Tutorial · May 24, 2025 · Claudia Uztzu

Moving house: how to migrate your WordPress site from InMotion to a new host

The “no-headache” guide to WordPress migrations, with Zeenko’s signature precision and the pro tips that separate good migrations from great ones.

Moving websites is a lot like moving houses. It is exciting to get a fresh start, but the packing, the heavy lifting, and the fear of losing your valuables (or in this case, your database) can be stressful.

At Zeenko, we handle digital transformations daily. Today, we are breaking down a specific move: migrating a WordPress site from InMotion Hosting to a new provider using cPanel. Whether you are chasing better speeds, lower costs, or just a change of scenery, this guide will bring our signature precision to your migration process.

Phase 1: the pre-move prep

Before you cancel your InMotion account, you need to secure your assets.

Critical rule: do not cancel your old hosting until the new site is 100% live and tested.

What you will need:

  • Access to your InMotion AMP (Account Management Panel) and cPanel
  • Access to your new host’s cPanel
  • FTP credentials (or File Manager access)

Phase 2: the migration

  1. Back it all up (the safety net)

    InMotion uses a customized cPanel. Log in and navigate to the File Manager. Locate your public_html folder (or the specific folder for your domain). Select all files, right-click, and hit Compress (Zip Archive).

    Download this .zip file to your computer.

  2. Export the “brain” (the database)

    Your files are the body, but the database is the brain.

    In InMotion’s cPanel, go to phpMyAdmin. Select your WordPress database from the left sidebar. Click the Export tab, choose the “Quick” method and the format “SQL”, then click Go to download the .sql file.

  3. Set up the new “home”

    Log in to your new host’s cPanel and go to MySQL Databases.

    • Create a new database: name it something hard to guess, rather than wp_db
    • Create a new user: generate a strong password and save it
    • Add the user to the database: select “All Privileges”

    Important: write down the database name, user, and password. You will need them in step 5.

  4. Move in (importing)

    Files: go to your new host’s File Manager. Upload the .zip file you downloaded in step 1 and extract it into the public_html folder.

    Database: go to phpMyAdmin on the new host. Select your new empty database, click Import, and upload the .sql file from step 2.

  5. Rewire the connections

    Your WordPress files are currently looking for the old InMotion database. We need to introduce them to the new one.

    In the new File Manager, find the wp-config.php file. Edit it and update these lines with the credentials you saved in step 3:

    PHP

    define( 'DB_NAME', 'yournew_dbname' );
define( 'DB_USER', 'yournew_dbuser' );
define( 'DB_PASSWORD', 'yournew_password' );

Phase 3: Zeenko pro tips

Here is where “good” migrations often go wrong, and where “great” migrations succeed. Pay attention to these InMotion-specific nuances.

InMotion’s “UltraStack”

InMotion servers often run NGINX caching or specific configurations. When you move to a new host (especially if it is standard Apache/LiteSpeed), you might find a .htaccess file full of InMotion-specific rules or plugins like “Nginx Helper” pre-configured.

Recommendation: after migration, verify your .htaccess file is clean. If the site crashes, try renaming it to .htaccess_old and saving your Permalinks in WordPress to generate a fresh one.

The email trap

Moving your website does not automatically move your emails.

Recommendation: if you have business emails hosted on InMotion, a manual cPanel migration will not transfer them. You will need to recreate the email accounts on the new host or use a specialized IMAP sync tool.

The “hosts file” trick

Do not switch your DNS (nameservers) until you know the site works.

Zeenko secret: edit your computer’s hosts file to point your domain to the new server IP locally. This allows only you to see the site on the new server while the rest of the world still sees the old one. Test every button, form, and image.

PHP version mismatch

InMotion might have been running PHP 7.4, while your new host is on PHP 8.2.

Recommendation: check your current PHP version in InMotion’s cPanel (under “MultiPHP Manager”) and try to match it on the new host initially. Once migrated, you can upgrade to the latest version.

Final step: flip the switch

Once tested, update your domain nameservers (DNS) to your new host. It can take up to 48 hours to propagate, but usually, it is much faster.

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