Getting Started

Up and running in minutes

Install Net-Migrate, create your first backup, and restore with confidence. No account or registration required.

Installation

From the WordPress Plugin Directory (recommended)

1Log in to your WordPress admin panel.
2Go to Plugins › Add New.
3Search for Net-Migrate.
4Click Install Now then Activate.
5Go to Tools › Net-Migrate to create your first backup.

Manual Upload

1Download the ZIP from WordPress.org.
2Go to Plugins › Add New › Upload Plugin.
3Upload the ZIP, click Install Now, then Activate.
4Go to Tools › Net-Migrate.

Creating Your First Backup

1Go to Tools › Net-Migrate.
2Click Create Backup. The progress modal shows four steps: Preparing, Exporting database, Archiving files, Completing.
3When complete, the backup appears in Available Backups with its filename, size, date, and SHA-256 checksum.
4The backup is stored in wp-content/net-migrate-backups/ on your server, protected from direct web access. Download it for off-site storage.

Restoring a Backup

1Find the backup in Available Backups and click Restore.
2If Net-Migrate detects the backup was created on a different domain, you will be prompted to confirm URL replacement — approve this for a cross-domain migration.
3The restore modal shows live progress through six steps: Extracting, Validating, Restoring database, Updating URLs, Restoring files, Cleaning up.
4When complete, the page reloads to the restored site.

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Restore any size, free. The free version restores backups of any size, on any host. There is no cap.

Net-Migrate Pro — pre-restore snapshot & rollback →

Downloading a Backup

Click Download next to any backup. The full ZIP downloads to your computer at full size — no restrictions on the free version.

Deleting a Backup

Click Delete next to a backup and confirm. The ZIP and all sidecar files are removed from the server.

Maintenance

The Maintenance section at the bottom of the admin page shows stale temporary files from failed or interrupted restores. Click Run Cleanup to remove them. Cleanup also runs automatically after one hour of inactivity.

Pro Features

Pro & Developer walkthroughs

Step-by-step guides for features available on Pro (2 sites) and Developer (20 sites) licences.

Scheduled Backups Pro

Automatically back up your site on a daily or weekly schedule with configurable retention and email notifications.

1Go to Tools › Net-Migrate › Settings.
2Enable Scheduled Backups and choose a frequency: Daily or Weekly.
3Set Retention — the number of scheduled backups to keep (1–30). Older backups are removed automatically after each scheduled run.
4Configure Email Notifications — choose Success, Failure, or Both, and set the recipient address.
5Save settings. The schedule is now active and will run via WordPress Cron.

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Scheduled backups require WordPress Cron (WP-Cron) to be enabled on your server. If your host disables WP-Cron, set up a real server-level cron job to trigger wp-cron.php on a schedule. Very low-traffic sites may miss scheduled windows if WP-Cron relies on page visits.

Import Backup from External File Pro

Import a backup ZIP created on another site or downloaded from a different server. Upload is chunked and resumable.

1Go to Tools › Net-Migrate.
2Click Import Backup and drag your backup ZIP onto the upload area, or click to browse.
3The upload begins in chunks. If your connection drops, clicking Import again resumes from where it stopped.
4When the upload completes, the backup appears in Available Backups.
5Click Restore to restore it. If it was created on a different domain, URL replacement will be offered automatically.

SFTP Remote Storage Pro

Push backups to an off-site SFTP server automatically after each scheduled backup, or manually on demand.

1Go to Tools › Net-Migrate › Settings › Remote Storage and select SFTP.
2Enter your SFTP credentials: Host, Port (default 22), Username, Password, and Remote path.
3Click Test Connection to verify the credentials before saving.
4Enable Push after backup to automatically upload each new backup to SFTP after it is created.
5Set Remote Retention to control how many remote copies are kept. Older remote backups are removed automatically.
6To push an existing backup manually, click Send to Remote next to any backup in the list.

