Move your website from Bluehost to Hostinger
Start by letting Hostinger do it. The free migration service takes your Bluehost admin login, copies the site across, and reports back — typically well inside a day. It is unlimited, and there is no upsell attached.
The important part is knowing what it does not touch. Hostinger states plainly that migrations exclude cron jobs, DNS records, custom SSL configuration and FTP accounts, and that email needs a separate process. A site that depends on a scheduled task will arrive looking perfect and quietly stop doing whatever that task did.
Do this while Bluehost is still live. The migration copies rather than moves, so the public keeps hitting the old site until you change DNS.
- Hands-on time
- 15 minutes to request
- Start to finish
- Often under 2 hours; allow up to 24
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Steps
- 5
Downtime risk: None. The migration copies the site and the live one stays on Bluehost until DNS changes.
Can I do just this, and nothing else?
Yes — this works on its own
Yes, and it is the natural place to stop if all you wanted was cheaper hosting. You can have the site running on Hostinger with the domain, DNS and email all still at Bluehost, and switch over whenever you are ready.
What changes
- A working copy of the site exists on Hostinger
- You have a tested target to point at when you choose to
What stays exactly as it is
- The domain stays registered at Bluehost and is billed by Bluehost
- Nameservers and DNS records are untouched
- Email continues to work exactly as before
- Visitors still reach the Bluehost copy
Before doing website files & database on its own: Nothing, beyond having admin credentials for the Bluehost site to hand over.
Before you start
- An active Hostinger plan with enough resources for the site
- A working link to the Bluehost admin area, plus the username and password
- An open-source CMS such as WordPress or Joomla, or files and a database export for a manual move
- Fewer than five migration requests already in flight
Step-by-step
Each step is labelled with which side you are working on, so you always know whether you should be signed in to Bluehost or Hostinger.
- 1At Hostinger
Submit the migration request in hPanel
Hostinger runs this as a ticketed service rather than a plugin, so you hand over access and they do the work.
- hPanel → Websites → Migrate Website, or Home → Websites → Migrations
- Add a request and enter the domain of the site you are moving
- Supply the Bluehost admin URL and credentials — WordPress admin or cPanel
- One request per site, including subdomains; bulk migrations are not offered
- 2At Hostinger
Or upload an archive, if the site is not reachable
For a site that is already offline, or one behind a login wall, Hostinger accepts the files and database directly instead of credentials.
- Compressed files as .zip, .tar, .tar.gz, .tgz, .7z or .gz
- The database as a .sql export
- From Bluehost: File Manager → public_html → Compress, and phpMyAdmin → Export → Quick → SQL
- Turn on hidden files before compressing, or .htaccess is left behind
- 3At Hostinger
Track the request
Migrations are queued and worked through rather than run instantly, so check status rather than waiting on an email.
- hPanel → Migrations shows the state of each request
- A simple WordPress site is often done in under two hours
- Allow up to 24 hours before chasing it
- 4At Hostinger
Rebuild what the migration deliberately leaves out
This is the step that separates a migration that looks finished from one that is. Hostinger names four exclusions, and every one of them fails silently.
- Cron jobs — list them at Bluehost first, because after cancellation you cannot
- Custom SSL configuration, if you were not using a standard certificate
- FTP accounts, if anything automated logs in over FTP
- DNS records, which are the next task on this page
- Email, which needs its own migration
- 5At Hostinger
Test on the temporary URL before touching DNS
The migration copies rather than moves, which buys you a free rehearsal. Take it.
- Use Hostinger's temporary domain for the site, or add a hosts file entry so the real domain resolves to Hostinger for you only
- Click through properly — forms, logins, checkout, an image deep in an old post
- Check the PHP version matches what the site ran on at Bluehost
hosts file entry (macOS/Linux: /etc/hosts)31.170.160.10 example.com www.example.com
What goes wrong
The failures that actually happen on this step, rather than a generic warning to be careful.
Cron jobs are not migrated, and their absence is silent
Can cause downtimeHostinger lists cron jobs among the things a migration excludes. Scheduled publishing, backups, feed imports, invoice generation — none of it moves. The site looks perfect and simply stops doing the work. Write down every cron entry at Bluehost before you cancel, because once the account is gone the list is gone.
Five active requests, and no bulk migrations
Can cause delaysIf you are moving a portfolio of sites, this is a queue rather than a batch job. Requests are per site, subdomains count separately, and only five can be active at once. Plan the order rather than submitting everything and hoping.
You are handing over admin credentials
Can cause delaysThe managed migration works by logging into your current site. That is a reasonable trade, but treat it like one: create a dedicated admin account for the migration rather than sharing your own, and remove it once the move is confirmed.
Email does not live in the files
Can cause downtimeMailboxes hosted with your old provider are not in public_html and are not in the database. If you use host-provided email, that is a separate migration — download the mail over IMAP before you cancel, or the messages go with the account.
A copied site drifts from the original
Can cause delaysBoth sites are live and editable while DNS still points at Bluehost. Anything published on the old site after the copy exists only there, and disappears the moment you cut over. Stop publishing once the migration completes.
How to check it worked
Do not rely on the site looking fine in your own browser — it caches, and it will tell you what you want to hear.
- The site loads on Hostinger's temporary domain, or on the real domain via a hosts file entry
- Interior pages load, not just the homepage
- Images in old posts render, confirming uploads came across in full
- The admin area logs in and the plugin list matches the Bluehost site
- Every cron job from the Bluehost list has been recreated
If it goes wrong
Nothing is live yet, so rollback is simply: do not change DNS. The Bluehost site is untouched and still serving. Request the migration again if it came across badly.
Questions about this step
Does Hostinger's free migration include email?
No. Hostinger's documentation is explicit that email requires a separate migration process. The free service covers website files and databases only.
Can I migrate a site that is not WordPress?
Yes, within limits — the service targets open-source content management systems such as WordPress and Joomla. For anything bespoke, use the offline route and hand over a files archive plus a .sql database export.
What about my SSL certificate?
Certificates do not transfer. The new host issues its own once the domain resolves to its servers, which means there is a short period after cutover where HTTPS may warn. Provision the certificate as soon as DNS points there, and check the site still forces HTTPS afterwards.
Reference documentation
Provider interfaces change. When these steps and the official documentation disagree, the documentation wins.
Only if you are doing the full move
Stuck on this step?
Send me the domain and what you have tried. I do Bluehost to Hostinger moves regularly and can tell you what is actually blocking it.