A blogger I know put off migrating hosts for over a year because the last time she moved a site, it went down for six hours and she lost a day’s worth of search traffic to a broken DNS record nobody caught in time. Her second migration, done properly with the DNS overlap this guide walks through, had zero visible downtime for a single visitor.

You’ll want your new Hostinger account set up before starting step one. Set up a Hostinger account here before you begin the migration.

The Core Idea: Overlap, Don’t Cut Over

Downtime during a migration almost always comes from cutting the old host off before the new one is fully verified working. The fix is running both hosts in parallel for a short window, confirming the new one works perfectly, and only then pointing your domain at it.

Step One: Back Up the Full Site

Export a complete backup from your current host, database and files both, not just the files. Most WordPress hosts offer a one-click full-site backup; if yours doesn’t, a plugin like Duplicator or UpdraftPlus handles both pieces in one export you can carry over cleanly.

Step Two: Set Up Hostinger Without Touching DNS Yet

Create your hosting account and install WordPress on Hostinger, but do not change your domain’s DNS records yet. Hostinger gives you a temporary URL or IP address you can use to access the new site directly while your live domain still points at the old host.

Hostinger’s migration tools can import many WordPress backups automatically once your account is live. Start your Hostinger setup here before importing your backup.

Step Three: Import and Verify on the Temporary URL

Restore your backup onto the new Hostinger install and browse the entire site using the temporary URL. Check every page template, every plugin, and especially anything with a form or checkout flow. This is the step that catches a broken plugin or missing file before your actual visitors ever see it, since nobody but you is looking at this URL yet.

Step Four: Lower Your DNS TTL Ahead of Time

A day or two before the actual cutover, lower your domain’s DNS Time To Live setting to something short, like five minutes, in your current DNS provider. This makes the eventual switch propagate fast once you flip it, instead of taking the default 24 to 48 hours some records default to.

Step Five: Point DNS to Hostinger

Once the site is fully verified on the temporary URL and your TTL has had time to lower, update your domain’s A record to point at Hostinger’s server IP, or update your nameservers if you’re using Hostinger’s DNS entirely. Because of the short TTL, most visitors will resolve to the new server within minutes rather than hours.

Step Six: Keep the Old Host Alive for a Few Days

Do not cancel or delete your old hosting account immediately. DNS propagation isn’t instant for every visitor worldwide, and keeping the old site live for a few extra days as a safety net means nobody sees an error page during the transition window.

Common Mistakes

Skipping the Temporary URL Verification

Switching DNS before confirming the new site actually works is the single most common cause of migration downtime. Always verify on the temporary URL first.

Forgetting Email Records

If your domain’s email runs through MX records separate from your website hosting, double-check those aren’t accidentally overwritten during the DNS update, or email delivery can break silently alongside the site move.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long should I budget for the whole migration?

Plan for a few days total: one day to back up and verify on the temporary URL, a day or two of lowered TTL before cutover, and a few extra days keeping the old host alive as a safety net.

Does Hostinger offer a free migration service?

Hostinger provides migration tools and support to help move an existing WordPress site over; check current plan details for exactly what’s included at your tier.

The Bottom Line

Zero-downtime migration isn’t a special trick, it’s just patience: verify everything on a temporary URL before any DNS change, lower your TTL ahead of time, and keep the old host running as a safety net for a few days after the switch.

Ready to start the move? Set up your Hostinger account here and follow the steps above in order.

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