Migrating WordPress from Localhost to Live Hosting

The WordPress Migration Challenge

WordPress stores its URL in the database, and local development uses localhost while production uses your actual domain. A direct file and database copy will result in a broken site — every internal link and resource URL will point to localhost. The migration process must transfer files, export the database, import it to the host, and replace all localhost references with the live URL.

Using Duplicator Plugin (Recommended Method)

Duplicator is the most reliable free tool for WordPress migration. Install it on your local site, create a package (it bundles all WordPress files and the database into a zip), and download the zip plus the installer.php file. Upload both to your live hosting (via FTP or hosting file manager). Run the installer by navigating to yourdomain.com/installer.php in the browser, and follow the setup wizard to complete the migration.

Manual Migration: Files

For manual migration, compress your entire WordPress directory into a zip file and upload it to your live server via FTP (FileZilla is recommended) or your host's file manager. Extract it in the public_html directory. Update wp-config.php with your live database credentials (DB_NAME, DB_USER, DB_PASSWORD, DB_HOST provided by your hosting control panel). The wp-content folder contains all your themes, plugins, and uploads.

Manual Migration: Database

Export your local database from phpMyAdmin (localhost/phpmyadmin) as a SQL file. Create a new database in your live hosting control panel and import the SQL file via the live server's phpMyAdmin. Then replace all occurrences of localhost (or your local domain) with your live domain in the database. Use the Better Search Replace plugin or run an SQL query with UPDATE wp_options SET option_value = replace(option_value, 'localhost', 'yourdomain.com').

Common Migration Issues

Mixed content errors occur when your live site uses HTTPS but the database contains http:// URLs — run a search-replace to update all URLs to https://. Broken images happen when file permissions are wrong — wp-content/uploads should be 755. White screen of death is usually a PHP version mismatch — check your live server's PHP version matches or exceeds your local version. Check your live server's error logs for specific error messages.

Post-Migration Checklist

After migration: go to Settings > Permalinks and click Save Changes to flush the rewrite rules. Test all forms and contact pages. Verify your SSL certificate is working on all pages (no mixed content warnings). Test checkout if you have WooCommerce. Verify email deliverability by submitting a test form. Confirm Google Analytics is tracking (check real-time data). Update your DNS records to point to the new server if moving hosts.