UpdraftPlus releases free WordPress migration features
Migrate your WordPress website for free with UpdraftPlus
Section titled Migrate your WordPress website for free with UpdraftPlusUpdraftPlus has long been the world’s most popular WordPress backup and migration plugin according to our number of active installations.
Tens of thousands of WordPress users have also relied on UpdraftPlus to migrate their WordPress websites to another URL or migrate to a new host.
Until recently, customers had to purchase UpdraftPlus Premium to benefit from migration features.
UpdraftPlus release 1.23.8 changes all of that. Migration is now free!
All users can now migrate their WordPress websites using the free UpdraftPlus plugin.
UpdraftPlus free vs premium
Section titled UpdraftPlus free vs premiumWe’ve reserved some migration features for the premium (i.e. paid) product.
To migrate with free UpdraftPlus, you must download your backups from the source site and then upload / restore these into the destination site.
Only customers with UpdraftPlus Premium:
- Can pick and choose which themes, plugins and database tables to migrate.
- Get Premium support. We can do more to support your migration than is allowed under WordPress forum guidelines e.g. we can look at your server configuration or access your site to diagnose issues.
- Can migrate a normal WordPress site into a subsite of a multisite.
Premium is also a better option for users who regularly migrate between the same two WordPress websites e.g. if frequently updating a sandbox to reflect the live site or vice versa. Connect the sites once then migrate in a matter of clicks.
With UpdraftPlus Premium you also get premium backup features including the ability to take incremental backups, automatic backups before updates, more remote storage locations including Microsoft OneDrive, Microsoft Azure, SFTP, WebDAV and more.
So what does the free UpdraftPlus plugin do in respect to migration?
Section titled So what does the free UpdraftPlus plugin do in respect to migration?You can migrate your WordPress website in the free plugin by taking a backup in the source site, and then uploading/restoring this in the destination site.
As with premium, the free version includes a built-in ‘search-and-replace’ engine which identifies old references, replacing these with the new ones, reducing the chances of missing files or broken links.
Both versions also perform various ‘behind the scenes’ clean-up tasks, maintaining compatibility with other plugins and things of that sort (our aim is never to have any “the free version leaves things broken if you’re using this-or-that plugin and you must pay to not have things broken!” situations).
Migrating your WordPress website with the free or premium plugins, takes minutes.
For a detailed explanation of the differences, visit our updated step-by-step WordPress migration guide.
Why the change?
Section titled Why the change?We want to bring migration to more of our customer base whilst providing an upgrade path to customers with additional migration needs.
Next steps
Section titled Next stepsGet the free UpdraftPlus plugin now, from the WordPress directory or upgrade to UpdraftPlus Premium to benefit from premium migration and premium backup features.
For additional questions, please contact our support team.
About the author

Andrea Howey
Andrea is the Head of Marketing at Updraft WP Software.. She’s worked in B2B / Tech Marketing for more than 15 years. She’s equal parts passionate about good leadership and marketing best practice. Her experience lies in turning around and focusing marketing departments, understanding where the business needs to get to, then building high performing teams, systems, processes and plans to get there.
Categories
UpdraftPlus
Get all our premium features. Direct site-to-site migration, incremental backups, back up automatically before updates and a whole lot more.
From just $70 for the year.
More stories
-
Three things to do this World Backup Day
This World Backup Day, take the time to ensure your website is protected. From automating backups to connecting to remote storage, these three steps will keep your data safe. Plus, enjoy a 10% discount on UpdraftPlus Premium for a limited time!
-
Same team, different name. Welcome to TeamUpdraft (for affiliates)
Attention affiliates! TeamUpdraft is here, combining UpdraftPlus, WP-Optimize, and AIOS. Explore new ways to earn with our unified brand.
-
Same team, different name. Welcome to TeamUpdraft
UpdraftPlus, WP-Optimize & AIOS are now under TeamUpdraft! Find out what’s changed, how to log in, and where to get support.
-
WP-Optimize release v4.0.0
WP-Optimize v4.0.0 is here! This update introduces JavaScript execution delay, minimum requirements changes, and performance improvements.