Kinsta is a web hosting provider focused on WordPress and WooCommerce. Positioning itself as premium WordPress hosting, Kinsta offers a wide range of plans, each of which has a different number of websites to be hosted and different amount of hosting resources allocated.
However, many business owners may constantly need to update their plan as their site grows and attracts more visitors, having to pay more and more to accommodate traffic. Moreover, many features and tools are not included in any Kinsta hosting WordPress and WooCommerce plans by default and must be purchased separately. All this leads to the hosting costs increasing, even more, leaving you to look for a better hosting solution.
In this guide, you will learn how to transfer your WordPress or WooCommerce website from Kinsta hosting to Nexcess hosting to leverage better performance and security at a more affordable price with everything you need included in all hosting plans from the start.
Kinsta hosting for WordPress and WooCommerce
Kinsta hosting offers ten main plans for hosting WordPress and WooCommerce websites and a set of addons to include for an additional cost. The limits on the hosting resources allocated to your website with each plan are strictly imposed, and you will have to pay extra to keep your website(s) running. Moreover, the addons offered should be included in your hosting plan by default, and you should not be charged extra for them.
Top 3 features that make Nexcess hosting stand out
Here at Nexcess, we are dedicated to your success. We are open and clear about the solutions we use, and we have no hidden fees or any unnecessary addons. Nexcess provides the same superior platform features in all WordPress and ecommerce hosting plans, regardless of the number of websites hosted. Here are the top three features that make Nexcess stand out from other managed WordPress hosting options, including Kinsta hosting.
Feature #1: Better performance
The three main factors that ensure the best performance for WordPress and WooCommerce include:
- Technology stack. It is key to determine what web server, PHP handler, and database server are used — and how well they are optimized for performance.
- Caching and compression. Caching and file compression are indispensable for excellent web page load time.
- Content delivery network. CDN will speed up your website regardless of the platform used.
Nexcess hosting provides an enterprise-level technology stack with the hosting infrastructure fully optimized for WordPress and WooCommerce to ensure excellent performance. In addition, Nexcess uses NGINX, a high-performance web server as a reverse proxy. We position NGINX in front of your website and configure it to store frequently used assets in the in-memory cache.
Nexcess allocates a minimum of 10 PHP workers per site on all plans, and the number increases as you upgrade, allowing your website to stay online 24/7 without worrying about it going offline in case of a traffic surge. Moreover, we know that ecommerce websites require many more hosting resources to operate, so we include a minimum of 20 PHP workers on all managed WooCommerce hosting plans. This way, your customers will never experience delays while browsing the product catalog and placing orders!
Hosting a promotion? No problem — Nexcess Cloud auto scaling comes to the rescue, so you do not have to upgrade your hosting plan.
Our built-in caching solutions include page cache, Redis object cache, and OpCode caching, expertly tuned to make your site even faster. In addition, Nexcess Edge CDN allows access to the global network with 22 points of presence and provides features like HTTP/2 and file compression to give you a decisive advantage on page load time.
What about Kinsta hosting performance?
Kinsta offers from 2 to 6 PHP workers per website on all plans except enterprise hosting. Kinsta hosting enterprise-level plans allocate 8 to 14 PHP workers. Kinsta WordPress and WooCommerce plans for enterprise hosting cost a minimum of $675 monthly, and you can get 10 PHP workers only having paid $1,000 or more. NGINX reverse proxy and Redis are not included by default but are offered as addons for $50 and $100 monthly.
Kinsta hosting lists the number of monthly visits you can have on each hosting plan, but there is no way to tell how many requests can be serviced and how much traffic your website can handle. It largely varies from site to site and depends on the number of PHP processes (workers) running that can accept requests from the web server. If only 2-5 PHP workers allocated is a very small number of PHP workers, especially if you host an ecommerce website.
Feature #2: Better security
Security is a top priority for Nexcess. By providing a combination of server-side and application-level security solutions, we ensure that your website is protected against all kinds of cyber attacks.
