How to Easily Move Your Site from Joomla to WordPress (Step by Step)

We’ve been working with content management systems for years, so we’ve seen firsthand how the right platform can be a game-changer for any online business. While Joomla served many website owners well in the past, WordPress has taken the lead as the most user-friendly, flexible platform.

Making the move from Joomla to WordPress might feel daunting – we get it. You’re probably worried about losing content, breaking your site, or disrupting your business. But here’s the really good news: with the right plan, switching from Joomla to WordPress is actually a lot simpler than you might think.

In this guide, we’ll share a tried-and-tested method for migrating from Joomla to WordPress. We’ve taken all our years of experience helping others and simplified the process, so you can get your website up and running on WordPress in no time.

Why Switch From Joomla to WordPress?

So, you might have heard about different ways to build a website, and two popular names that often come up are Joomla and WordPress. Both are open-source, meaning they’re free to use and built by a community of developers. They even speak the same underlying computer language (PHP) and use similar types of website homes (hosting).

However, Joomla has a few notable disadvantages compared to WordPress:

• Steeper learning curve. Joomla’s interface is more technical and can feel overwhelming for beginners.
• Smaller extension library. Joomla has far fewer plugins than WordPress, so adding new features often requires custom development or paid extensions.
• Fewer theme options. The Joomla theme marketplace is much smaller, and the customization tools are less polished than WordPress themes.
• Less community support. Joomla’s user community is smaller, which means fewer tutorials, forums, and freelancers available when you need help.
• Slower update cycle. Joomla releases major updates less frequently than WordPress, so new features and security improvements take longer to arrive.

On the other hand, WordPress is the most popular website builder in the world for a reason! It’s known for being much easier to learn and use, and it boasts a massive library of extensions and design options to make your website truly your own.

We’ve even put together a detailed Joomla vs. WordPress comparison if you want to see all the differences side-by-side.

When we say WordPress, we are talking about the self-hosted WordPress.org platform and not WordPress.com. Yes, they are two very different platforms.

WordPress.com is a hosted website builder. With WordPress.com, you don’t need to find your own hosting plan and install the software yourself. Instead, you can choose a free plan or buy one of the available paid plans, and Automattic will host your website for you.

However, WordPress.com does have its limitations. Most notably, you cannot install third-party plugins if you’re on a free plan. You’ll need to upgrade to a premium plan (starting at $4/month) in order to install plugins.

With that said, we recommend WordPress.org for all kinds of websites – from online stores, to nonprofit websites, online portfolios, and everything inbetween.

We have a complete WordPress.com vs. WordPress.org comparison that breaks down all the key differences, but the bottom line is: you’ll almost always want to go with WordPress.org.

Now that being said, let’s take a look at what you will need to move a Joomla website to WordPress:

Step 0: Getting Started

The requirements for both Joomla and self-hosted WordPress are quite similar. You’ll need a domain name and a WordPress hosting account to start with WordPress.

Chances are that you already have a domain name and website hosting account for your Joomla website. You can use them for your WordPress website as well.

If you want to move to a different hosting provider, then we recommend using Bluehost.

Bluehost is one of the top hosting companies in the world and an officially recommended WordPress hosting provider.

Plus, WPBeginner readers can get up to 61% off web hosting with Bluehost, which includes a free domain name and SSL certificate. Basically, you can get started for only $1.99 per month.

Note: At WPBeginner, we believe in full transparency. If you sign up with Bluehost using our referral link, then we will earn a small commission at no extra cost to you (in fact, you will save money and get a free domain + SSL certificate).

We would get this commission for recommending just about any WordPress hosting service, but we only recommend products that we use personally and believe will add value to our readers.

If you’d like to compare hosting options, you can also check out SiteGround or Hostinger. Both are excellent WordPress hosting providers. For a full breakdown, see our comparison of Hostinger vs. Bluehost and SiteGround vs. Bluehost vs. WP Engine.

Step 1: Back Up Your Joomla Site Before Migration

Before you start any migration, it’s critical to create a full backup of your Joomla website. This protects your data in case anything goes wrong during the process.

You’ll want to back up both your Joomla files and your Joomla database. There are several ways to do this:

• Use your hosting control panel: Most hosting providers offer backup tools through cPanel or a similar dashboard. You can download a full backup of your site files and database from there.
• Export your database via phpMyAdmin: Log into phpMyAdmin from your hosting account, select your Joomla database, and use the ‘Export’ option to save a copy.
• Download your files via FTP: Use an FTP client to connect to your server and download all your Joomla files to your local computer.

Make sure you store these backups in a safe location before proceeding.

