Moving WordPress to Canadian hosting is often driven by data sovereignty, performance for Canadian visitors, or frustration with a US mega-provider's support queue. The good news: a well-planned migration can complete with minutes — not hours of downtime.
Before you start
- Inventory plugins, themes, and custom code — note anything tied to your old host's IP or CDN
- Confirm PHP version compatibility on the new server
- Lower DNS TTL to 300 seconds at least 24 hours before cutover
- Take a full backup: files, database, and wp-config.php
Our recommended migration path
1. Build staging first
Provision the Canadian environment and clone the site to a staging URL. Test admin login, forms, WooCommerce checkout, and email delivery before touching production DNS.
2. Sync the database
Run a final database export/import during the cutover window. Tools like WP-CLI, Duplicator, or manual mysqldump all work — the key is doing a final delta sync after files are in place.
3. Search-replace URLs carefully
Update siteurl and home in wp_options, then run a safe search-replace across post content for any hard-coded old URLs. Always back up before bulk replaces.
4. Cut over DNS
Point your A record to the new Canadian server. With lowered TTL, propagation typically completes within an hour. Keep the old host running for 48 hours as a rollback option.
5. Verify and monitor
Check SSL, cron jobs, outbound email, and caching. We monitor new migrations closely for the first week — that is when edge cases surface.
Common gotchas
- Email still on old host — MX records may need separate migration
- Hard-coded IPs — firewalls and API allowlists often break after a move
- Serialized data — naive search-replace corrupts widget and option data
- CDN cache — purge Cloudflare or similar after DNS flips
We migrate WordPress and WooCommerce sites to Canadian infrastructure regularly. See our WordPress hosting or tell us about your site for a migration plan with a realistic timeline.
