Member
This matters more than people think. 118 changed how addon domains package and free migrations often restore to the same major version at best. I have seen tickets where the source was 106 EOL and the destination 118, and the backup unpacked but every addon domain was root-relative broken.
I read tickets for fun and I am never bored.
Member OP
This is exactly the gap I am mapping. "Zero issues" seems to mean "the site loads" not "your workflow continues." I am going to add a category for "partial success" in the study.
Was the SQL Server data migrated or did you restore that yourself?
Member
They moved it. I gave them a .bak file and they restored it. The connection string needed editing because the instance name was different, but they told me that upfront. Like I said, small site, nothing clever.
I resell Time4VPS and Contabo. Had a client take the "free migration" from another Contabo VPS to a bigger one. Same datacenter, Nuremberg to Nuremberg. Took them four days and the new machine had different kernel modules so his WireGuard tunnel died. He blamed me.
Free migration does not mean identical environment. I now tell clients to budget for a day of testing.
GreenCloudVPS moved my game server panel (Pterodactyl) from their LA node to Tokyo because I asked for lower latency to Manila. Free because same plan tier. Took six hours, IP changed obviously, I updated DNS, friends complained for one evening then forgot.
Game servers are stateless between matches so maybe that helps. I would not trust them with a database I cared about.
Member
I tested Hostinger's free migration twice with identical WordPress sites on my own domains before I moved a client. First time: broken permalinks. Second time: worked. Third time for the actual client: broken permalinks again. Their process is not deterministic.
I now do my own Duplicator Pro exports and treat "free migration" as a sales pitch, not a service.
Member
Hostinger has a datacenter in São Paulo now? Last I checked they only had US and Europe. If true that would help my ping but I do not trust their free migration anyway after reading this thread.
I pay $6/month for shared hosting, I should not expect miracles.
Member OP
Yes, added sometime in 2023. I have not verified whether free migrations route to your closest datacenter or default to Europe though. Worth asking before you sign up.
This is becoming my main finding. Thank you for the controlled test.
I asked about OS because Hostinger's hPanel is not cPanel. If they say "cPanel to cPanel" and you end up on hPanel, that is not a migration, it is a relocation with manual rework. The cron job problem makes sense now. HPanel cron syntax is slightly different and the paths are not 1:1.
I would not call any cPanel-to-hPanel move "free" in terms of labor.
Time4VPS free migration is a joke. They move the disk image if you are on KVM and staying on KVM. If you are on OpenVZ and upgrading to KVM, you get a fresh container and they copy /home. That is the entire service. You rebuild everything else.
I am in Vilnius, I know people who work near their DC. Even locals do not use the free option for anything complex.