We acknowledge the importance of the principle of least privilege: all permissions are set up securely, and our built-in malware detection and DDOS prevention systems examine each request coming to your website to block intrusion attempts and unauthorized access. In addition, Nexcess offers Solid Security Pro as a world-class application-level security solution installed on each hosting plan by default.
Updates
Nexcess takes care of all updates for WordPress and WooCommerce. Nexcess provides automatic WordPress core, theme, and plugin updates, which means all software you are using stays up to date without needing your direct intervention. In addition, using the Visual Comparison tool and Nexcess Cloud Development sites can help you avoid issues by testing updates before pushing the changes to the production environment.
Backups
All Nexcess plans include 30 days of free daily backups stored on a remote backup server to keep your data secure. In addition, it allows you to restore every component of your WordPress website within minutes.
What about Kinsta hosting security?
Kinsta hosting provides great server security and uses Cloudflare as an application-level firewall that ensures DDOS protection. However, when it comes to backups, Kinsta hosting offers only two weeks of daily backups for most Kinsta WooCommerce and WordPress plans. You will also have to pay extra for backups to be stored externally.
Feature #3: Better price
Nexcess Cloud plans remain affordable for all WordPress and WooCommerce website owners regardless of the website’s size or number of daily visitors. Prices for Nexcess-managed WordPress and WooCommerce hosting start at $19 monthly or even less if you pay yearly. Nexcess has no hidden fees, and all the best solutions are already available to all customers regardless of the hosting plan chosen.
What about the Kinsta hosting price tag?
Kinsta WordPress plans start at $35 monthly, providing just two PHP workers and a minimal number of features. Moreover, smaller WordPress plans will not allow you to host WooCommerce, so Kinsta WooCommerce hosting starts from $115 monthly.
Adding Redis and Nginx reverse proxy as hosting addons will add $200 to your monthly costs. The price increases almost twice as you upgrade to the next plan, so Kinsta hosting is not for you if you are looking for affordable solutions.
About the 3 ways to transfer a website from Kinsta hosting to Nexcess hosting
Cloud or high-availability enterprise hosting for WordPress and WooCommerce — Nexcess is ready to accommodate your needs. Let’s see how you can transfer your Kinsta WooCommerce and Kinsta WordPress websites to Nexcess. If you have already decided what type of hosting better suits your needs and created an account with Nexcess, it is time to move your websites to the new infrastructure.
There are three main options for transferring a WordPress or WooCommerce website from Kinsta hosting to Nexcess:
- Nexcess Migration Services. All Nexcess plans provide access to Nexcess free managed migration services.
- Nexcess Migration Plugin. Migrate To Liquid Web & Nexcess is a WordPress migration plugin allowing you to transfer your WordPress or WooCommerce website to Nexcess quickly and easily.
- Self-migration. No one knows your websites better than you, so manually transferring data may be the preferred method for you.
Transfer from Kinsta hosting method #1: Nexcess migration services
Our migration specialists can move all your data from Kinsta hosting to Nexcess for you. All you need to do is fill in the Nexcess Migration Form, and a team of professionals will start working on moving your business to Nexcess. Migration timeframes will vary based on several variables; how fast your websites will be fully moved to Nexcess depends on the time you need to verify that everything works correctly from the new infrastructure and updated DNS:
The migration process at Nexcess includes three main phases:
- Initial sync. During the initial sync, we transfer all data from Kinsta hosting to Nexcess.
- Testing phase. During this phase, we will turn everything over to you for testing. You will need to thoroughly check and report any issues you may encounter to us.
- Final sync. During the last sync, all data that has changed on the old host since the initial sync will be transferred to Nexcess, and DNS will need to be updated. Downtime is expected, as your website(s) will be completely inaccessible while we transfer data and new DNS records are updated across the Internet.
