Content system with many possible hosts, themes, and plugins

Start a WordPress migration by finding out which WordPress site you actually have.

WordPress.com and self-hosted WordPress can look similar while having different hosts, billing, storage, themes, plugins, backups, and export options. Patsy does not claim to import every WordPress theme or plugin. The safe path begins with access, inventory, and an independent backup.

Before deciding

Know what the current platform is doing well.

A move is justified by a specific improvement, not by temporary frustration with one screen or one price increase.

Read Patsy vs WordPress

WordPress.com sells hosted plans, while WordPress.org provides open-source software that requires separate hosting and may rely on paid themes, plugins, storage, security, or maintenance.
A WordPress content export does not necessarily include the theme, customizer settings, page-builder layout, media originals, plugin records, forms, redirects, or server configuration.
Plugins may hold galleries, SEO fields, forms, memberships, commerce, redirects, caching, analytics, or custom content that is not visible in the standard page list.
Do not cancel hosting or delete the installation until the studio has a verified backup and has checked every required record outside the live site.

Collect before starting

The account is not the backup.

Create an independent record of files, active client promises, business data, settings, links, and ownership before cancellation becomes a deadline.

Hosting provider, WordPress.com plan if applicable, domain registrar, DNS owner, administrator users, and renewal dates
A full backup appropriate to the installation, plus separately downloaded original photographs and business-critical documents
Theme, child theme, page builder, active plugins, custom post types, forms, galleries, SEO tools, redirects, and integrations
Every public URL, page, post, category, author, portfolio entry, image, caption, form, download, and gated area
Form submissions, client or member records, products, orders, subscriptions, analytics, tracking, and email connections where used
Custom code, server rules, security tools, caching, cookie controls, privacy text, and anything the studio cannot readily explain

Staged migration plan

Move the lowest-risk work first. Move the domain last.

Each phase has a result to verify before the next phase begins. Keeping the systems overlapped costs more briefly and can prevent much larger client-facing failures.

1. Establish ownership and access

Make sure the photographer can reach the domain, host, application, data, and backups before rebuilding.

Record whether the site is WordPress.com or self-hosted WordPress.
Confirm registrar, DNS, hosting, WordPress administrator, database or backup, and third-party service access.
Identify the person or agency responsible for licenses, maintenance, security, and current backups.

Be carefulDo not make configuration changes only to test access. Preserve the current site while ownership and backup questions are resolved.

2. Inventory content and plugin behavior

Find business functions that are easy to miss in a visual review.

Crawl public URLs and review the dashboard's pages, posts, media, users, comments, and custom content types.
List what each active plugin does and whether the studio still needs that behavior.
Identify forms, galleries, redirects, SEO fields, commerce, memberships, client portals, and integrations stored by plugins.

3. Rebuild and map

Plan the Patsy website direction and a record-level map for content, URLs, and business functions.

Provide approved copy, photographs, brand assets, service details, and the strongest current pages.
Map each old URL to keep, improve, consolidate, redirect, archive, or retire.
Mark every plugin behavior as replaced, retained elsewhere, postponed, or no longer needed.

4. Test before changing traffic

Prove the public site and all essential integrations while WordPress remains available.

Test pages, forms, downloads, galleries, email, analytics, search tools, consent behavior, and priority redirects.
Use a phone and a signed-out browser, not only the administrator session.
Change DNS only after preserving the old record set, then monitor closely through the overlap period.

Review manually

Data that rarely behaves like a simple file copy.

Theme and page-builder layout, reusable blocks, custom fields, custom post types, shortcodes, widgets, and menus
Media-library originals, gallery relationships, captions, alt text, image URLs, external storage, and hotlinked files
SEO plugin fields, redirects, canonicals, index rules, structured data, sitemaps, and search verification
Forms and submissions, spam controls, email delivery, CRM connections, memberships, products, orders, and subscriptions
Users, roles, administrator access, backups, security records, plugin licenses, custom code, and server configuration

Cutover checks

Evidence that the replacement is ready.

A restorable backup and independent copy of original photographs exist outside the live WordPress host.
Every required plugin behavior has a documented replacement or an explicit decision not to move it.
Priority URLs, forms, email, downloads, analytics, search verification, and redirects pass real tests.
The domain's mail and verification records are preserved when web-hosting records change.
The old host remains available until the studio has confirmed retention, exports, and rollback needs.

Platform sources

Patsy and PA Digital Studio are not affiliated with WordPress. Export tools and platform policies change, so confirm current documentation and account options before planning the move.

Ready when you are

See the replacement before moving anything out of WordPress.

Build and review the public direction first. Keep the existing site, account, client galleries, and domain untouched until you deliberately approve a change.

See what Patsy can do for you