WordPress.org

The WordPress Importer will import the following content from a WordPress export file:
<ul>
<li>Posts, pages and other custom post types</li>
<li>Comments and comment meta</li>
<li>Custom fields and post meta</li>
<li>Categories, tags and terms from custom taxonomies and term meta</li>
<li>Authors</li>
</ul>
For further information and instructions please see the <a href="https://wordpress.org/support/article/importing-content/#wordpress" rel="ugc">documention on Importing Content</a>.
<h3>Filters</h3>
The importer has a couple of filters to allow you to completely enable/block certain features:
<ul>
<li><code>import_allow_create_users</code>: return false if you only want to allow mapping to existing users</li>
<li><code>import_allow_fetch_attachments</code>: return false if you do not wish to allow importing and downloading of attachments</li>
<li><code>import_attachment_size_limit</code>: return an integer value for the maximum file size in bytes to save (default is 0, which is unlimited)</li>
</ul>
There are also a few actions available to hook into:
<ul>
<li><code>import_start</code>: occurs after the export file has been uploaded and author import settings have been chosen</li>
<li><code>import_end</code>: called after the last output from the importer</li>
</ul>

WordPress Importer


Good for the main use cases: restore from backup, and moving posts between blogs. Unfortunately the image import doesn't seem to work (WordPress 6.3 with plugin 0.8.1), which makes it a pain to clean up image-heavy posts.



One thing I'd like to do with this that I can't is to import another copy of a cross-post and merge the comment threads. As it is, the best I can do is import the duplicate copy and then use another plugin (or dig into the database) to move the comments around.


Works well for moving posts between blogs.

Import posts, pages, comments, custom fields, categories, tags and more from a WordPress export file.

Alley

Matthew Boynes

WordPress can presently export all of its content via WXR, and then import that 
through the WordPress Importer plugin. That process includes all posts, terms, 
menus, comments, and users, but it doesn’t touch options. In addition to 
general settings, options can include widget configurations, plugin settings, 
theme settings, and lots more. This can be very time-consuming to migrate 
manually. WP Options Importer aims to fill that void and save us all a lot of 
time.
WP Options Importer allows you to export all options to a JSON file, and then 
you can selectively import them into another WordPress installation. The import 
process is very transparent, and it even shows you what data you’ll be 
importing. Lastly, it gives you the option to override existing settings or to 
skip options that already exist.

WordPress Importer vs WP Options Importer