Want to move your WordPress website from SiteGround to Kinsta? This post will show you how.
Both SiteGround and Kinsta are two of the most popular WordPress hosting services. The two have some things in common. First, they use Google Cloud as the main hosting infrastructure. Second, they use Cloudflare for the CDN feature although this feature is not enabled by default in SiteGround. Third, they offer a fully managed hosting solution for WordPress.
Kinsta is pricier than SiteGround as it offers higher specs on its bundled hosting services. For instance, its Starter plan — the cheapest one — is bundled with a 100GB free CDN. While the StartUp plan of SiteGround — the cheapest one — offers only 10GB of free CDN (not enabled by default).
In addition to CDN, there are some other hosting features offered by Kinsta that make its service pricier than SiteGround — and many other hosting services. However, moving to Kinsta can be a great decision if you want to have a faster website.
How to Move Your WordPress Site from SiteGround to Kinsta
Step 1: Download Your Site from SiteGround
The first step you need to do to move your website from SiteGround to Kinsta is to download the website first. There are two components you need to download:
- The site files
- The site database
— Downloading the Site Files
First, login to SiteGround with your account. Once logged in, click the Websites menu on the menu bar. Select the website you want to download the files of and click SITE TOOLS.
Click the Site menu on the left panel and select File Manager.
Once the file manager window opens, enter the public_html folder (double-click).
Select all files and folders on the public_html folder. You can do so by clicking on each file while pressing the Ctrl key on your keyboard (the command key on Mac). Once all files are selected, click the archive icon. This step will create a ZIP file of your site files.
Once the ZIP file is created, you can download it. There are two options you can choose. First, you can download it directly from the file manager. Simply select the file and click the download icon.
Another option to download the ZIP file is by using an FTP client app such as FileZilla, WinSCP, and Cyberduck. This option is more recommended if your site has a large file size.
To download the ZIP file via FTP, you need to setup an FTP account first. To do so, select the FTP Accounts under the Site menu on the menu panel on the left side.
Enter a username on the Account Name field and set the password on the Password field. Click the CREATE button.
Next, you can use an FTP client app of your choice. In this post, we use Cyberduck.
Launch Cyberduck on your computer. Add a new FTP connection by clicking the globe icon.
Enter your FTP account details and click the Connect button.
Once connected, find the ZIP file you have just created. Right-click and select Download.
— Downloading the Site Database
Once done downloading the site files, the next step is to download database file. To do, select MySQL under the Site menu on the menu panel on the left side. Click the PHPMYADMIN tab and click the ACCESS PHPMYADMIN button to open phpMyAdmin.
Once phpMyAdmin opens, select your site database on the left panel. Click the Export menu and click the Go button to export/download it.
Wait until the exporting process is done.
Step 2: Upload Your Site to Kinsta
Once done downloading your site from SiteGround, the next step is to upload it to Kinsta. Before proceeding, make sure you already have a hosting plan on Kinsta.
— Uploading the Site Files
Once you are ready, login to Kinsta with your account. Select the WordPress Sites menu and click the Create new site button.
On the appearing dialog, select the Empty environment option and click Continue.
Give your site a name and select a data center location. Click the Continue button.
Wait a moment while Kinsta is creating a new environment for your site. Once done, close the window.
Next, upload the ZIP file of your site files. Unlike SiteGround, Kinsta have prepared an FTP account you can use to download/upload files so that you don’t need to create the FTP account yourself. To see the FTP account details, first click your website.
Scroll down to the SFTP/SSH block on the Info menu.
Launch the FTP client you use (Cyberduck in our case) and add a new connection. Open the public folder and upload your ZIP file here.
Unzip the ZIP file once it is uploaded.
— Uploading the Site Database
Once the site files are uploaded, the next step is to upload the database you have exported on step one above.
On the Kinsta dashboard, go to the Database access block on the Info menu. Click Open phpMyAdmin.
Go to the Import menu and click the Choose File button to select the database file. Click the Go button to start importing.
Step 3: Connect Your Database
In order to make your website to be able to access your database, you need to configure the wp-config.php file and tailor the database details (database name, username, and password). You can find out the details of your new database on the Database access block on the Info menu.
Use your FTP client to edit the wp-config.php file.
The lines you need to edit are:
define( 'DB_NAME', 'database_name' ); define( 'DB_USER', 'database_username' ); define( 'DB_PASSWORD', 'database_password' );
Make sure to tailor the above lines according to the database details provided by Kinsta. Don’t forget to save the changes.
Step 4: Add and Connect Your Domain Name
Lastly, in order to make your website to be able to be accessed using your domain name, you need to add and connect your domain name to Kinsta. We have a separate article covering this topic. You can read it here.
The Bottom Line
SiteGround is a popular web hosting service that has a good reputation in the WordPress community. You can use it to run nearly all website types. From a blog to e-commerce. But Kinsta offers a better site performance thanks to its built-in CDN feature and other optimization features, including Early Hints.
In case you want to move your WordPress site from SiteGround to Kinsta, you can follow the steps we have just covered above.
