Why "Free" Website Migration Often Isn't Really Free: 5 Practical Reasons to Read the Fine Print
5 Practical Reasons You Should Question "Free" Website Migration
If a host or agency promises a "free migration," your first instinct should be curiosity, not relief. Free migrations are a popular sales hook. They lower friction for new customers and make signups feel like a no-brainer. The gap between the promise and reality comes down to scope, risk, and incentives. This list walks through five specific reasons that "free" often hides extra costs, shows where those costs come from, and gives concrete checks you can run before you hand over credentials or press a button. Each section pairs real-world examples, advanced techniques an experienced dev or agency will use, and the counterarguments that defend genuinely free offers.

Quick Win: Verify the Claim in 15 Minutes
Before you dive into a long contract, run this quick test: ask the provider to list exactly what their free migration includes in writing. Then ask this single technical question: "Do you handle serialized database search-and-replace for WordPress?" If they answer yes and can name their tool (WP-CLI, Search-Replace-DB with serialized awareness, or a backup/restore that preserves serialized data), you’ve cleared one of the biggest hidden risk points. If they hedge or only mention "files and database" without details, expect fees or headaches later.
Reason #1: "Free" Usually Means Only Basic Files and Databases - Complex Sites Are Extra
A lot of providers who advertise free migrations only move the straightforward elements: public files and a raw SQL dump. Problems start when a site has custom integrations, serialized data, or environment-dependent configs. WordPress sites, for example, store some data in serialized PHP arrays. A naive search-and-replace on URLs will break those arrays and corrupt settings or widgets. Enterprise CMS, headless setups, and sites with multiple application layers add more surface area - API keys, environment variables, worker queues, and cron jobs all rankvise.com need attention.
Specific examples: replacing example.com with newdomain.com requires a serialized-aware replace; rsync alone won't touch database pointers; a headless site might need updated webhook endpoints on third-party services. Advanced techniques a competent migration team uses include exporting via mysqldump, running an audited serialized-aware search-replace, and validating state with integration tests against staging. If your prospective migrator doesn't mention these steps, expect them to bill hourly when those issues pop up.
Reason #2: DNS, SSL, and Zero-Downtime Strategies Carry Hidden Costs
Migration is more than moving bits. It’s about switching traffic without breaking users or search rankings. The free offer may include a file move but exclude the work required to minimize downtime and SSL hiccups. For a small static site, switching DNS TTL and swapping A records is trivial. For a dynamic site with sessions, caching, and geo-distributed CDNs, you might need a staged cutover, temporary reverse proxies, or traffic shadowing to avoid lost orders or broken logins.
Concrete costs that appear: premium certificates if the provider requires a particular CA, additional DNS provider charges for advanced traffic steering, or load balancer time to replicate session affinity. Advanced approaches to avoid downtime include using a temporary subdomain with identical backend configuration, syncing incremental database diffs with tools like pt-table-sync or custom replication, and running smoke tests on the new environment before cutover. Those techniques take expertise and engineer hours, which is where "free" becomes billable work.
Reason #3: Manual Labor, Custom Development, and Post-Launch Fixes Get Billed Hourly
"Free" migration often covers routine transfers. Anything requiring manual debugging, theme adjustments, or plugin rewriting is billed. Real migrations include surprises: a plugin that calls a deprecated API, hard-coded paths in templates, or image sizes that bloat performance. Agencies know these problems only surface under load or after running QA, then they open time tickets and you get an invoice.
From a practical standpoint, migration should include a checklist: functional tests (forms, checkout, search), performance profiling, and security scans. Advanced tasks that push a provider from free to paid include rewriting slug generation, mapping custom post types, and fixing mixed-content issues caused by HTTP/HTTPS mismatches. If you want fewer surprises, negotiate a scoped migration that lists specific deliverables and an hourly cap for out-of-scope work. That clarity prevents disputes and unexpected costs.

Reason #4: Compliance, Data Mapping, and Sensitive Data Handling Are Often Excluded
Moving data isn't neutral when user records contain personal or regulated information. GDPR, CCPA, HIPAA, and other rules require careful handling during transfers. A "free" migration that treats data like any other file can expose you to fines or security breaches. Expect extra work if the migration must maintain consent timestamps, anonymize PII, or ensure data stays within geographic boundaries.