S3-Compatible Remote Storage Developer

Connect to AWS S3, Cloudflare R2, DigitalOcean Spaces, Backblaze B2, or any S3-compatible endpoint.

1Go to Tools › Net-Migrate › Settings › Remote Storage and select S3-Compatible.
2Choose your provider or select Custom endpoint. Enter your Access Key ID, Secret Access Key, Bucket name, Region, and Endpoint URL (non-AWS providers require the endpoint URL).
3Ensure your bucket policy grants the API key: s3:PutObject, s3:GetObject, s3:DeleteObject, s3:ListBucket.
4Click Test Connection, then save. Push behaviour and retention work identically to SFTP.

Pre-restore Snapshot & Rollback Pro

Before every restore, Net-Migrate automatically snapshots the current site state. If the restore fails at any step, the snapshot is used to roll back — no manual intervention required. Here is what happens during a restore:

1You click Restore and confirm the operation.
2Net-Migrate runs a disk-space preflight check. If there is insufficient space to hold both the snapshot and the incoming restore, the operation is cancelled before anything is changed.
3A snapshot of your current site (database and files) is created silently in the background.
4The restore proceeds through its normal steps: Extracting, Validating, Restoring database, Updating URLs, Restoring files.
5If the restore succeeds: the snapshot is discarded automatically and your site runs the restored version.
6If the restore fails at any step: Net-Migrate rolls back to the snapshot automatically. Your site is returned to its exact pre-restore state and a failure entry is written to the activity log.

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This feature is always active on Pro and Developer licences — there is no setting to configure. The only requirement is sufficient disk space for the snapshot, which the preflight check enforces.

Selective Restore Developer

Restore only the database or only the files from a backup, rather than the full site. Useful for recovering data without touching the file system, or vice versa.

1Click Restore next to a backup in the list.
2Choose a restore type: Full Restore, Database Only, or Files Only.
3Confirm and proceed. The restore modal shows only the relevant steps for the selected type.

Database Only — rolls back data changes without touching plugin or theme files. Files Only — recovers file changes without altering the database.

Troubleshooting

Diagnose and resolve common issues

Find your issue below. If a solution isn't listed, contact support with your activity log excerpt.

Backup Issues

PHP execution time limits on shared hosting can interrupt long-running backups. Check the Server Environment panel in the plugin admin — it shows your server's max_execution_time and memory_limit.

If max_execution_time is 30 seconds or lower, large sites will frequently time out
Contact your hosting provider to increase the PHP execution time limit
Net-Migrate Pro handles large sites with a chunked backup design more resilient to shared hosting limits

Files larger than 100MB are automatically excluded from backups to prevent timeouts on resource-limited servers. Excluded files are logged in the activity log — this is by design.

If you need to include large files, transfer them manually via FTP/SFTP in addition to the Net-Migrate backup.

Refresh the page. If the backup still doesn't appear, check wp-content/net-migrate-backups/ directly via FTP/SFTP to confirm the file is on disk.

If the file exists on disk but isn't listed after a page refresh, contact support.

Usually a disk space or permissions issue on the backup directory.

Check available disk space on your server
Confirm PHP has write permission to wp-content/net-migrate-backups/

If the progress modal doesn't appear when clicking Create Backup:

Check the browser console for JavaScript errors (F12 → Console)
Try deactivating other plugins temporarily to rule out a conflict
Check the activity log for any error entry
Confirm PHP 8.0+ and the ZipArchive extension are available

Restore Issues

A SHA-256 mismatch means the backup file on your server is corrupted. This usually happens when a backup is downloaded and re-uploaded imperfectly.

If the backup is still on the original server, download a fresh copy and try again
If this backup was created locally and never moved, create a new backup

Database connection error: The restored wp-config.php contains database credentials from the original server. Update the database name, username, password, and host to match your current server.

White screen / PHP error: PHP version mismatch between the backed-up site and your current server. Check your PHP version against the requirements of the plugins and theme in the backup.

