Export Move WordPress Site to HTML

"Moving WordPress" means different things. New host, same domain. Same host, new domain. Local development to live server. Each scenario has its quirks.

Let's start with the most common: moving to a new host with the same domain.

This is straightforward. Your domain stays the same, so URLs in the database don't need updating. Export everything from old host, database dump, wp-content folder. Import to new host. Point DNS to new server. Done.

Migration plugins simplify this. All-in-One WP Migration, Duplicator, UpdraftPlus, they package your entire site into a single file. Upload that file to fresh WordPress on the new host, let the plugin unpack it. Five clicks instead of fifty.

Moving to a new domain is trickier.

WordPress stores your URL in multiple places, the database, serialized option arrays, sometimes hardcoded in theme files. Changing the domain in WordPress settings only fixes part of this. The rest requires database surgery.

Better Search Replace plugin helps. Or WP-CLI's search-replace command if you're comfortable with command line. Search for the old domain, replace with new. Run it on serialized data too, WordPress stores some settings that way.

After the search-replace, check everything. Internal links, image URLs, custom CSS references. Theme settings sometimes store absolute URLs. Plugin configurations too. Click through the whole site.

Moving from localhost to live server.

This trips up developers more than it should. Your local environment has different paths, different URLs, probably different PHP versions. The database export from your localhost needs every reference to localhost:8000 or whatever replaced with your actual domain.

Same tools apply, Duplicator, Better Search Replace. But also check your wp-config.php carefully. Database host might change. Debug settings should change. Sometimes local setups have different table prefixes.

File permissions often break during this transfer. Set directories to 755, files to 644. The uploads folder specifically needs proper permissions or media uploads will fail.

Here's a scenario people don't consider: not moving WordPress at all.

If you're moving because hosting is expensive, or you're tired of updates, or the site doesn't change much, export to static HTML instead. Your WordPress site becomes simple files. Host them on Netlify for free. No more database, no more PHP, no more WordPress.

This works for brochure sites, portfolios, blogs you don't update. You lose dynamic features, but for static content, there's nothing to lose. The site looks identical, loads faster, costs nothing.

Whatever approach you choose, back up first. Both the old location and the new one. Test before switching DNS. And give yourself more time than you think you need, migrations rarely go perfeclty on the first try.