the old account paid for a couple of weeks.
If you are weighing up an offer from a host right now, send them the five questions above before you pay for anything, and send the same five to the GoodHost migration team. Comparing the two replies side by side tells you more about how a move will go than any amount of pricing page copy.