Transfer from Kinsta hosting method #2: Nexcess WordPress migration plugin
The Migrate to Liquid Web & Nescess plugin simplifies the migration process and makes it easy to transfer your WordPress or WooCommerce website to Nexcess from any hosting provider, including Kinsta hosting. The plugin takes care of everything, from copying all the data to Nexcess to making the necessary changes to your website’s configuration files:
Transfer from Kinsta hosting method #3: Self-migration
You can move your website to a new server manually. The process includes having all your data backed up and downloaded from Kinsta hosting and uploaded to Nexcess via FTP/SFTP or SSH. You can also establish an SSH connection between Kinsta and Nexcess. You can find your Kinsta hosting SSH credentials under the SFTP/SSH section of the website’s Info tab within MyKinsta.
Please note that the process of self-migration between two managed WordPress hosting providers like Kinsta and Nexcess, involves moving from specific modifications made to WordPress core by the old hosting provider to the new built-in enhancements added by Nexcess. If you manually migrate your WordPress or WooCommerce website from Kinsta hosting to Nexcess hosting, you will need to perform all migration cleanup operations after all files have been transferred.
How to Transfer from Kinsta hosting to Nexcess in 8 easy steps
Follow the eight easy steps below to transfer your WordPress or WooCommerce website from Kinsta hosting to Nexcess.
Transfer from Kinsta hosting step #1: Create a Nexcess account and choose a plan
Create an account with Nexcess and choose a plan that best suits your needs. Cloud hosting is a perfect solution for WordPress and WooCommerce websites of any size and complexity and it should meet all your requirements if you are moving away from one of the WordPress plans offered by Kinsta hosting.
If you have any difficulties understanding what plan best suits your needs and can benefit your business most in the long term, feel free to contact Nexcess award-winning 24/7/365 technical support for assistance:
Transfer from Kinsta hosting step #2: Choose how to perform a website migration from Kinsta hosting
You can transfer your website from Kinsta hosting yourself or leave it to us. If you would like to use our migration services, submit a migration request from the Support interface of the Nexcess Client Portal.
Using our migration plugin is the best option if you would like to migrate your data without our assistance. Follow the steps below to see how you can manually move your websites from Kinsta hosting to Nexcess.
Transfer from Kinsta hosting step #3: Turn your website off at Kinsta hosting
Self-migration can create additional complications, as transferring data twice is not always possible. We strongly recommend redirecting all traffic from your website at Kinsta to a maintenance page to avoid data loss while the migration is ongoing. Once the DNS is pointed to Nexcess, your website will start working from our side.
Transfer from Kinsta hosting step #4: Move your website to Nexcess
Moving your website to Nexcess manually or using the Nexcess WordPress migration plugin requires you to retrieve your new SSH or FTP/SFTP credentials from Nexcess. Once you create a plan and a WordPress or WooCommerce installation, you can find your new website’s SSH and FTP/SFTP credentials by opening the Site Dashboard from the Nexcess Client Portal:
The Credentials page will provide all usernames, passwords, hostnames, and port numbers to use. Click the Generate New Password button to get your SSH/SFTP password:
You can access phpMyAdmin to import your database if you choose not to use our migration plugin and manage your MySQL databases from the Nexcess Client Portal by opening the Databases interface from the Site Dashboard:
Nexcess temporary domains and configuration changes
Nexcess uses temporary domain names to help make the migration process more convenient. Using a temporary domain name, you do not need to modify your host's file to test whether your website works correctly after it has been moved to Nexcess.
Use the temporary domain as the Destination Site URL and Server Address. Insert your new SFTP credentials retrieved from the Site Dashboard for the Migrate To Liquid Web & Nexcess WordPress plugin to transfer your WordPress or WooCommerce website on Kinsta hosting to Nexcess:
The plugin will take care of everything for you, including removing all references to Kinsta hosting from the WordPress configuration and all specific changes made by the old hosting provider. If you choose to transfer all data manually, you will need to take a few additional steps to have your website configured to use the temporary domain name before you can update the DNS and direct all traffic to Nexcess.
