Hostinger uses a proprietary control panel called hPanel rather than cPanel, which means the menus look different from most migration tutorials, but the underlying process is the same. Files and a database export are all you need, and both are accessible through hPanel.
Log in to hPanel at hpanel.hostinger.com and select your hosting plan. Navigate to Files > Backups. Hostinger offers weekly backups on Business plans and above; on Starter and Premium plans, backups may be daily but the ability to download them depends on your specific plan tier. Click the Generate Backup button to create a fresh snapshot, then download it once it's ready.
The backup downloads as a .zip file containing your website files and a separate SQL database file. Extract the zip locally. Inside, you'll typically find a public_html directory with your WordPress files and a databases folder with the .sql export. If your plan doesn't include downloadable backups, use the manual approach instead: connect via FTP to download files, and export the database via phpMyAdmin within hPanel.
If you're used to cPanel, hPanel will feel unfamiliar at first but the functions are all present. FTP access is under Files > FTP Accounts. The database manager is under Databases > phpMyAdmin. File Manager is under Files > File Manager. DNS management is under Domains > DNS Zone Editor.
One meaningful difference: Hostinger's phpMyAdmin access is restricted to the database user assigned to each database, you can't log in as root. This means you need to access phpMyAdmin via hPanel's built-in link rather than navigating directly to the phpMyAdmin URL. Click Manage next to your database under Databases > Databases, then click Enter phpMyAdmin.
Before migrating manually, check whether your destination host offers free migrations, and also check Hostinger's own terms, because many people don't realise Hostinger will migrate sites to their platform for free, but they do not migrate sites away from their platform. If you're moving to a host that offers free inbound migrations, contact that host's support team first. They often handle the entire process for you using the same file and database transfer steps described here, saving you the manual work.
If your new host does not offer free migrations, the manual process in this guide is straightforward for most WordPress sites.
On the new host (assuming cPanel), log in and open File Manager. Navigate to public_html and delete any placeholder files. Upload your WordPress files, either by uploading the zip and extracting it, or by uploading via FTP using FileZilla. For large sites, FTP is more reliable than File Manager for uploads.
Create a new database and database user in cPanel under MySQL Databases. Note the database name, username, password, and host. Open phpMyAdmin, select the new database, and import the .sql file you exported from Hostinger. Once the import completes, open wp-config.php in File Manager and update DB_NAME, DB_USER, DB_PASSWORD, and DB_HOST to match the new database credentials.
If your domain is registered through Hostinger, domains are subject to a 60-day transfer lock after registration or transfer per ICANN rules. Hostinger enforces this. If you're within the lock window, change nameservers rather than initiating a transfer. Log in to hPanel, go to Domains > DNS Zone Editor, and update the nameserver records to those of your new host. This moves DNS control to the new host immediately without waiting for a registrar transfer to complete.
To initiate a domain transfer once the lock period has passed, go to Domains > Transfer Away in hPanel. Hostinger will provide an EPP/authorisation code that you submit to the new registrar. The transfer typically takes five to seven days to complete.
At least 24 hours before changing your DNS records, lower the TTL on your A records to 300 seconds (5 minutes). In hPanel's DNS Zone Editor, find the A record for your root domain and www, edit each one, and change the TTL value. This minimises the propagation delay when you make the final DNS change, instead of old records being cached for up to 24 hours, they'll expire within five minutes.
After DNS cutover is confirmed and the site is running correctly on the new server, you can set the TTL back to 3600 or higher. A lower TTL means more DNS queries, which is a minor overhead on the DNS server, not a concern for most sites, but worth tidying up once the migration is stable.
Before updating DNS records publicly, test the migrated site by editing your local hosts file. On Windows, open Notepad as administrator and edit C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts. Add a line: NEW.SERVER.IP.ADDRESS yourdomain.com www.yourdomain.com. On Mac or Linux, edit /etc/hosts with the same format using sudo.
With this change in place, your computer will load the site from the new server while everyone else still sees Hostinger. Open the site in an incognito window (to avoid cached DNS results) and run through your key pages: homepage, a blog post, the admin login at /wp-admin/, and any checkout or form flows. Flush permalinks by going to Settings > Permalinks and clicking Save Changes. Once everything looks correct, remove the hosts file entry and update your public DNS records to point to the new host.
Once DNS has fully propagated and you've confirmed the new site is running correctly for 48 hours, you can cancel your Hostinger plan. Log in to hPanel and go to Billing > Services to manage your subscription. Be aware that Hostinger's refund policy applies only within a short window after purchase, if you're outside that window, there's no pro-rated refund for unused time.
Before cancelling, download a final backup from Hostinger as an archive copy. This gives you a fallback if you discover anything missing from the new server weeks later. Store it somewhere you can access it independently, an external drive or cloud storage, rather than relying on the Hostinger account you're about to close.
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