Migrate from MyTuningPortal to Self-Hosted — Step-by-Step Guide

Updated April 2026 · Ionut Popescu · ~7 min read

Migrating from MyTuningPortal to a self-hosted TunerSuite install takes most shops between 2 and 5 hours of actual work spread across a transition week. The process is deliberately designed so you can run both platforms in parallel until you’re confident nothing is broken. Here’s the full step-by-step guide based on real migrations we’ve completed.

Before you start

Decide which deployment model you’re moving to:

• Self-hosted on your own VPS — cheapest long-term (£699 one-time license + €5-10/month for a VPS). Requires comfort with basic Linux administration.
• Managed hosting with TunerSuite — £50-120/month. We handle the infrastructure, 24/7 support included. Same migration process on your end, different operational model afterwards.

For this guide I’ll assume self-hosted since that’s the bigger jump from MyTuningPortal’s cloud-only model. Managed hosting migrations skip steps 2 and 3 entirely.

Step 1 — Export your data from MyTuningPortal

Log into your MyTuningPortal admin panel and look for export functionality. Most cloud portals include at least CSV export for:

• Customer list (names, emails, phone, registration date)
• Order history (customer, vehicle, modifications, price, date, status)
• Credit balances (customer ID → credit amount)
• Invoice records if you need them for accounting continuity

If the export UI doesn’t give you everything you need, contact MyTuningPortal support and ask for a full data export. By GDPR / consumer protection laws in most jurisdictions, you’re entitled to your own business data, and vendors almost always comply to avoid a hostile departure.

Save the exports somewhere safe. These CSVs are your insurance during the migration.

Step 2 — Provision your new server

Skip this if you’re moving to managed hosting. For self-hosted:

1. Pick a VPS provider. Hetzner (€5-10/mo), DigitalOcean ($6-12/mo), OVH (€3.50-10/mo), and Contabo (€4.50+/mo) are all fine. Pick the one closest to your customer base for lower latency.
2. Spin up a Ubuntu 22.04 or Debian 12 instance with 2 GB+ RAM.
3. Point a subdomain or apex domain at the server’s IP.
4. SSH in, run a LAMP/LEMP stack installer (Nginx + PHP 8.2 + MariaDB).
5. Install a free Let’s Encrypt SSL certificate via Certbot.

Total time: about 30 minutes if you’re following a standard VPS tutorial. If you’re new to Linux, budget 2-3 hours and keep a guide open. Free installation help is included with every TunerSuite license — reach out during this step if you get stuck.

Step 3 — Install TunerSuite

Upload the TunerSuite release zip to your server’s web root and extract it. Navigate to yourdomain.com/install.php in a browser. The built-in 7-step web installer handles:

• Server compatibility check (PHP version, required extensions, file permissions)
• Database connection setup (enter your MariaDB credentials)
• Admin account creation
• License key activation
• Initial configuration (theme, branding, payment gateways)
• Test email sending
• Final verification and login

At the end, you have a working TunerSuite portal on your own server. The 10,000+ engine database and 138 ECU families are pre-seeded, so your product catalog is ready on day one. Total time for this step: 15-30 minutes.

Step 4 — Import customer data

In the TunerSuite admin panel, navigate to Users → Import CSV. Upload the customer list exported from MyTuningPortal. TunerSuite’s CSV importer maps common column names automatically (email, name, phone, etc). For any columns it doesn’t recognize, you map them manually through a simple UI.

After the import, each imported customer has:

• An active account with their email as the login
• A temporary password (you can trigger a password reset email to all imported users at once)
• Their credit balance transferred from the CSV (if your export included it)
• Optional: their order history attached to the profile for reference

Verify by spot-checking 3-5 customer accounts in the admin view. If anything looks wrong, delete the failed imports and re-run with corrected CSVs — no permanent damage.

Step 5 — Configure payments, notifications, and branding

Head to Settings Hub and work through:

• Payments: add your Stripe, PayPal, and optionally Mercado Pago API keys. Test a £1 payment to confirm everything routes correctly.
• Notifications: set up the Telegram bot for job alerts, configure OneSignal for browser push, verify email delivery.
• Branding: upload your logo, set your primary and accent colors, pick between the Neural Glass or Spotify Dark theme. Write your company name, address, and VAT details for invoices.
• Modifications: configure your pricing matrix for Stage 1, Stage 2, DPF off, EGR off, lambda off, and any custom services you offer. These populate the customer-facing file request wizard.
• Legal pages: edit your terms, privacy policy, and refund policy. TunerSuite ships with sensible templates in 11 languages.

Take your time here — this is the setup that makes the portal feel like your business, not a generic template. Budget 1-2 hours for thorough configuration.

Step 6 — Run both portals in parallel for a week

This is the safety step everyone should do. Don’t shut down MyTuningPortal the moment TunerSuite goes live. Run both for 5-7 days in parallel:

• Keep MyTuningPortal accessible at its current URL for in-flight orders
• Point your main marketing site or landing page to the new TunerSuite portal
• Announce the migration to your customer list via email
• Monitor for issues — payment failures, email delivery, login problems
• Use this window to fix any edge cases without customers noticing downtime

After 5-7 days of stable operation, cancel your MyTuningPortal subscription. Any remaining customers who haven’t logged in get a follow-up email with their new credentials.

Step 7 — Cut over and decommission

Once everything is running smoothly on TunerSuite, point your primary domain (or subdomain) at the new server, update DNS, wait for propagation, and cancel the MyTuningPortal subscription. Download a final data export from MyTuningPortal before cancelling, just for archival safety.

You’re now running your own portal, paying €5-10/month for the VPS instead of €50/month for the subscription, and you own every byte of customer data on your own infrastructure.

Common migration problems and solutions

Customers can’t log in after import. Trigger a bulk password reset from the admin panel. TunerSuite emails each customer a one-time reset link.

Payment gateway rejects the first few transactions. Most likely a test vs live key mismatch. Double-check Settings → Payments and ensure you’re on live keys.

Email delivery goes to spam. Configure SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records on your domain. Use the built-in 7-point SMTP diagnostics to identify which is missing.

Credit balances look wrong. Re-export from MyTuningPortal, verify the CSV column mapping, and re-run the import on just the credits column.