Want to change your hosting from SiteGround To GreenGeeks? Then I will help you to execute this complete process of transferring your website from SiteGround To GreenGeeks manually without any downtime.
SiteGround is one of the best WordPress hosting providers, but in recent time due to changes in their pricing structure, people started getting out of their services. When you are buying a hosting from a good company, the cost of hosting is a big factor.
When other competitors of SiteGround are offering all such features and services at less price, people will be forced to take decisions on migrating website from SiteGround to other hosting. In this guide, I will talk about specifically moving to GreenGeeks hosting and answer all your questions like:
- How To Move Web Hosting From SiteGround to GreenGeeks
- How do I transfer from SiteGround to GreenGeeks?
- How To Transfer Your Website From SiteGround To GreenGeeks?
- How to migrate a WordPress site to GreenGeeks Hosting
Why To Migrate From SiteGround To GreenGeeks?
If you are not aware, then let me tell you that SiteGround has recently increased its web hosting price. And it’s quite significant. Here is the new SiteGround Pricing: SiteGround StartUp cost will increase from $3.95 to $6.95, GrowBig plan from $5.95 to $9.99, and GoGeek Plan from $11.95 to $14.99 per month.
In such a situation, SiteGround is not at all a beginner-friendly cheap WordPress hosting providers. In fact, their StartUP plan is way costly with very limited features, which is not at all worth. That’s why I am writing this article for them who want to transfer their website to an affordable & reliable hosting, like GreenGeeks.
GreenGeeks Vs SiteGround Pricing Comparison
Now let me share an interesting comparison where I will show you that SiteGround StartUp plan is way costly compared to GreenGeeks PRO Plan and also lacks many premium features.
GreenGeeks Pro Plan
- Price is $4.95/mo after initial discount (3 Yrs)
- Unlimited Websites
- Unlimited Web Space
- Unmetered Data Transfer
- Unlimited E-mail Accounts
- Faster Performance
- Free SSL Certificate
- Free Domain Name for 1st Year
- Free Nightly Backup
- Free CDN
SiteGround StartUP
- Starting Price $6.99/mo with 53% discount
- No Free Domain
- Renewal Price $14.99
- 10 GB Space
- 10,000 visits/mo Traffic Limit
- Only 1 website
- No Domain Privacy
- Only automatic Backup, no On-Demand Backup
How To Buy Hosting From GreenGeeks With Max Discount?
So, as you have decided to migrate your website from SiteGround To GreenGeeks, you need to buy hosting from GreenGeeks. GreenGeeks is one of the most popular green web hosting and one of the best SiteGround alternatives. They offers cheap & affordable hosting with premium features like Free SSL Certificate, Free Domain Name etc.
Step 1: Use This link to visit GreenGeeks Official website. This link will activate the Special GreenGeeks Pricing $2.49/mo. The actual price is $10.95/mo, but using this special GreenGeeks promo code, you can save up to 70%.
Step 2: GreenGeeks offers 3 different hosting plans under shared WordPress hosting category. You’ll see a Lite, Pro, Premium in below picture. If you have confusion which plan to choose, then check out this Best GreenGeeks plan guide where I have explained why GreenGeeks PRO plan is the best for bloggers.
- EcoSite LITE: Perfect for small websites or blogs that are just getting started.
- EcoSite PRO: Great for growing websites that need more speed and resources.
- EcoSite PREMIUM: Our small business plan is perfect for very busy websites or online stores.
Step 3: Next click on the Get Started button and go to the next screen where you need to choose a domain name. With GreenGeeks hosting, you will get a free domain name for the first year.
Step 4: After that you need to provide all your personal details like email address, name, address etc. You can get the option to choose the server location or Data centers as well.
Step 5: Now if you go for 36 month plan, you will be able to save maximum. You can see that the special $2.49/mo price is activated and you can buy GreenGeeks for next 3 years by paying only $89.64.
Step 6: Finally you need to pay the amount using credit card. You can see that you have saved 75% on GreenGeeks for next 3 years and also get a free domain for first year. You will get only Credit Card payment option.
That’s it. We are done with the purchase of hosting from GreenGeeks. Now let’s move your website from SiteGround To GreenGeeks account.
How To Transfer Your Website From SiteGround To GreenGeeks?
If you are starting your blogging journey and yet to decide on which hosting to buy, then I would recommend you to follow this guide to create a blog from scratch on GreenGeeks.
