Website transfers
How to export a website from Bluehost
For Bluehost cPanel hosting, download a full account backup or collect the files and database. Check your backup tools before choosing a method.
Check the tools shown for your website
Bluehost accounts can show different backup options. Its current website dashboard has a Backups area, while cPanel accounts also have a manual backup route. Check which tools are available before following instructions for a different product.
This guide is about taking a website copy away, not moving the domain registration. You can decide about the domain separately.
Official instructions: Bluehost: website backup tools (opens in a new tab)
For cPanel, create a full account backup
- In the Bluehost Portal, open Websites and choose Manage Site beside the correct website.
- Open cPanel from the Overview tab. Under Files, choose Backup, then Download a Full Account Backup.
- Generate and download the completed backup using the options shown. If you are taking separate downloads instead, collect both the website files and the database.
Official instructions: Bluehost: create a manual backup (opens in a new tab)
Already using a downloadable backup service?
Open the website’s Backups area and check the method attached to your account. Bluehost documents file and database downloads through Xcitium, alongside other backup tools. Follow the instructions for the service you actually have.
Keep an untouched copy of the original download. Do not restore over your live website as part of trying to export it.
Official instructions: Bluehost: website backup tools (opens in a new tab)Bluehost: download website files and database with Xcitium (opens in a new tab)
Make the handover complete
Tell the migration team which domain the backup belongs to, when it was taken and whether new orders or enquiries have arrived since. Include details of paid plugins and outside services that the site relies on.
A WordPress content export on its own is not a full hosting backup. If you are rebuilding instead of keeping WordPress, say so. That can change which files and content are useful.
Preview first, then move
Lightning assesses the website and confirms the transfer or rebuild scope before work begins. We prepare a private preview and check the key functions, including where form messages go.
Keep Bluehost active until the copy and DNS arrangements have been checked. If email shares the same subscription, agree its future before cancelling anything. Hosting with Lightning starts billing when the site is live with us.
These guides cover the provider’s published export options. Menus and plan access can change. We assess your particular website before confirming a transfer or rebuild.