How to move from SiteGround to Kinsta

What changes when you leave SiteGround for Kinsta

A SiteGround account usually bundles three things: the WordPress site, the mailboxes for your domain, and often the DNS zone if you pointed nameservers to ns1.siteground.net and ns2.siteground.net. Kinsta takes over only the first. Kinsta's email documentation says it does not provide email as part of its hosting plans and recommends keeping email and hosting separate, naming Google Workspace, Microsoft 365 and Zoho Mail as options.

That makes this move different from a host-to-host move between two cPanel-style providers. Plan the email and DNS work as separate projects with their own cutover times, rather than as a side effect of the WordPress copy.

Step 1: Get a copy you control before anything moves

SiteGround's backup article says shared plans keep up to 30 daily copies and cloud plans up to 7, and that those backups include email. Downloading a backup as a .tar.gz archive, however, requires the paid Premium Backup service; the link then stays available for 24 hours. If you do not have Premium Backup, take your own copy of the files over SFTP and export the database before the move.

Keep this copy outside both hosts. It is your rollback if a migration overwrites something, and it is the only easy way to recover mail if you cancel SiteGround too early.

Step 2: Choose the copy route

Kinsta's migration documentation says standard migrations are free, run Monday to Friday and not on weekends, and are usually completed within one business day when you choose 'As soon as possible'. Expedited migration costs $49 per site with an 8-hour target. Kinsta asks for your current host's hostname, username, password and SFTP details, and specifically names SiteGround among hosts that use two-factor authentication: add the migrations team's email to your SiteGround account before submitting, or disable 2FA until the migration is complete.

Kinsta also says every migration includes a malware scan. If it finds something, it pauses and asks whether you want Kinsta to remove it or to clean the site yourself first; if Kinsta removes it, infected files are quarantined in the site's ~/private directory rather than deleted. The documentation does not say plugins are removed, so expect SiteGround's plugins to arrive with the site.

• Free standard migration: fits a single site without a hard deadline; book it for a weekday.
• Expedited migration ($49 per site): fits a launch window; Kinsta refunds the fee if it misses the target.
• Backup migration: you upload files and database, or share a link, and Kinsta imports them.
• Doing it yourself: possible, but note that All-in-One WP Migration, BackupBuddy and Duplicator Pro are on Kinsta's banned backup plugin list, so plan an import route that does not depend on them at the destination. Kinsta's banned-plugin page suggests the free version of Duplicator or Migrate Guru for plugin-based moves.

Step 3: Remove SiteGround-specific plugins

SiteGround's Speed Optimizer plugin has the WordPress.org slug sg-cachepress, and that slug appears on the complete list in Kinsta's banned plugins documentation. Kinsta says caching plugins usually do not work on its platform because it already caches at the server level, and that installing a banned plugin is blocked with a warning. The plugin's own listing says its Dynamic Caching and Memcached features are available only on SiteGround servers, so there is nothing to keep.

SiteGround Security Optimizer did not appear on Kinsta's banned list when this guide's sources were accessed. Whether you keep it is a judgement call; if you remove it, recreate any login protection you relied on with another tool before go-live. Also remove the SiteGround Migrator plugin if it is still installed from an earlier move into SiteGround.

After deleting Speed Optimizer, check that no URL exclusions or cache rules you set for members only lived in that plugin. On Kinsta, cache bypass for specific pages such as login, account and registration is configured by Kinsta Support, per its site caching documentation.

Step 4: Move email before you touch DNS

If your mailboxes are at SiteGround, pick a provider, create the same addresses there, and copy existing mail using the provider's import tool or an IMAP client. If you use Kinsta DNS, MyKinsta can add Gmail MX records in a few clicks. Plan to add the mail provider's verification, SPF and DKIM records yourself, and compare the finished zone with your provider's setup instructions.

Kinsta sends transactional mail through MailChannels. Its email page lists daily limits of 150, 1,000 or 3,000 transactional emails per day depending on plan, shared across all sites in the plan, says the servers must not be used for newsletters or marketing, and notes that DMARC alignment is not currently supported. For a course site that sends enrolment and receipt mail, that last point is the reason to configure a third-party SMTP service before cutover.

Step 5: DNS, in the right order

If your domain uses SiteGround nameservers, every record currently lives in SiteGround's DNS zone. Kinsta's DNS documentation warns that if you change nameservers before adding records, the domain will have no DNS records and site and email will likely go down. Kinsta can import a zone file or scan for records, but warns scans may miss records, so compare the result line by line with SiteGround's DNS Zone Editor.

The alternative is to keep DNS where it is and change only the A record to the IP Kinsta gives you. Kinsta's migration guide suggests lowering TTL to 300 seconds 12 to 24 hours beforehand and says propagation typically takes around an hour. Nameserver changes can take 24 to 48 hours to propagate, according to Kinsta's DNS page.

• Export or copy the SiteGround zone: A, CNAME, MX, TXT (SPF, DKIM, DMARC, verification), SRV.
• Recreate it at the new DNS host and compare record by record.
• Lower TTL a day ahead if you are changing the A record only.
• Switch the A record or nameservers only after Site Preview testing passes.
• Leave SiteGround running until mail is flowing at the new provider and the site has served real traffic.

Step 6: Test with Site Preview, then cut over

Kinsta's documented review step is Site Preview in MyKinsta, available for 1, 4, 8 or 24 hours. Kinsta says to test content, functionality and any eCommerce or membership features, and not to update DNS until testing is complete. For a membership or course site, use this list:

• Log in as a test student and as an administrator on the new copy; confirm the session survives a page change and a logout.
• Pick three real members at different stages and compare course progress, quiz attempts and certificates on both copies.
• Compare the number of active memberships or subscriptions and the newest five orders on both copies.
• Send a password reset and a purchase receipt from the new copy and confirm both arrive.
• Open a protected lesson while logged out and confirm it is still blocked.

Sources & verification

Product details and prices can change. Check the linked provider before buying.

1. Kinsta Docs: Migrating to Kinsta Accessed 30 Oct 2026
2. Kinsta Docs: Banned and incompatible plugins Accessed 30 Oct 2026
3. Kinsta Docs: Email Accessed 30 Oct 2026
4. Kinsta Docs: Kinsta's DNS Accessed 30 Oct 2026
5. Kinsta Docs: Site caching Accessed 30 Oct 2026
6. SiteGround KB: Backup service Accessed 30 Oct 2026
7. SiteGround KB: Point your domain to SiteGround Accessed 30 Oct 2026
8. WordPress.org: Speed Optimizer plugin by SiteGround Accessed 30 Oct 2026