What Kinsta documents about cost and limits
Kinsta's current migration page states that Kinsta migrations are free, and its migrations overview says it offers unlimited free migrations from all hosting providers for sites using standard WordPress installations. The practical limit is capacity on your plan: the migration request steps tell you to check that you have an available site slot. Kinsta's changelog entry announcing the policy (updated October 23, 2024) put it the same way, saying the only cap is the number of WordPress installations available in your Kinsta hosting plan, and that there is no longer a cost distinction between Basic and Premium migrations.
The same changelog lists support for migrating WordPress multisite networks, scheduled migrations, and sites that require reverse proxies or non-standard implementations like Bedrock and Trellis. Because that entry is dated, check the current request form in MyKinsta before relying on any one of those for a complex site.
The paid option is speed. Kinsta's migration docs offer expedited migrations for $49 per site.
Timing: plan around business days
Kinsta says standard migrations are usually completed within one business day, and that it does not migrate sites on weekends. Expedited migrations target completion within 8 hours, between 9 AM and 11 PM, Monday to Friday (UTC). If you choose a specific date rather than as soon as possible, Kinsta says its Migrations team will start the migration on the date and time you requested.
For a course or membership site, those hours matter. A UTC weekday window may land during your busiest enrolment period if your members are in North America or Australia. Schedule the copy for a quiet period, and remember that any orders, renewals, or lesson progress recorded on the old site after the copy starts will not be in the migrated database unless you freeze writes or plan a final sync.
| Option | Cost documented by Kinsta | Timing documented by Kinsta |
|---|---|---|
| Standard migration | Free (needs an available site slot) | Usually within one business day; no weekend migrations |
| Expedited migration | $49 per site | Within 8 hours, 9 AM to 11 PM, Monday to Friday (UTC) |
| Scheduled migration | Free | Starts on the date and time you request |
What you need to provide
Kinsta says it typically asks for your hostname, username, password, and SFTP connection details for the current host. If you provide a backup instead, it must contain both your site files and database. Gather these before you open the request so the migration is not held up waiting on credentials, and create a dedicated SFTP user at the old host that you can delete afterwards.
Kinsta's overview also notes you can migrate by either sharing information about your current hosting provider or using a backup file, and it links self-service guides for its migration tool, manual migration, Duplicator and Migrate Guru if you would rather do the copy yourself.
- SFTP or SSH host, username, password, and port for the old host.
- WordPress admin login for the site.
- The domain and any special requirements, such as a reverse proxy or a non-standard WordPress layout.
- A list of anything outside WordPress that the site depends on: cron jobs, external API keys, CDN settings.
What is not included
Kinsta states that configuring third-party services, and setting up email, are not included in the migration service. So if your mailboxes live at the current host you need a separate plan for them before you cancel; the email DNS records guide covers what to copy. Third-party services for a membership site typically include the payment gateway's webhook endpoint, transactional email provider, CDN, and any external LMS integrations. Each of those needs to be checked by you after the copy, not assumed to work because the site loads.
Treat the migration as a copy of WordPress files and database. Everything that lives outside that boundary is your checklist.
After Kinsta finishes: test before DNS
Kinsta says it sends a notification with steps to preview and test your site on Kinsta, and its guidance is direct: don't update your DNS until you've fully tested everything. For a learning or membership site, testing means more than loading the home page. Log in as a test student and confirm course progress, quiz results, and certificates appear; log in as a test member and confirm access rules; run a test checkout in the payment gateway's test mode; and confirm scheduled tasks such as renewal reminders run on the new host.
Only after those checks pass should you lower TTLs, freeze writes on the old site, re-sync anything that changed since the copy, and point DNS. Keep the old host active until traffic there has stopped and you are confident you will not need to roll back.
Questions before you decide
How many free migrations does Kinsta include?
Kinsta describes migrations as free and unlimited for standard WordPress installations, limited in practice by the site slots available on your plan. Check MyKinsta for available slots before requesting.
Will Kinsta move my email?
No. Kinsta states that setting up email is not included in the migration service. Mailboxes hosted at your old host need a separate migration.
Sources & verification
Product details and prices can change. Check the linked provider before buying.
- Kinsta Docs: Kinsta Migration (migrating to Kinsta) Accessed 13 Oct 2026
- Kinsta Docs: WordPress Migrations overview Accessed 13 Oct 2026
- Kinsta Changelog: Free and unlimited WordPress migrations Accessed 13 Oct 2026
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