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How do I move my site from cPanel?

Move a cPanel site by hand today: its public_html as a ZIP, its database as a .sql file, then its domain.

Updated 17 Oct 20261 min read

Download your site's public_html folder as a ZIP and its database as a .sql file from cPanel, add a PHP site from that ZIP, import the database, then point your domain here.

1. Take your files and database out of cPanel

  1. In cPanel's File Manager, select public_html and compress it to a ZIP file. Download it.

  2. In cPanel's phpMyAdmin, choose your database, then Export, and save the .sql file.

2. Add the site

  1. On your project's page, in the Add a service card, choose PHP site.

  2. Give it a Site name, like shop, and choose its PHP version.

  3. Under Start with, choose A ZIP file, and drop your ZIP. It can be up to 2 GB, and if the connection drops, choosing the same file again carries on where it stopped.

  4. Choose Create site. Your public_html becomes the site, and .htaccess works as you expect.

3. Bring the database

  1. In the same Add a service card, choose Database, then MySQL (or MariaDB).

  2. Open the new database. Under Import and export, drop your .sql file (a .sql.gz works too) and watch its progress.

  3. Under Connect, copy the Host, Port, Database, User and Password.

  4. Open your site's Files, and put those details in your site's settings file, like wp-config.php for WordPress.

4. Move the domain

When the site works on its free address, add your domain: see How do I add my own domain?.

Your old host

Keep your cPanel account until the site runs here and your domain points here.

For the whole move, with the things people often forget, read Moving from cPanel.