What happened to Media Temple
WP Tavern, the WordPress news site, reported on 6 September 2023 that Media Temple was closing after 24 years in hosting, with the brand retired and customers fully migrated to GoDaddy. GoDaddy had bought Media Temple in 2013. According to the report, Media Temple announced in December 2022 that it would retire the brand and transition accounts to GoDaddy, began migrating accounts in February 2023 with no action required from customers, and completed the process in September 2023.
The same report says former customers keep their current products and pricing for equivalent GoDaddy products. As of 30 October 2026, both mediatemple.net and its /help/ address return a permanent (301) redirect to a GoDaddy offers page, so Media Temple's own documentation is no longer available to consult.
Nothing here means your site is in danger today. If it migrated and works, the question is whether the GoDaddy product it landed on still fits a course or membership site, and that is a normal hosting decision rather than an emergency.
Step 1: confirm where your account, domain and email live now
Log in to GoDaddy with the email address your Media Temple account used and list every product attached: the hosting product and its type, any domain registrations, DNS, SSL certificates and email. The WP Tavern report does not say how email was handled, so check your domain's MX records and your GoDaddy product list before changing anything that could affect mail.
Write down the renewal date and price of each product. Those dates set your deadline: a move is easiest when it finishes a few weeks before the hosting renewal, while the old site is still live for students.
Step 2: export a complete copy of the site
GoDaddy documents a full account export for its cPanel Web Hosting: from your product page, choose Manage next to the cPanel account, open Backups, select View Backups, pick a date and wait for it to mount, choose Export the account, optionally skip the database or home directory, select Start export and then Download when it succeeds. Keep the default of including both the database and the home directory unless you have a separate database export.
If your site landed on a different GoDaddy product, use that product's backup tool or a WordPress backup plugin to produce a database export and a copy of wp-content. Store the copy off the hosting account before you start a migration or cancel anything.
Step 3: compare destinations and their published migration terms
The table lists entry pricing and migration terms as each host publishes them. Prices are list prices on the date checked; SiteGround's introductory prices apply to a prepaid 12-month term and renew at a higher rate.
| Host | Entry plan as published | Migration terms as published | Fits |
|---|---|---|---|
| SiteGround | StartUp $2.99/mo intro, renews at $17.99/mo, 1 site, 10 GB, prepaid 12 months; GrowBig $4.99/mo intro, renews at $29.99/mo | WordPress Automigration plugin from the setup wizard at no extra cost; paid professional transfer that may take up to 5 business days; the plans page also advertised a limited-time free site transfer | Budget shared hosting for a small course site |
| Kinsta | Single 35k $35/mo billed monthly or $350/yr billed annually: 1 WordPress install, 35,000 visits/mo, 10 GB storage, 14-day backup retention | Unlimited free migrations from all hosting providers for standard WordPress installations, requested in MyKinsta with host details or a backup file | Managed WordPress where you want the host to run the migration |
| WP Engine | Essential from $28/mo billed annually ($336 due up front); lowest listed tier shows 25,000 visits, 10 GB storage, 75 GB bandwidth | WP Engine Site Migration plugin; requires WordPress 5.0, PHP 7.4, MySQL 8.0 and the REST API on both sites; excludes disallowed plugins; .htaccess rules are not carried over | Managed WordPress where you will run the plugin yourself |
Who should stay on GoDaddy and who should move
Staying is reasonable if the site migrated cleanly, renewals are affordable and students are not reporting slow lessons or failed logins. A move costs time and carries risk; do not move only because the brand changed.
Moving makes sense when the GoDaddy product the site landed on lacks things your course site depends on, such as staging, a PHP version your LMS needs, or backups you can restore yourself, or when the renewal price is higher than a comparable plan elsewhere. If you move, match the PHP version first, test logged-in pages on the new host before DNS changes, and keep the GoDaddy account until the new site has run through at least one renewal and email cycle. Our GoDaddy to SiteGround and Kinsta migration preparation guides cover the host-specific steps.
Former Media Temple customer checklist
- Log in to GoDaddy and list hosting, domains, DNS, SSL and email products with renewal dates.
- Check MX records before touching DNS, because the retirement report does not cover email.
- Export a full cPanel backup (database and home directory) and store it off the account.
- Record the current PHP version and any server settings the site relies on.
- Pick a destination and read its migration terms before buying.
- Test the copy on the new host, including logins, lessons and checkout, before changing DNS.
- Cancel GoDaddy hosting only after the new site is live and a backup restore has been proven.
Questions before you decide
Is Media Temple still in business?
Not as a separate brand. WP Tavern reported in September 2023 that GoDaddy retired Media Temple after migrating its customers to GoDaddy, and mediatemple.net now redirects to a GoDaddy page.
Did Media Temple customers need to migrate their own sites?
No. WP Tavern reported that Media Temple began migrating accounts to GoDaddy in February 2023 with no action required from customers, and that customers kept their products and pricing for equivalent products.
How do I back up a former Media Temple site now?
If it runs on GoDaddy cPanel Web Hosting, GoDaddy documents exporting the account from Backups > View Backups > Export the account, then downloading it. Other products need their own backup tool or a WordPress backup plugin.
Which host has free migration for a former Media Temple site?
Kinsta lists unlimited free migrations for standard WordPress installations. SiteGround offers a free WordPress Automigration plugin and a paid professional transfer. WP Engine provides its Site Migration plugin.
Sources & verification
Product details and prices can change. Check the linked provider before buying.
- GoDaddy: Download a cPanel account using Daily Backups Accessed 30 Oct 2026
- Media Temple: mediatemple.net (redirects to GoDaddy) Accessed 30 Oct 2026
- WP Tavern: GoDaddy retires Media Temple brand (6 September 2023) Accessed 30 Oct 2026
- SiteGround: WordPress hosting plans Accessed 30 Oct 2026
- SiteGround: Transfer an existing site Accessed 30 Oct 2026
- SiteGround: How can I transfer my website? Accessed 30 Oct 2026
- Kinsta: Pricing Accessed 30 Oct 2026
- Kinsta: Migrations Accessed 30 Oct 2026
- WP Engine: Plans Accessed 30 Oct 2026
- WP Engine: Site Migration plugin Accessed 30 Oct 2026
Sources link directly to providers. Product buttons may use separately labeled affiliate links. Read our disclosure.