Step 2: Install and Set Up WordPress

WordPress is famous for its 5-minute install. Many good WordPress hosting companies will automatically install WordPress for you. Or, you can find 1-click WordPress installers inside your hosting account dashboard.

If you’ve signed up for a Bluehost account, WordPress will automatically be installed for you. Simply click the ‘Edit Site’ button next to your website in your hosting account.

This will bring you to the WordPress admin panel.

It will look like this:

Need more instructions? Follow our complete WordPress installation tutorial for step-by-step instructions.

Step 3: Import Your Joomla Website to WordPress

Now that you have installed WordPress, you can import content from your Joomla site.

First, install and activate the FG Joomla to WordPress plugin. This free plugin has been tested with Joomla versions 1.5 through 6.0 and has over 7,000 active installations. It’ll migrate your sections, categories, posts, images, media, and tags from Joomla to WordPress.

For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, go to the Tools » Import page from your WordPress dashboard. You will see a list of import tools available for your WordPress installation. Click the ‘Run Importer’ link below the Joomla (FG) importer tool.

This will launch the Joomla (FG) importer script, and you will be asked to provide your Joomla website information.

First, you need to enter your Joomla website URL and then its database settings.

You can find your database information from your Joomla website’s admin area.

Simply go to the System » Global Configuration page and click on the ‘Server’ tab.

This page will show you all the necessary database information, such as the database username, database name, and database tables prefix.

The only information it doesn’t show is the database password. If you don’t remember your Joomla database password, then you can find it inside the configuration.php file in your Joomla website’s root folder.

You can access this file by connecting to your website using an FTP client and opening it in a text editor like Notepad.

After entering your database information in the Joomla importer, click the ‘Test database connection’ button. If everything is entered correctly, then you will see a success message.

Below, you will find additional options to control what you want to import, including featured images, content images, and more. If you are unsure, then leave these options as they are.

The plugin also gives you the option to import Joomla articles as WordPress posts or pages. For most users, importing as posts is the right choice.

When you’re happy to continue, click on the ‘Start / Resume Importer’ button.

The importer will now start fetching content from your Joomla website. This may take a while, depending on how much content you have.

Once done, you will see a success message.

Now that you have imported content to your WordPress site, the next step is to check for internal links that might be pointing to your old website. The Joomla FG importer will also fix that for you.

You need to scroll down to the bottom and click on the ‘Modify Internal Links’ button.

You can now visit your WordPress website to see the imported content in action.

Things to Do After Moving Joomla to WordPress

After moving your website from Joomla to WordPress, you will need to perform a few tweaks to finish the WordPress migration process and set up your new platform.

Step 4: Setting Up Redirects and Permalinks

Your old Joomla website may have a URL structure different from that of your WordPress site. This means that people finding your articles in search engines will now see a 404 error page.

To fix this, you need to set up permalinks and properly redirect users and search engines to the new URLs.

First, you need to visit the Settings » Permalinks page in WordPress. Under the ‘Common Settings’ section, click on the ‘Post Name’ option.

Then, click on the ‘Save Changes’ button.

Next, to set up redirects, you will need to install and activate the Redirection plugin on your WordPress site. Upon activation, you need to visit the Tools » Redirection page.

In the ‘Source URL’ field, enter the path of your old Joomla URL (for example, /old-article-slug rather than the full https://example.com/old-article-slug), and in the ‘Target URL’ field, enter the path of your new WordPress URL, as shown in the screenshot below.

Make sure to select the ‘301 – Moved Permanently’ option, and then click on the ‘Add Redirect’ button to save your changes.

WordPress will now redirect the old Joomla website URL to your new WordPress permalink structure.

Repeat the process to add redirects for any other pages or posts. Remember to visit the old URLs to make sure that they are redirecting properly to the new URLs on your WordPress website.

For more details, see our guide on how to set up redirects in WordPress.

As an alternative, you can also use All in One SEO (AIOSEO) to redirect pages and posts from Joomla to WordPress. AIOSEO comes with a powerful Redirection Manager that lets you set up full site redirects.

AIOSEO also offers 404 error tracking to easily catch any broken links that may occur when moving your site from Joomla to WordPress.

Other powerful features include unlimited keywords, schema markup, custom breadcrumbs, local SEO modules, WooCommerce SEO, and more.

Step 5: Check for Broken Links and Missing Content

After importing and setting up redirects, it’s important to throughly check your new WordPress site. This is a step many people skip, but it can make or break your migration.