Previously, I have created a video while migrating the website WPBlogging360.com from FastComet To Bluehost with the help of the UpdraftPlus plugin. You can follow the exact steps to transfer your website from SiteGround To Bluehost.
As GreenGeeks doesn’t offer any free website migration service, I would say better to learn this process and migrate your website to GreenGeeks manually from SiteGround. Let’s understand the exact steps to switch from SiteGround To GreenGeeks.
Step 1: Install UpdraftPlus Plugin (it’s free)
First of all you have to install the UpdraftPLUS Plugin on your website. We need to take the full-back up of the website. This is a free plugin and I have created a detailed video on this. You can watch this video and understand how to take the backup of your website.
Step 2: Download the backup files
I am sure you have watched that video and understand how to create backup files and then download them one by one. Just click on each file and download them on your computer. There are a total of 5 files. You have to make sure to keep them secure.
After you installed that plugin, go to settings => UpdraftPlus.
Then Click on the backup now button. It will start taking the backups in just few minutes and create similar files like below.
Click on each folders like Database, Plugins, Themes, Upload, Others and then download them on your desktop or laptop. This is a physical backup and we need to keep these files safe so that we can upload them as soon as we set up our domain in A2 Hosting account.
E.g. this is how the files will look like. I generally take physical backup of my websites using UpdraftPlus. You must do that even if you have backup from web hosting side.
Step 3: Change the DNS records of Your Domain
So, we are done with all the work from the SiteGround side. Now we need to start the process to transfer the website from SiteGround To Bluehost. For that change your domain DNS records with Bluehost Nameserver records mentioned below.
- chi-ns1.greengeeks.com
- chi-ns2.greengeeks.com
- ams-ns1.greengeeks.com
My domain is with GoDaddy, so it’s easy for me to switch hosting companies. In case your domain is with SiteGround, then you have to transfer that domain from Siteground To GreenGeeks.
In case you want to transfer your GoDaddy Domain to GreenGeeks to get the Domain as FREE, then you can contact GreenGeeks and easily to transfer the Domain. You need to provide the EPP Authorisation code for that. Watch the below video to find out how to get the EPP Authorisation code for GoDaddy Domain.
They will waive off the domain registration charge for the 1st year if you have to avail that offer while buying Bluehost Share WordPress hosting plan.
Step 4: Add Domain On GreenGeeks & Install WordPress
Now you have to login to your GreenGeeks account. For that you need use the URLs that you have received in your email after buying hosting from GreenGeeks. As soon as you login, you will find a screen like below. Just click on the cPanel Login button.
Now you will find a typical cPanel interface like almost every other hosting companies. Simply click on the Addon Domains option.
5.Install WordPress On The Domain On GreenGeeks
After adding the domain on your GreenGeeks account, our next target is to install WordPress on that domain. This you can easily do using Softaculuos software. Look for the software in your cPanel account.
Click on that link and it will open the below screen where you need to click on WordPress.
Next, to install WordPress on your domain name you have to fill up the below form. Make sure to choose the domain name, HTTPS and website title, description etc. Provide a user id & password as well.
Note: Don’t put anything in the directly path. make sure to keep that empty only.
After putting all information, you can click on INSTALL button. Your WordPress will be installed on that domain in just few seconds only. And you will find a screen like below.
That’s it. Now Click on the Admin URL and login to the domain .
6. Install UpdraftPlus Plugin And Restore Backup Files
Now, we need to install the UpDraftPlus Plugin. So go to your WordPress Plugin area and click on Add New. Then search for UpdraftPlus. I am sure you are familiar with the plugin now as we have already used the same in previous steps while taking backup of our SiteGround website.
Then you need to go to settings=>UpdraftPlus and you will be visiting the UpdraftPlus page. Scroll down and click on upload backup option.
Click on that option and then choose all the downloaded ZIP files that we have taken in previous steps. As soon as they all get uploaded you will see a screen like below again.
Now you have to click on Restore button and restore will start. You will get a screen like below.
Choose everything and click on restore.
Wrapping Up
That’s it. It is actually very easy to follow and I did this many times with many of websites. So if you are not feeling comfortable, then I would suggest you to migrate one test website to get used to with the technicalities. Regarding the website downtime, it is always better to execute this process on off time. E.g. mostly at night time people don’t come to your website, so accordingly plan the migration.
Anyway, I am sure you will find this website transfer tutorial from SiteGround to GreenGeeks useful. In case you have any doubt or questions, please feel free to write a comment below.
