Anyone searching for “migrating WordPress to AWS” mostly finds guides for a move: WordPress is installed again on a server at AWS, the database comes along, the domain points to the new address. That works, and afterwards the same WordPress runs with a different provider. Server, PHP, database, plugins and admin login are all still there and want maintaining.
When we talk about WordPress to AWS, we mean something else. The site is rebuilt with the same content and the same appearance, delivered as static files, and WordPress is switched off afterwards. This post describes how that runs, what it costs and where such a switchover can cost visitors.
Three routes with the same name
| Route | What runs afterwards | What needs maintaining | Fits when |
|---|---|---|---|
| WordPress on its own server at AWS, such as EC2 or Lightsail | WordPress, PHP, database, operating system | everything as before, plus the server itself | shop, members’ area or plugins nothing works without |
| WordPress internal, public site exported statically, for example with Simply Static | WordPress on a non-public server, static files in front | WordPress and plugins, but without a publicly reachable login | several people maintain content every day |
| Static rebuild, WordPress switched off | only files, forms through a small function | nothing beyond the content | the site changes a few times a month or less |
The first route is a change of hosting. It can make sense, but it solves no security problem, because the parts that get attacked move along. The second route is a workable compromise for editorial teams, but it assumes someone keeps the internal server up to date.
We do the third route, because it does away with the maintenance work instead of moving it elsewhere.
What it costs
CHF 4’500 as a fixed price up to 15 pages, staggered by scope above that. The switchover takes two to three weeks. After that, operation costs from CHF 60 per month: delivery, certificate, monitoring, backup and restore.
Content changes are not included. We bill them separately, at an hourly rate of CHF 140 or as an allowance of CHF 180 per month including two hours. If you rarely change anything, you only pay for operation.
Over three years, the migration is often more expensive in francs than cheap WordPress hosting with a maintenance contract. The full comparison is on the offer page. What you get for the difference is a site where nothing can go out of date any more.
The process in three steps
1. Inventory, usually the first week
First comes the list of every address the old site has. The menu shows only part of it. On top come old posts, pages without a menu entry, PDFs, images linked from other sites, and addresses Google still knows from earlier years. We therefore compile the list from three sources: the sitemap, Search Console and the server logs of recent months. The logs show which addresses are actually requested, including ones that appear in no sitemap.
Then we go through the functions: forms, search, multiple languages, newsletter sign-up, embedded maps or bookings. Each function gets one of three decisions. It is rebuilt, replaced by a service, or dropped because nobody needs it.
2. Build
The site is set up again as a static project. We take text and images from the old site, images at their original resolution and with their alt texts. We rebuild the appearance. A new design is not part of it, that would be a second topic.
In parallel, the redirect list comes together: every old address to its new one, individually and permanently. Where there is no counterpart any more, the redirect points to the closest page on the topic. Google treats a blanket redirect to the home page like a missing page.
3. Switchover
The new site first runs on a test address, and you sign it off there. Then the DNS entry changes, the certificate is issued, and we request every old address on the list once and check that it redirects correctly. The sitemap goes to Search Console again. The old WordPress installation is kept switched off, in case something needs following up in the first weeks.
In the two to four weeks after that, we watch the Search Console report on pages that are not indexed. If an old address shows up there with a 404, its redirect is added.
Where a switchover costs visitors
Old addresses without a redirect. This is the most common mistake in any relaunch, with or without WordPress. The menu pages get redirected, and the old posts that have been bringing visitors through external links for years end in a 404. Google drops such an address after a while, and with it what it has collected in trust over the years.
Redirects maintained in a plugin. Many WordPress sites manage their redirects through a plugin. They then sit in the database, and they disappear along with the database. We export them before the switch-off and carry them into the new list.
Functions nobody had on the list. A plugin that filters spam out of the form on the side, or one that copies mails to a second address. Such things only get noticed once they are missing. That is why, in the inventory, we go through every installed plugin individually in addition to the visible functions.
Editing it yourself. Anyone who posts content themselves every day also loses the familiar back end along with WordPress. Content changes then run through us, or we work out a solution for your own editing in the first call. For sites that change a few times a month, that is no loss. For an editorial team it is one, and then the second route from the table fits better.
Why WordPress gets switched off for this
Because the parts that get attacked do not disappear with a move. On scmc.ch, which never had WordPress, the address /wp-admin/install.php was requested 776 times in 30 days, measured in the WAF logs up to 11 September 2026. Probing happens wholesale, on every site, and whoever runs a WordPress answers those requests. More in We are not a target and in What the Swiss authorities warn about WordPress.
A statically delivered site does not have those paths. The requests find nothing, and there is no update that has to be applied on a Friday evening.
When we advise against it
A shop, a members’ area and an editorial team where several people work every day do not fit this fixed price. That is a project of its own with its own quote, and sometimes the first or second route from the table is the more honest answer for it.
At the other end sits the business card site. If the site shows who you are and nothing else runs through it, the migration usually does not pay off in francs. It pays off when an incident costs you something: when customer data runs through a form or an upload, when enquiries or bookings come in through it.
How to start
The free risk check shows in about 30 seconds how your site looks from outside: delivered WordPress version, openly reachable default paths, missing security headers and whether AI systems find readable content. After that we clarify in a half-hour call whether the migration pays off for you.
Frequently asked questions
What does it cost to migrate WordPress to AWS?
With us, CHF 4’500 as a fixed price up to 15 pages, staggered by scope above that. The switchover takes two to three weeks. After that, operation costs from CHF 60 per month. Content changes are billed separately, at an hourly rate of CHF 140 or as an allowance of CHF 180 per month including two hours.
Does WordPress keep running at AWS afterwards?
Not on our route. The site is rebuilt statically with the same content and the same appearance, and WordPress is switched off afterwards. No server, no database and no admin login remain that need maintaining. Anyone who keeps running WordPress on a server at AWS only changes the provider of the server.
Will I lose visitors from Google during the switchover?
The risk almost always sits with old addresses that have no redirect. We compile the list from three sources: the sitemap, Search Console and the server logs. Every old address gets a permanent redirect to its new one, and after the switchover we watch Search Console for two to four weeks. We do not promise Google positions, they do not depend on the technology alone.
Which WordPress sites is this not suitable for?
For a shop, a members’ area and sites where several people maintain content every day. That does not fit the fixed price and is a project of its own with its own quote. And for a pure business card site that nothing runs through, the migration usually does not pay off in francs. We say so in the first call.
Sources
- Own measurement, WAF logs of scmc.ch, 30 days up to 11 September 2026
- Prices and process: WordPress to AWS, as of 21 September 2026
- Related terms: Scanner, JavaScript shell