Wrong domain showing: URL replacement was skipped during restore. Run a manual search-and-replace:
wp search-replace 'olddomain.com' 'newdomain.com' --recurse-objects --skip-columns=guid

Restore sessions expire after one hour of inactivity. Start the restore again from the backup list.

Check the activity log for the specific SQL error. Common causes:

MySQL user lacks CREATE / DROP / INSERT privileges — check database user permissions
Database credentials in wp-config.php do not match the target server — update and retry
A table already exists with a conflicting structure from a previous partial restore

Installation Issues

Confirm the plugin is activated in Plugins › Installed Plugins
Check that PHP 8.0 or higher is running on your server
Confirm the ZipArchive PHP extension is available (ask your host if unsure)
Try deactivating other plugins to rule out a conflict

Net-Migrate Free and Net-Migrate Pro cannot run simultaneously. Deactivate and uninstall the version you don't want before activating the other.

Your backups in wp-content/net-migrate-backups/ are not affected.

Pro Licence Issues Pro

Check the key is entered exactly as received — no leading or trailing spaces
Confirm your site URL is stable and publicly accessible
Confirm api.netrep.uk is reachable from your server (some hosts block outbound connections)
Check you haven't reached the site limit — Pro: 2 sites, Developer: 20 sites

Still failing? Email support@netrep.uk with your licence details.

Confirm your licence is active — green status in plugin settings
Go to Dashboard › Updates and click Check Again
If updates still don't appear, email support@netrep.uk

Scheduled Backup Issues Pro

Net-Migrate scheduled backups use WordPress Cron (WP-Cron). Some hosts disable it by default.

Check with your host whether WP-Cron is enabled
If disabled, set up a real server-level cron job to trigger wp-cron.php, or ask your host to re-enable WP-Cron
WP-Cron requires site traffic to fire — very low-traffic sites may miss scheduled windows

Check your spam / junk folder
Test whether WordPress email works by triggering a password reset email
If WP mail isn't working, install an SMTP plugin (e.g. WP Mail SMTP) to configure reliable transactional email
If WP mail works generally but Net-Migrate notifications are absent, email support@netrep.uk

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Quick answers to the questions we hear most often.

Is Net-Migrate really free?

Yes. Back up any size, download at full size, and restore any backup — all free, with no account, no registration, and no time limit.

Where are my backups stored?

In wp-content/net-migrate-backups/ on your server, protected from direct web access. Download backups from the admin interface for off-site storage.

Can I migrate to a new domain?

Yes. Net-Migrate detects the domain change, prompts you to confirm, and performs a serialisation-safe search-and-replace across the entire database — including PHP serialized data and JSON-encoded values.

Will restoring overwrite my existing backups?

No. The backup directory is excluded from all restore operations. Your backup library is preserved throughout.

What happens if a restore fails?

Net-Migrate writes to a temporary location and only finalises on success. If it fails, temporary files are cleaned up automatically and your original site remains untouched.

What is the SHA-256 checksum?

A fingerprint of the backup file stored alongside it. Verified before the restore begins — corrupted or incomplete files are caught before any changes are made to your site.

What files are excluded from backups?

Files larger than 100MB are excluded automatically to prevent timeouts. All exclusions are logged. The backup directory itself is also excluded to prevent recursive archives.

What does uninstalling remove?

Temporary files, session files, and logs. Your backups in wp-content/net-migrate-backups/ are deliberately preserved — delete that folder manually if you no longer need them.

What is Net-Migrate Pro?

The paid version at netrep.uk/net-migrate. Adds scheduling, SFTP remote storage, email notifications, import from file, pre-restore snapshot & rollback, and auto-updates. Pro: 2 sites. Developer: 20 sites + S3 storage + selective restore.

Where can I get support?

Free users: the WordPress.org support forum (available once the plugin is listed). Pro and Developer licence holders: support@netrep.uk with priority response.

Contact Support

Net-Migrate Support