WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg's decision to banned WP Engine from using their services, which blocked every WP Engine and Flywheel user from being able to automatically update their sites, has many people looking for a WP Engine alternative.

Check out this article for a more in-depth explanation of what's happening and why.

In this post, I want to share my experience moving from Flywheel, a child company of WP Engine that I have loved and recommended for years, to WPX Hosting as a guide to those of you who are considering moving to a new host and skipping the drama.

As soon as I learned about the ban, and confirmed that Flywheel was also affected, I took action.

Why I Moved from Flywheel to WPX WordPress Hosting

This wasn't a spur-of-the-moment decision. Years ago, Thrive Themes founder Shane Melaugh, wrote a giant in-depth post about his move to WPX hosting. Thrive Themes has since been sold and Shane's original post has been replaced with a generic 8 best WordPress hosts article. Their list included Bluehost which automatically makes me suspect the whole article. Bluehost is second only to GoDaddy in my opinion of worst WordPress hosts.

You can still read a giant review of WordPress hosts created by Shane's team on the Active Growth blog. What I like about the review is that it's focused on speed and performance.

The Process of Migrating to WPX

WPX makes it very easy to sign up for their service. I chose a plan big enough to cover my 4 websites, and instantly saved a bunch of money. My Flywheel account was a legacy plan from when I was a WordPress developer and hosting client sites. My hosting bill went from $100/month to $249 for the year, a savings of $951 per year.

Once I could access the WPX client area, I headed to the support ticket area and requested a site migration. They have a very detailed form that you fill out for each site you want moved. I included my Flywheel login credentials in the form so they could do everything.

It took me 20 minutes to fill out the form for all 4 websites. Then I went on about my day.

How Long Does it Take to Migrate to WPX Hosting?

WPX promises to complete most migrations within 24 hours.

I submitted my request at 5:20 pm on Friday. At 1:07 am Saturday, I received email notifications that all 4 of my sites were moved with detailed instructions for updating DNS settings with my domain registrar.

They also included name server information, but I wanted to keep my name servers with Hover. It would have been a huge pain to recreate all my DNS records. If you do want to manage DNS with WPX, they offer to change the nameservers for you.

I contacted support to make sure I could keep my nameservers with Hover. WPX promises chat support in 30 seconds.

I contacted chat support 4 times in 36 hours and they not only responded promptly every time but the techs were knowledgeable and resolved my issue in one exchange. In my brief time trying Siteground years ago, it always seemed like they put front-line customer support techs who knew nothing and so I was always having to escalate so this was a nice change.

Previewing My WPX Hosted Sites

One change from Flywheel is that WPX doesn't automatically provide a temporary URL to view your site. But they make it easy to generate a temporary URL and you can designate how long it should last. They also warn not to try speed tests or editing via the temporary URLs. They are just for previewing your site and making sure everything looks good.

Moving DNS to Point My Sites to WPX

One of the reasons I love Hover so much as my domain registrar is the speed. I don't move websites often, but when I do, I want minimal downtime. Hover DNS changes have generally taken effect within 5 minutes and this time was no different.

Installing an SSL Certificate on WPX Hosting

The last step was re-installing SSL certificates. It's important to wait until DNS has propagated worldwide before completing this step. That just means that servers around the world have gotten the memo that your website has moved. I used What's My DNS to check for DNS propagation. Within 15 minutes, I had enough green checkmarks to feel comfortable installing SSL.

Installing a free SSL certificate is a 2-click process on WPX.

I did have some issues with the security locks not showing up on my subdomain sites. This was one of the times I contacted chat support and they fixed everything on the back end in under 5 minutes.

My Websites Are Noticeable Faster on WPX Hosting

So far on the delight list we have:

• Easy sign up
• Fast migration
• Fast, friendly, effective customer support
• Huge savings

The last delight of this experience is that my sites are smokin' fast compared to Flywheel. I'm not one to nerd out on speed testing, but I can feel the difference.

The Worst Part of Moving to WPX Hosting

The worst part of this whole process is how much I have mentally kicked myself for not making this move sooner.

As with any time I've moved a site, I did have to fix a few things post-migration. For some reason some emojis were showing up huge on a couple of pages but re-typing and re-saving the pages fixed that up. I also ran into an upload error but 4 minutes with chat support and they adjusted the wp_config file to fix it so I could finish this post. 

All in all I'm very happy with my choice to move and excited to be getting back to work. It's unfortunate that this tech bro feud has so many small business owners caught in the crossfire but it's just another example of why we are so fanatical about controlling our data and helping our Million Dollar Systems clients do the same with tools like the Pot o Gold Content Marketing Database.

If you're a WP Engine or Flywheel customer looking to escape the drama and get back to drinking water, and minding your business, I highly recommend WPX Hosting.

Get Support for Managing Your Business Technology

If you're nervous about moving your sites and you'd like some support, Automation Club is where I hang out and help business owners of all technical abilities automate one new thing per month in their business. You can join today and post your question in the community and come to our next 2-hour coworking call to get personal help and a supportive co-working environment.