Migrate a WordPress site from Flywheel
Flywheel is a separate product. There is no blueprint import. A Flywheel site moves the same way any other WordPress site moves: the theme, the plugins, the uploads, and the database.
Get a normal WordPress copy
- From Flywheel, take the site backup or SFTP copy plus a database export. A blueprint is not a backup you can restore here.
- Record the live domain and the email DNS. Do not plan to move the mailbox.
- Turn off any Flywheel-only cache plugin in your notes, so you can disable it on the preview.
- Leave the Flywheel site published.
New site, then the content
Create the WordPress site. It is a working install with its own database and an HTTPS preview. Replace that content with the Flywheel copy, or ask for the free Business migration if the site is eligible. Sign in, after a database replace, with a user that existed on Flywheel.
Preview checklist
- Keep the old host online until the preview looks right. Do not cancel it first.
- Create the WordPress site here. It gets its own database, its own files, HTTPS on a preview address, and an owner login. The temporary password is emailed once.
- On Business, an eligible client site is moved for you. Eligible means a normal single WordPress site: theme, plugins, uploads, and its database. Bring a file archive and a database export, or the access your current host uses for a transfer.
- If you replace the database yourself, WordPress users become the users from the old site. The fresh owner password only works before that replace.
- Review the homepage, an interior page, wp-admin, and a form on the preview URL. Take a recovery point before you change DNS.
- Attach the domain the way the dashboard shows. After the certificate is on that domain, set both WordPress addresses to that https URL.
- PHP is 8.4. Confirm plugins on the preview before the public domain moves. A plugin that only runs on an older PHP version will fail here too.
Point the domain
- Use the DNS record shown in the dashboard. Do not copy Flywheel’s old IP into the new account and assume it still applies.
- When HTTPS is on the domain, update the two WordPress address fields.
- Check the homepage, a project page, and the form the client actually uses.
- Save a recovery point. Keep Flywheel until that form has worked on the new host.
The rest of the studio
Questions
Can the client watch the move?
Yes. Invite them as a viewer after the preview is up. They see the site without your agency password.
Does staging come with the migration?
Staging copies are on Pro, Scale, and Business. The migration itself lands on the site you created. Use staging afterward when you want to try a plugin update.
What if Flywheel is in the same company as WP Engine?
The export is still files and a database. Use this checklist. The WP Engine checklist is the same shape if the site actually lives in WP Engine.