How to Use Bluehost to Migrate a WordPress Site

The short answer: if your WordPress site has fewer than about 40k visits a month, Bluehost Starter holds it for $4.24 a month on a 12-month term, renewing at $11.99, and the self-service migration tool copies files and database at no extra charge (pricing page, checked on 26 October 2026). The steps: freeze edits on the old site, start Transfer WordPress Website in the Bluehost Portal, authorise the connection from the old site, let the copy run, preview it through your hosts file, point the domain, install SSL, and cancel the old host only once the new one has passed your checks.

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Before you click Start Transfer:

1. What two hosts cost for a while. For example, if the old host bills $20 a month, one month of overlap costs $20. That is cheap next to a site that vanishes because the old plan ended before DNS moved, which is why Bluehost's migration guide says to keep the old hosting active until propagation is complete.
2. The DNS records you already have. Copy every record at your current DNS provider into a sheet: MX for email, SPF, DKIM, and any TXT records that verify tools such as Search Console. If DNS stays outside Bluehost, the finalization guide says mail records are yours to set by hand.
3. The pages that prove the move worked. List your 20 most-visited URLs and every form on the site. After the move, each URL must load with its images and each form must reach the inbox it reached before.

Moving a WordPress site is mostly waiting and checking. The copy itself is automated; what goes wrong is the order of the switch-over, and this guide is about that order. Plans and terms are in the Bluehost glossary entry.

What you need

• A Bluehost hosting plan. The 30-day money-back window starts at purchase, so start the move the same week.
• An administrator login for the WordPress site you are moving.
• Access to the account where your domain's DNS is managed.

Step 1: Freeze edits on the old site

Tell editors that nothing changes on the old site until the switch is done, and pause scheduled posts. Bluehost's finalization guide warns that changes made on the old hosting after the migration cannot be migrated again, so a post published there tomorrow is a post you retype.

Step 2: Start the transfer in the Bluehost Portal

Log in to the Bluehost Portal, click Websites in the left menu, then Add Website, then Transfer WordPress Website, per the self-service migration article. Wait while Bluehost prepares the account, click Start Transfer, and leave the page open while it prepares the migration.

Step 3: Connect and authorise from the old site

Enter the address of the site you are moving and click Connect, then Yes, Continue to Login. You land on the old site's WordPress login. Sign in and click Yes, I approve this connection. The article is direct about it: without that approval, the migration cannot continue.

Step 4: Let the copy run

Progress bars show Files and Database. Do not close or refresh the page early on; from 50% progress the copying runs in the background and you can close the browser. Bluehost emails you when the migration starts, when it completes and if it fails. The tool is built with InstaWP and designed for a success rate of at least 85%, per the migration article. If yours fails, the article offers a paid pro-services migration or a ticket through InstaWP's support form. When it finishes, a completion message shows the site's URL and a Go to site button.

Step 5: Preview the copy before DNS changes

The domain still points at the old host, so preview the new copy by editing your computer's hosts file, in the format <server IP> yourdomain.com www.yourdomain.com, as the finalization guide shows. The change affects only your own device. Work through the 20 URLs and every form. The guide names the usual faults: images not loading, internal links not working, forms or embedded scripts not running.

Step 6: Point the domain at Bluehost

Two routes, both in the finalization guide. Change the domain's nameservers to Bluehost's, which hands DNS management to Bluehost, or keep your registrar's nameservers and change the A record to your Bluehost server IP. On the second route, re-create the MX, SPF and DKIM records from your sheet. The guide puts propagation at up to 48 hours, and the migration guide adds that during that time some visitors reach the old server and some reach Bluehost.

Step 7: Install SSL once the domain resolves

SSL installation needs the domain's DNS pointing at the new server, per the finalization guide, so this step waits for Step 6 to land. Then install the free certificate and load the 20 URLs again over HTTPS.

Step 8: Cancel the old host last

Keep the old hosting until propagation is complete and the checks pass, then cancel. Keep the domain and permalink structure the same if all you are changing is the host, as the migration guide advises, so search engines meet the same URLs at a new address.

Where moves go wrong, in Bluehost's own words

• Closing the page too early. The migration article asks you not to close or refresh before the copy reaches 50%.
• Editing the old site mid-move. Those changes cannot be migrated again.
• SSL before DNS. The certificate needs the domain to point at the new server first.
• Mail lost in the switch. With DNS outside Bluehost, MX, SPF and DKIM must be set manually.

The free check, then the stack question

The free part is the evidence: the 20 URLs, the form test and the DNS sheet cost nothing, and together they tell you within a day whether the move worked. Read the tool's terms with that in mind. Bluehost states its aim as at least 85% of self-service migrations succeeding, and the route it names for the rest is a paid pro-services migration, per the migration article, so the free tool is also the front door to a paid service; a failed run is a reason to read the error first, not to buy the service at once.

Sometimes the move is one of several: a new host, a new CRM and a new email platform in the same quarter, with nobody owning how they connect. Then the stack is the problem rather than the host, and a one-week review like the Startup Fixer, which I sell, maps it before anything else moves.

FAQ

Is the Bluehost migration tool free?

Bluehost presents it as self-service and included, and its pricing page lists free WordPress migration on every WordPress plan. The paid option is the pro-services migration, offered when a self-service run fails.

How long does the switch take?

The copy depends on the site's size. DNS propagation can take up to 48 hours, per the finalization guide, though changes often take effect sooner.

Can I move a site into a fresh WordPress install instead?

Yes. Install WordPress from the Bluehost Portal, click Import an Existing WordPress Site, and the rest matches Steps 3 and 4, per the migration article.