How to Migrate a WordPress Site with UpdraftPlus and Google Drive

To migrate a WordPress site with UpdraftPlus, you back up the old site to Google Drive, install a fresh WordPress on the new hosting, connect the same plugin to the same Google Drive account, and click Restore. No FTP, no phpMyAdmin.

This is the fastest method I use, and I reach for it for lightweight sites: blogs, business sites and small Elementor sites. For big stores or sites with gigabytes of images, I use the manual migration method instead.

There is one step most guides skip, and it is the reason restores fail: raising the PHP limits on the new site before you restore. Without it, the restore often stops in the middle. I cover it in Step 4.

Quick overview: migrating WordPress with UpdraftPlus

1. On the old site, install UpdraftPlus and connect it to Google Drive.
2. Move any older backups in the Drive's UpdraftPlus folder into another folder, then click Backup Now and wait for the backup to upload to Drive.
3. Install WordPress on the new domain or hosting.
4. Raise the limits in wp-config.php and .htaccess on the new site.
5. Install UpdraftPlus on the new site and connect the same Google Drive account.
6. Click Rescan remote storage first, then Restore the backup.
7. Log in with the old site's username and password, and test.

When is UpdraftPlus the right way to migrate?

UpdraftPlus works best when:

• the site is small or medium, roughly under 1 GB of backup files;
• you can reach the WordPress dashboard on both sites;
• you want to move it without touching the database yourself.

Use the manual method when the site is very large, when the restore keeps timing out even after raising the limits, or when you cannot get into the old site's dashboard.

Step 1: Install UpdraftPlus and connect Google Drive on the old site

1. In the old site's dashboard, go to Plugins > Add New, search for UpdraftPlus, then install and activate it.
2. Open Settings > UpdraftPlus Backups and go to the Settings tab.
3. Under Choose your remote storage, click Google Drive.
4. Scroll down and click Save Changes.
5. UpdraftPlus asks you to authenticate. Follow the link, choose your Google account, and allow access.
6. Back on the UpdraftPlus page, finish the setup when it asks you to.

Remember which Google account you used. You need the same account on the new site.

Step 2: Back up the site to Google Drive

First, move old backups out of the UpdraftPlus folder

If you have used UpdraftPlus with this Google account before, the UpdraftPlus folder in your Drive may already hold backups of other sites. When you rescan on the new site, all of them show up in one list, and it is easy to restore the wrong site.

So before taking the backup:

1. Open Google Drive and go into the UpdraftPlus folder.
2. Create a new folder (for example old-backups) and move the existing files into it, or into a folder named after each site.
3. Leave the UpdraftPlus folder empty.

Now the only backup in that folder will be the site you are migrating.

Then take the backup

1. Go to the Backup / Restore tab and click Backup Now.
2. Keep both boxes ticked: include the database and include your files.
3. Click Backup Now again and wait.

UpdraftPlus creates several zip files (plugins, themes, uploads, others) plus a database file, and sends them to a folder called UpdraftPlus in your Google Drive. Wait until the progress bar finishes and the backup shows under Existing backups.

Step 3: Install WordPress on the new hosting

Install a fresh WordPress on the new domain, with Softaculous or your host's installer. Any admin username and password is fine: the restore will replace them with the old site's.

If the old site was on a domain that now points to the new hosting, install WordPress on that domain. If you are moving to a different domain, install it on the new one.

Step 4: Raise the PHP limits before you restore

This is the step that saves me the most failed restores. The restore unzips large files and imports the whole database in one go. Hosting defaults are small (often 128M of memory and 30 to 60 seconds of execution time), so the restore gets cut off halfway and the site is left broken.

So, before restoring, open the new site's File Manager and edit two files.

Add memory limits to wp-config.php

Open wp-config.php and add these lines above /* That's all, stop editing! */:

define( 'WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', '512M' );
define( 'WP_MAX_MEMORY_LIMIT', '1024M' );

WP_MEMORY_LIMIT is the memory for the site. WP_MAX_MEMORY_LIMIT is the memory for admin tasks, and the restore runs in the admin.