Use the two WP CLI commands below to perform migration cleanup operations:
wp nxmapps cacheflush--all
wp nxmapps migration clean
Modify the URLs in your WordPress database — perform a search-replace using WP-CLI and update your database connection information in wp_config.php to reflect the new database name and user. Make sure that the DB_HOST constant is set to localhost.
Transfer from Kinsta hosting step #5: Test your website from Nexcess
Once the plugin lets you know that the migration process is complete or when you have transferred all data manually, you can move on to testing. Use the temporary domain to browse your website and ensure no functionality is lost. Most of the time, you will be fine if you have correctly imported all website data and adjusted your configuration files and WordPress database tables.
If something does not work as expected, and you cannot identify what is causing errors, our Nexcess 24/7/365 support team will help you address all issues and verify that all data has been transferred correctly.
Transfer from Kinsta hosting step #6: Update DNS
Once you have verified that your WooCommerce or WordPress website formerly with Kinsta hosting now works correctly from our side, you can update DNS to direct all traffic to Nexcess. Again, you can choose to keep your current DNS setup and nameservers or move the DNS zone to us.
Using our Nexcess DNS
Update your domain registration information to use Nexcess nameservers and manage DNS from the Client Portal. It is especially important if you use the nameservers provided by Kinsta hosting and want to cancel all your services entirely.
Configuring the IP and a CNAME Target
You can find the new IP address and the CNAME Target, which represents the temporary domain name assigned, in the Nexcess Client Portal. Using a CNAME many benefits, so we strongly recommend having it added. Update your existing DNS zone or create a new DNS zone and add DNS records from the Client Portal if you have updated your nameservers to the ones provided by Nexcess.
Updating your domain name
Your newly migrated website will still use the temporary domain name until you update it from the Nexcess Client Portal. Next, open the Domains tab of your Site Dashboard and click on the Modify Master Domain button as shown below.
Once you confirm the update, Nexcess will automatically replace the temporary domain name used with the domain name you provided in all WordPress database tables and configuration files so you will not need to do it manually:
Transfer from Kinsta hosting step #7: Transfer your domain name
This step is optional as Kinsta hosting does not provide domain registration services. But you can still transfer your domain name from the current registrar to Nexcess. The process is straightforward, and our support team can assist with it. First, unlock your domain name, copy the domain authorization code, and confirm the transfer to Nexcess.
Transfer from Kinsta hosting step #8: Cancel your Kinsta hosting account
All data will be permanently deleted when you cancel your Kinsta hosting account. Make sure all websites, mailboxes, and other information is transferred to Nexcess before having your account with Kinsta canceled. Log in to MyKinsta and navigate to your hosting plan by opening the Company section of the Kinsta dashboard. Click the Cancel button to submit a cancellation request.
Conclusion
Kinsta hosting provides a wide range of hosting plans for WordPress and WooCommerce, but the constant need to upgrade and add features might be different from what you are looking for. Nexcess Managed Hosting is a perfect solution for WordPress and WooCommerce, with all plans providing the best performance and security for an affordable price.
Build better websites with Nexcess
We offer faster speeds, stronger security, inherent scalability, and trusted support so that better business runs on Nexcess.
Please do not settle for anything less than the best when it comes to web hosting! An enterprise-level technology stack, a minimum of 10 PHP workers on all hosting plans, best caching, and advanced security options — Nexcess is ready to accommodate your needs regardless of the your chose plan. Check out Nexcess Managed Hosting plans to start today!
Nexcess offers many different Managed Application solutions across numerous platforms, with a hosting option that fits your specific needs. We have the confidence excellent uptime, a world-class 24/7 customer support team, and decades of experience.
Helpful resources
Find many helpful resources at via our Nexcess Blog and Nexcess Knowledge Base. We want to see your site win as you partner with us for your online solution.
Get superior support
At Nexcess, we offer superior support — period! Our team may be contacted at support@nexcess.net or with a chat message or via a phone call (+1-866-639-2377) any day of the year. You may also leverage the Nexcess Client Portal to manage your support tickets.
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