Here’s what to look for:

• Broken internal links: Even after using the ‘Modify Internal Links’ tool, some links may still point to old Joomla URLs. Use a plugin like Broken Link Checker to scan your entire site and find any broken links.
• Missing images: Check that all your images transferred correctly. Sometimes large images or images stored outside the standard Joomla media folder don’t migrate automatically.
• Missing content: Compare your old Joomla site with your new WordPress site to make sure all posts, pages, and categories came through.
• Formatting issues: The migration plugin does its best to preserve HTML formatting, but you may need to clean up some posts manually.

We recommend checking your most important pages carefully, to verify everything looks correct. For a complete checklist, see our ultimate website migration checklist.

You may also want to review our WordPress SEO migration checklist to make sure you haven’t missed anything that could affect your search engine rankings.

Step 6: Setting Up WordPress Theme

WordPress gives you access to an enormous collection of themes that you can use. Themes control the appearance and design of your WordPress website.

There are thousands of free and paid WordPress themes available that you can install on your new WordPress site. However, not all themes are suitable for all kinds of websites, and this abundance of choices can make beginners feel a bit confused.

We have made this easier by doing research and hand-picking the best WordPress themes. Here are some of our theme showcases that you can visit to find the perfect theme for your website:

• Best free WordPress blog themes
• Best WordPress business themes
• Best minimalist WordPress themes for writers
• Best magazine-style WordPress themes
• Best WordPress themes for photographers

Need help installing your new theme? See our beginner’s guide on how to install a WordPress theme.

Alternatively, you can use a page builder plugin like SeedProd.

SeedProd is a popular drag-and-drop WordPress page builder that we’ve used to design many of our partner websites. For more information, check out our detailed SeedProd review.

SeedProd helps you design beautiful landing pages, home pages, and even entire websites. It also comes with a TON of built-in templates, and even has an AI builder that can create an entire custom theme for you in less than 60 seconds.

Step 7: Install Essential WordPress Plugins

Plugins are the best part of using WordPress. WordPress plugins allow you to add new features and functionality to your website.

You can use WordPress plugins for backups, improving security, setting up caching, starting an eCommerce store, working on your search engine optimization, and more. If you can think of a feature, chances are that there is already a WordPress plugin for it.

There are thousands of free and paid WordPress plugins and add-ons that you can use. Since it’s easy to get overwhelmed with choices, we have created an ultimate guide on how to pick the best plugins for your website.

To help you out even more, here are a few of the top plugins we recommend installing on your new WordPress website:

• WPForms – If you need any kind of form on your website, WPForms is hands down the best WordPress form builder out there. It’s incredibly user-friendly, even for beginners, and makes it a breeze to create all sorts of forms. We use it to power all our forms across WPBeginner, plus many of our partner websites (check our our WPForms review for more information).
• MonsterInsights – Ever wondered who’s visiting your website, where they’re coming from, and what they’re actually doing once they arrive? MonsterInsights is the best analytics plugin for WordPress that answers all these important questions and more. It seamlessly connects your website to Google Analytics and then presents all that valuable data in an easy-to-understand format right within your WordPress dashboard. This is another tool we use at WPBeginner, so see our MonsterInsights review for more info.
• OptinMonster – Ready to turn those website visitors into loyal email subscribers and paying customers? OptinMonster is a powerful conversion optimization toolkit designed to do just that. It allows you to create eye-catching and effective popups, slide-in forms, floating bars, and other lead generation campaigns. As always, we’ve put this plugin to the test and written a complete OptinMonster review, so you can decide whether it’s right for you.
• Duplicator – Now that you’ve gone through the migration process, you know how important backups are. Duplicator is the best WordPress backup plugin that makes it easy to create complete backups of your WordPress site. It can also help you migrate your site to a new host in the future.
• Sucuri – Website security is important, especially after a migration when your site might be more vulnerable. Sucuri is a top WordPress security plugin that protects your site from malware, brute force attacks, and other threats.
• WPCode – This is the best code snippets plugin for WordPress. It lets you easily add custom code to your site without editing theme files. This is useful if you need to add any custom tracking codes or tweaks after your migration.

For more plugin recommendations, here’s our list of the essential WordPress plugins you should install on all your WordPress websites.

Step 8: Optimize Your WordPress SEO Settings

One of the biggest concerns when switching from Joomla to WordPress is losing your search engine rankings. The good news is that with proper setup, you can preserve and even improve your SEO.