Examples of hidden work: exporting audit trails in a format that preserves auditability, re-encrypting data keys for the new host, or validating that the destination's subprocessors meet your compliance standard. Advanced, compliance-focused techniques include rotating encryption keys in a staged way, performing pre- and post-migration privacy impact assessments, and creating a secure, time-bound transfer process that logs every access. If regulatory risk applies, a vendor should quote a separate migration cost that reflects legal and technical overhead.
Reason #5: Migration Promos Often Mask Long-Term Upsells and Lock-In Costs
Providers use free migration as a customer acquisition cost. Once your site is on their platform, you’ll see offers for managed services, backups, staging environments, and performance add-ons. Some of those are valuable. Others are necessary to restore the baseline functionality the migration didn't include. Instead of a one-off fee, the economics shift toward recurring spend you didn't predict.
Watch for these patterns: a free migration that requires a premium hosting tier to actually run the migrated site, migration that omits backups and then charges for restore services, or proprietary migration hooks that make moving away harder. Counterintuitively, paying a reputable migration specialist up front - independent or an agency not tied to the host - can be cheaper than dealing with pain and upsells later. A practical tactic is to demand a rollback plan and an export of all data in open formats before you accept the new environment. That preserves your exit options and reduces long-term lock-in risk.
Contrarian Viewpoint: When "Free" Can Really Be Free
Not all free migrations are traps. For simple brochure sites or new WordPress installs that used only standard plugins and themes, automation covers most of the work. Hosting companies that built robust migration tooling can absorb the cost because the work is parallelized and predictable. Smaller sites with minimal custom code often move cleanly with zero billable extras. The key is matching complexity to claim: the simpler your stack, the more likely the free offer is honest.
Also, some hosts genuinely treat migration as part of customer onboarding. They anticipate a small percentage of failed migrations and price that into acquisition costs. That approach is fine if you know what you’re getting: ask for a checklist, a staging URL, and a written SLA on downtime and data integrity. If they provide that, you’ve reduced the asymmetry of information that makes free offers risky.
Your 30-Day Action Plan: Validate, Protect, and Execute a Migration with Predictable Costs
Day 1-3 - Scope and Get It in Writing: Create a migration scope document. List everything that must move - files, databases, email, cron jobs, third-party integrations, analytics, SSLs, and DNS records. Get the vendor to confirm what’s included and what triggers billable work. Ask for a rollback plan and a staging URL.
Day 4-10 - Audit and Prep: Run a site audit. Identify serialized data, custom code, and plugins that call external services. Create a prioritized list of risks and label them "critical" or "nice to have." If you store user data subject to regulation, add a compliance checklist and require encrypted transit and an access log for the migration.
Day 11-18 - Test Migration: Use a staging environment to perform a full test migration. Validate database integrity, run functional tests (forms, login, checkout), and run performance tests. For WordPress, use WP-CLI dumps and a serialized-aware search-replace. For larger systems, set up incremental sync and smoke tests that emulate peak traffic.
Day 19-24 - Cutover Planning: Set DNS TTLs to low values, prepare SSL certificates, and schedule a migration window that aligns with low traffic. Coordinate rollback steps and test them once. Communicate the plan to stakeholders with expected timelines and fallback options.
Day 25-30 - Execute and Stabilize: Perform the final migration during the window. Run smoke tests, monitoring checks, and real-user testing. Keep an engineer on-call for 48 hours to handle post-launch fixes. If anything falls outside the agreed scope, require written change orders before the vendor invoices.
Final Checklist Before You Sign
Get a written migration scope and a list of explicit exclusions. Confirm serialized data handling and name the tools or scripts used. Ask whether zero-downtime cutover is included and what the fallback plan is. Require an export of data in open formats and a rollback plan. Negotiate an hourly cap for out-of-scope work or a fixed-price alternative.
Free migrations are a useful convenience when the seller can automate and predict the work. For anything beyond a basic site, treat "free" as a headline, not a contract. A clear scope, a test migration, and an explicit rollback plan keep costs predictable and protect your users. If you value certainty, pay for a scoped migration or hire an independent specialist for the complex parts. That small upfront spend often saves money and stress in the long run.