Add PHP limits to .htaccess

Open .htaccess in the site's folder (turn on Show Hidden Files in File Manager if you cannot see it) and add these lines at the top:

php_value memory_limit 1024M
php_value upload_max_filesize 1024M
php_value post_max_size 1024M
php_value max_execution_time 600
php_value max_input_time 600
php_value max_input_vars 10000

What each one does:

You can lower these values again after the migration, but keep max_input_vars high if the site uses Elementor or a big menu.

Step 5: Install UpdraftPlus on the new site and connect the same Drive

1. On the new site, install and activate UpdraftPlus.
2. Go to Settings > UpdraftPlus Backups > Settings, choose Google Drive, and click Save Changes.
3. Authenticate with the same Google account you used on the old site, and allow access.

Using the same account is what lets the new site see the old site's backups.

Step 6: Find the backup and restore it

Don't look for a Restore button straight away. The new site does not know about the backup yet: you have to rescan first.

1. Go to the Backup / Restore tab and scroll down to Existing backups.
2. In the More tasks line above the list (next to Upload backup files and Rescan local folder for new backup sets), click Rescan remote storage. UpdraftPlus reads your Google Drive folder and adds the old site's backup to the list.
3. Find the backup by its date. Backups that come from Google Drive have a small Drive icon under the date. Click Restore next to that one.
4. Tick everything: Plugins, Themes, Uploads, Others and Database.
5. Click Next, then Restore, and keep the tab open.

UpdraftPlus downloads the files from Drive, unzips them and imports the database. On a small site it takes a few minutes. When it finishes, you see Restore successful!.

Backup not showing after the rescan?

Download the backup files from the UpdraftPlus folder in Google Drive to your computer. Then on the new site, in Existing backups, click Upload backup files and select all of them. This is where the upload_max_filesize and post_max_size limits from Step 4 matter.

Step 7: Log in with the old password and test

After the restore, the new site has the old site's database, so the login from the fresh install no longer works. Log in with the old site's admin username and password.

Then check:

• Settings > Permalinks: click Save Changes once, to rebuild the links. This fixes most 404 errors on posts and pages.
• Settings > General: the WordPress Address and Site Address should show the new domain. If you moved to a different domain and they still show the old one, follow Step 6 of the manual guide to update the URL and the old links.
• Open the home page, a few posts, a contact form and any Elementor page.
• Clear any cache plugin and the hosting cache.

If you used Elementor, go to Elementor > Tools and click Regenerate Files & Data, so the styles load correctly.

Why does the UpdraftPlus restore stop in the middle?

When the restore freezes at a percentage or shows an error, these are the usual causes:

• PHP limits too low. The most common one. Add the limits from Step 4, then try again.
• Cloudflare or another proxy. Proxies cut long requests sooner than the server does. UpdraftPlus suggests pausing Cloudflare during the restore.
• A big uploads folder. Restore the parts one at a time: plugins, themes and uploads first, and the database last.
• A restore that crashed. Reload the UpdraftPlus page. It usually shows a notice at the top with an option to resume the restore.
• Not enough disk space. The new hosting needs room for the zip files and the unzipped site at the same time.
• A weak hosting plan. Cheap plans often block higher limits, so your changes in Step 4 have no effect. This is a hosting limit, not a broken site.

If it still fails after all of this, the site is probably too big for a browser restore. Switch to the manual method, which imports the database through phpMyAdmin or the terminal.

Frequently asked questions

Is UpdraftPlus free for migrating a site?

Yes. Backing up to Google Drive and restoring that backup on another WordPress install works in the free version. The paid version adds tools like sending a backup straight to another site and a built-in search-replace for changing domains.

Will my old site stop working after the backup?

No. Making a backup only copies the site. The old site keeps running until you point the domain to the new hosting.

Can I migrate to a different domain with UpdraftPlus?

You can restore the backup on a different domain, but check Settings > General afterwards. If the old address is still there, update the URL and replace the old links with a search-replace plugin such as Better Search Replace, as described in the manual guide.

Which login do I use after the restore?

The old site's username and password. The restore replaces the new database, including its users.

How big a site can UpdraftPlus migrate?

It depends on the hosting limits more than the plugin. Small and medium sites usually go through in minutes. For sites with several gigabytes of uploads, a manual migration with FTP and phpMyAdmin is more reliable.