Here’s what we recommend:

• Install an SEO plugin: We recommend AIOSEO which is what we use on WPBeginner. It’ll help you set up proper meta titles, descriptions, XML sitemaps, and much more.
• Submit your new sitemap to Google: Once AIOSEO generates your XML sitemap, submit it through Google Search Console. This helps Google discover and index your new WordPress URLs quickly.
• Follow the WordPress SEO checklist: Our complete WordPress SEO checklist walks you through every optimization you need to make after setting up a new WordPress site.
• Monitor your rankings: Keep an eye on your search rankings for the first few weeks after migration. Tools like LowFruits can help you track keyword positions and catch any drops early.
• Improve your site speed: A fast WordPress site helps with both SEO and user experience. See our guide on WordPress performance and speed for tips on making your site load faster.

Step 9: Learning WordPress

If you are not a WordPress expert, then don’t worry. WordPress is fairly easy to use. However, occasionally, you may come across new things to learn. This is where WPBeginner can help.

WPBeginner is the largest WordPress resource site for beginners. We have lots of helpful content that is created specifically for beginners, business owners, and bloggers.

The following are a few of the helpful resources you will find on WPBeginner (all of them are completely free):

• WPBeginner Blog – The central place for all our WordPress tutorials and guides.
• WPBeginner Dictionary – Our WordPress glossary is the best place to familiarize yourself with the WordPress lingo.
• WPBeginner Videos – New WordPress users can start with these videos to master WordPress.
• WPBeginner on YouTube – Need more video instructions? Subscribe to our YouTube channel, which has more than 1 million subscribers and 56 Million+ views.
• WPBeginner Blueprint – Check out the plugins, tools, and services we use on WPBeginner.
• WPBeginner Deals – Exclusive discounts on WordPress products and services for WPBeginner users.

Many of our users use Google to find answers on WPBeginner by simply adding ‘wpbeginner’ at the end of their search terms.

Bonus: Hire WordPress Migration Experts

If you don’t want to handle the Joomla to WordPress migration yourself, you can hire professionals to do it for you. This is a good option if you have a large, content-heavy site or if your Joomla site uses lots of custom extensions.

A professional migration service will handle everything from the initial backup to the final redirect setup. They’ll make sure your content, SEO rankings, and site design are preserved throughout the process.

For recommendations, check out our list of the best WordPress migration services. You can also see our picks for the best WordPress migration plugins if you want a more automated approach.

FAQ: Moving from Joomla to WordPress

Can I migrate my Joomla site to WordPress for free?

Yes, you can migrate from Joomla to WordPress for free using the FG Joomla to WordPress plugin. The free version handles the migration of posts, categories, images, media, and tags. However, if you need to migrate users, menus, SEO metadata, or custom fields, you’ll need the premium version of the plugin.

How long does a Joomla to WordPress migration take?

For a small to medium-sized site, the actual migration can be completed in 30 to 60 minutes. However, the full process, including setting up WordPress, testing, configuring redirects, and optimizing your new site, may take a few hours to a full day. Larger sites with thousands of articles may take longer.

Will I lose my search engine rankings when switching from Joomla to WordPress?

Not if you set up 301 redirects correctly. By redirecting all your old Joomla URLs to the corresponding new WordPress URLs, you’ll tell search engines that your content has moved permanently. This preserves the link authority and rankings you’ve already built.

What content does the FG Joomla to WordPress plugin migrate?

The free version migrates Joomla sections (as categories), categories (as sub-categories), posts (published, unpublished, and archived), web links, images, media files, meta keywords (as tags), and page breaks. It also modifies internal links and sets the first post image as the featured image.

Can I migrate Joomla extensions and components to WordPress?

Joomla extensions don’t transfer directly to WordPress. Instead, you’ll need to find equivalent WordPress plugins for the functionality you need. For example, if you were using VirtueMart on Joomla, you should typically switch to WooCommerce on WordPress.

Our guide on how to choose the best WordPress plugin can help you find the right alternatives.

What if my Joomla site and WordPress site are on different servers?

The FG Joomla to WordPress plugin can still work across servers, but you’ll need to make sure your WordPress server can access the Joomla database remotely.

If that isn’t possible, an alternative approach is to export your Joomla database to a SQL file and then import it into your WordPress hosting server’s database alongside your WordPress database. You’d then use the WordPress server’s database credentials in the plugin settings instead of the Joomla ones.

Do I need to keep the FG Joomla to WordPress plugin installed after migration?

No, once you’ve completed the migration and verified everything is working, you can safely deactivate and uninstall the plugin. This is recommended as you shouldn’t keep unnecessary plugins active on your site.

We hope this article helped you move your site from Joomla to WordPress. You may also want to see our guide on how to create a free business email address and our picks of the most useful tools to manage and grow your WordPress site.

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