How to move your site from Ghost(Pro) to Magic Pages

Moving from Ghost(Pro) is free, and we do the work. You ask Ghost(Pro) for a full backup of your site and forward us the link, and we turn it into an exact copy here. Your Ghost(Pro) site stays online until you cancel it, so you move your domain over when you're ready.

What you need to do

1. Start a free trial. The backup needs a site to land on. Don't build anything on it yet, because the import replaces it.
2. Ask Ghost(Pro) support for a full backup of your site. Email them and ask for a full-site backup: the database and the content folder. Ask before you cancel, because Ghost(Pro) can't provide a backup once your account is closed.
3. Once they send you a download link, forward that link to us at help@magicpages.co, along with your trial's .mymagic.page address.

That's your part done. You don't need to download anything or upload it anywhere.

If a reply from Ghost(Pro) says the backup doesn't include your members: it does. Members live in the database, and they come across with it.

Why not the export in Ghost admin?

The export under Settings → Advanced → Migration tools → Export is a JSON file of your posts and settings. It has no images, and it leaves most of your setup behind.

Your images would still load from Ghost(Pro) after a JSON import, so they'd break the day you cancel.

What comes across

Everything that lives in your site:

• posts and pages, in every status
• members, their labels and their newsletter preferences
• staff accounts, so you log in with your existing email and password
• your theme (custom themes need Pro or the theme add-on), routes and redirects
• integrations and their API keys, so anything connected to your site keeps working
• your Stripe connection and every paid subscription

Two things can't come across, whichever host you move to: Ghost's web analytics history and your social web (ActivityPub) data. Neither can be loaded into another site. If you want to keep your analytics figures, save them before you cancel.

Paid members and Stripe

Your Stripe account stays where it is. The copy of your site reconnects to it, and subscriptions keep billing as before. Nobody has to subscribe again.

Once your domain points to us, you can disconnect Stripe on the Ghost(Pro) site. Tell us before you do: disconnecting removes the connection your new site uses too, and we set it up again straight after. If you have paid members, we go through this with you before you switch.

Switching over

The import itself takes us one to two hours, and most migrations are done within a day. Then:

1. Check the copy at your .mymagic.page address. Log in with your Ghost(Pro) email and password.
2. Upgrade to a paid plan. Custom domains work on paid plans only.
3. Connect your domain. Your old site keeps serving readers until the DNS change takes effect, so nobody sees a gap.
4. Set up your newsletter sending domain, before your first send.
5. Cancel Ghost(Pro). Until then, you can put the old site into private mode, so only one copy is public.

Connecting the domain takes a couple of DNS records, and this walks through it:

Setting up Your Custom Domain on Magic Pages

Learn how to easily set up a custom domain for your Ghost CMS on Magic Pages. Follow our clear, step-by-step guide to update DNS settings and enhance email deliverability.

Magic PagesJannis Fedoruk-Betschki

Posts and signups after the backup

A backup is a snapshot, so anything that happens after it isn't in it. Keep the gap between the backup and the switch short.

New members are the common case. Right before you switch, go to Members on the old site and click Export all members. Send us the file and we add anyone who's missing. Ghost matches members by email, so nobody gets added twice.

If you publish a post in the meantime, you add it by hand. If there are several, ask Ghost(Pro) for a fresh backup and we import that instead.

What it costs

Nothing, on any plan. Moving a Ghost site to us is part of getting set up, and it never needs a yearly plan. Our migration page explains which moves do.

Will my newsletters still reach inboxes?

They will. What matters is the domain you send from, and this explains how to keep it:

Will My Open Rates Drop After Migrating to Magic Pages?

Most migrations don’t come with a drop in open rates. Here’s what changes when you move, and where to focus your attention.

Magic PagesSviatoslav Huzel