How to Migrate Your Existing Website to Momo Cloud

Moving your website to Momo Cloud is straightforward, and our team is here to help every step of the way — whether you want us to do it for you or prefer to handle it yourself. This guide covers both options so you can migrate with confidence and zero downtime.

Option 1: Let Momo Cloud Migrate for You (Free)

The fastest and easiest way to move your site is to let our support team handle it. Momo Cloud offers free website migration assistance for all new hosting customers.

To request a free migration:

1. Open a support ticket from your Momo Cloud client area.
2. In the ticket, provide your old hosting provider's login credentials (cPanel username, password, and control panel URL, or FTP details).
3. Let us know your domain name and any specific requirements (for example, WordPress sites, custom databases, or email accounts you need moved).
4. Our team will copy your files, databases, and email accounts to your Momo Cloud account and notify you when the migration is ready to review — before any DNS changes are made.

Tip: Free migration is available for cPanel-to-cPanel transfers, which covers most shared hosting providers. If your old host uses a different control panel, contact us first — we can still help in most cases.

Option 2: Migrate Yourself (Step-by-Step, No Downtime)

If you prefer a DIY approach, follow these steps carefully. The key principle is: copy everything first, test thoroughly, then change your DNS last. Done this way, your live site stays online the entire time.

Step 1: Sign Up and Set Up Your Momo Cloud Hosting

1. Purchase a hosting plan at momo.tz and log in to your client area.
2. Access cPanel for your new account and confirm it is active.
3. Note your cPanel username, temporary IP address, and any welcome email details — you will need these shortly.

Step 2: Lower Your DNS TTL (Do This Early)

Before you touch any files, log in to wherever your domain's DNS is managed and reduce the TTL (Time to Live) on your DNS records — especially the A record — to 300 seconds (5 minutes). Do this at least 24–48 hours before your planned switch. When you later update your nameservers, a low TTL means the change propagates worldwide in minutes rather than hours.

Step 3: Copy Your Website Files

1. Log in to your old host's cPanel and open the File Manager or connect via FTP/SFTP.
2. Navigate to the public_html folder (or the folder your site lives in). Select all files and compress them into a .zip archive using File Manager's Compress option, or download them directly via FTP.
3. Download the .zip archive to your computer.
4. Log in to your Momo Cloud cPanel and open File Manager.
5. Navigate to your public_html folder and upload the .zip archive using the Upload button.
6. Once uploaded, right-click the archive and choose Extract to unpack all your files.

Tip: If your old host also uses cPanel, you can use the cPanel-to-cPanel transfer tool inside your Momo Cloud cPanel. Go to Files > Backups or look for Transfer Tool, enter your old host's details, and it will copy files and databases automatically.

Step 4: Export and Import Your Database

If your site uses a database (WordPress, Joomla, Magento, or any custom PHP app), you must move the database separately from the files.

1. Log in to your old host's cPanel and open phpMyAdmin.
2. Select your database from the left panel, then click the Export tab.
3. Choose Quick export method and SQL format, then click Go. Save the .sql file to your computer.
4. Log in to your Momo Cloud cPanel. Go to Databases > MySQL Databases and create a new database, a new database user, and assign the user to the database with All Privileges. Write down the database name, username, and password.
5. Open phpMyAdmin in your Momo Cloud cPanel, select your new empty database from the left panel, and click the Import tab.
6. Click Choose File, select your .sql file, and click Go. Wait for the import to complete.

Step 5: Update Your Application Configuration

Your application needs to know the new database details. For WordPress, open public_html/wp-config.php in cPanel File Manager and update these three lines:

• DB_NAME — your new Momo Cloud database name
• DB_USER — your new database username
• DB_PASSWORD — your new database password

For other platforms (Joomla, Laravel, custom PHP), look for a file such as configuration.php, .env, or config.php and update the database host, name, user, and password fields. The database host is typically localhost on Momo Cloud shared hosting.

Step 6: Recreate Your Email Accounts

1. In your Momo Cloud cPanel, go to Email > Email Accounts.
2. Create each email address that existed on your old host, using the same usernames and choosing new passwords.
3. Update your email clients (Outlook, Thunderbird, phone mail apps) to use mail.momo.tz as both the incoming (IMAP/POP3) and outgoing (SMTP) mail server.
4. Download or copy any important emails from your old account before cancelling it, as emails stored on the old server will not be transferred automatically.

Tip: Configure your email client with IMAP rather than POP3 so your messages stay synced on the server. See our guide Set Up Email on mail.momo.tz for full server settings.

Step 7: Test Your Site on Momo Cloud Before Changing DNS

This is the most important step. Do not change your nameservers until you have verified the site works correctly on Momo Cloud.

There are two easy ways to preview your Momo Cloud site while your old site stays live:

• Hosts file preview: Find your Momo Cloud server's IP address in your welcome email or cPanel. On your own computer, add a line to your hosts file (C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts on Windows, or /etc/hosts on Mac/Linux) in the format 123.456.789.10 yourdomain.com. Your browser will then load the Momo Cloud version while everyone else still sees the old host.
• Temporary URL: Some cPanel accounts provide a temporary preview URL. Check your welcome email or ask Momo Cloud support for yours.

While previewing, check:

• All pages load correctly, including images, stylesheets, and scripts.
• Contact forms and checkout processes work.
• Login and user account areas function as expected.
• No broken links or missing images appear.

Step 8: Change Your Nameservers to Momo Cloud

Once you are satisfied the site is working correctly on Momo Cloud, log in to your domain registrar and update the nameservers to:

Because you lowered your TTL in Step 2, propagation should complete within 5–30 minutes for most visitors worldwide, though it can take up to a few hours in rare cases. Remove the hosts file entry you added in Step 7 once propagation is complete.

What to Check After the Switch

• SSL certificate: In your Momo Cloud cPanel, go to Security > SSL/TLS Status and run AutoSSL to install a free SSL certificate for your domain. This ensures your site loads on https://.
• Email deliverability: Send a test email to and from your new address. Check your SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records are configured — see our guide Stop Emails Going to Spam for help.
• Forms and dynamic features: Submit your contact form and check that notifications arrive at the correct address.
• WordPress plugins and caching: Clear any caching plugins and confirm the site URL settings in Settings > General point to your correct domain.

Troubleshooting Common Issues

Missing files or broken images

Double-check that all files were extracted into the correct folder inside public_html. Sometimes an extra subfolder is created during extraction — if your site shows a directory listing instead of your homepage, move the files up one level.

Database connection error

Open your configuration file (wp-config.php or equivalent) and confirm the database name, username, password, and host are all exactly correct. On Momo Cloud shared hosting the host is localhost. Also confirm the database user has been granted all privileges in cPanel's MySQL Databases tool.

Broken links or wrong URLs in WordPress

If your old site used a different domain or URL structure, use the Search Replace DB tool or the WP-CLI command wp search-replace to update all stored URLs in the database to your new domain.

Email gap during DNS propagation

During the propagation window, some mail servers will still deliver to your old host while others already route to Momo Cloud. To minimise lost email, leave your old hosting account active for at least 48 hours after changing nameservers and check both inboxes during that period. Once propagation is complete you can safely cancel the old account.

Whether you use our free migration service or follow the DIY steps above, Momo Cloud's 24/7 local support team is always available to help. If you get stuck at any point, open a support ticket and we will guide you through — migration included.