Move From DreamHost To Liberation
A person moves your site and mailboxes, tests everything before it goes live, and schedules the cutover around your schedule, not ours.
How the move from DreamHost works
We handle each step so you can keep working.
Manage your hosting in cPanel
The control panel most site owners already know: files, backups, databases, email, domains and security in one place.
The short answer
Moving off DreamHost means two things: the website (files, database, DNS) and, if you use it, DreamHost email (mailboxes, contacts, calendar). Both move as part of one free migration, handled by a person on our team rather than a self-service import tool.
To move from DreamHost, gather your site files, a database export, your DNS records and a list of every email address and alias before you start. If the site runs WordPress, note your plugins and theme versions so the new copy can be checked against the old one. Keep the DreamHost account active until the new site and email have been running cleanly for a few days, and lower your DNS TTL ahead of the cutover.
Our shared web hosting is managed with cPanel, and the cPanel documentation explains its migration tools. For WordPress sites, our guide on migrating WordPress yourself or hiring help can help you decide how much to hand off.
Teams that move from DreamHost usually want to know three things: what moves, in what order, and when the old account can be closed. The graphic below summarizes the process, and the same steps are explained in more detail further down this page.
If you are weighing whether to move from DreamHost now or wait, the timing is yours to choose. You can move from DreamHost in one window or in stages, and the old account stays live until you confirm the new one works for everyone.
People who move from DreamHost often ask about cost first. Our migration team walks through the plan with you before anything starts, so you know what it takes to move from DreamHost before you commit.
Some questions come up on almost every move from DreamHost. Can we move from DreamHost without downtime? Yes, because the old account stays live until the cutover. How long does it take to move from DreamHost? We confirm the timeline with you before anything starts. Will we lose anything when we move from DreamHost? We confirm what moves before we begin, and anything that cannot move is listed up front.
If you would rather talk it through, tell us what you use today and we will explain what it takes to move from DreamHost for your team.
Most single-site migrations complete within a few business days of you approving the plan, with a scheduled cutover window so there’s no unexpected downtime.
What actually happens
We copy, we don't cut over yet
Your DreamHost site stays live and untouched while we build the copy on Liberation’s servers.
We test on our servers first
The migrated copy is checked against the live DreamHost site — pages, forms, plugins, email — before anything is pointed at it.
We schedule the cutover with you
DNS changes happen at a time you choose, and we monitor for propagation issues after the switch.
You keep your domain name and, if you’re moving DreamHost email too, your existing addresses — nothing changes for the people emailing you or visiting your site.
- Free migration no setup fee, no migration fee, no surprise line on the first invoice.
- No downtime cutover DNS changes are scheduled and monitored, not left to chance.
- U.S.-owned infrastructure and support, not outsourced overseas.
Why teams leave DreamHost
The most common reason: the headline rate requires a 48-month commitment, and the renewal after that term is roughly 3–4x the intro price — Premium’s published rate runs from about $1.99/mo to $10.99/mo on renewal, Business from about $2.99/mo to $16.99/mo. See the full price comparison on our DreamHost Alternative page if that’s what’s driving the move.
What moves, what doesn't have to
WordPress sites
Files, database, plugins and themes move as-is; we flag anything incompatible with our servers before the cutover, not after.
DreamHost email
Mailboxes, contacts and calendar entries move to Liberation Email or Hub for Teams, your choice.
Domain registration
You can keep your domain registered at DreamHost and just point it at us, or transfer registration too — either works.
- WordPress hosting from $35/month.
- Liberation Email $1.95/user/month.
- Free migration included with any plan switch.
Priced the way a business buys
Starting prices, billed monthly. Migration itself is free regardless of which plan you choose.
- WordPress hosting from $35/month.
- Liberation Email $1.95/user/month.
- Hub for Teams $7.49/user/month.
What It Costs
Starting prices, billed monthly unless noted. Anything larger gets a written quote.
Step-by-step: back up your DreamHost site and switch DNS
We copy, we don't cut over yet
- Log in to hPanel and open the site you’re moving.
- Go to Files → Backups and generate a full account backup, or use Files → File Manager and phpMyAdmin to export your files and database directly.
- If DreamHost also hosts your email, note the current MX records under Domains → DNS / Name Servers — you’ll want them on hand until your new mailboxes are confirmed live.
- Once we’ve built and tested your new site and mailboxes on Liberation, go to that same DNS screen and update your nameservers (or the individual records we send you) to point at us.
- Save and confirm. Changes usually show within an hour; full worldwide propagation can take up to 48 hours, and we keep both old and new mail flowing during that window so nothing gets lost.
We test on our servers first
The migrated copy is checked against the live DreamHost site — pages, forms, plugins, email — before anything is pointed at it.
We schedule the cutover with you
DNS changes happen at a time you choose, and we monitor for propagation issues after the switch.
You keep your domain name and, if you’re moving DreamHost email too, your existing addresses. See the full DreamHost vs. Liberation comparison →
Leaving DreamHost: your export steps
What the vendor documents for getting your data out, in order.
Common questions
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Ready to leave DreamHost?
Book a call and tell us what you’re running — we’ll give you a migration timeline and a written quote, no obligation.
What actually makes leaving DreamHost hard
DreamHost runs its own control panel rather than cPanel, so there is no standard backup archive to hand a new host. Everything comes across explicitly: site files over SFTP or SSH, a database dump, mailbox contents, and the full DNS zone. That is a perfectly known shape of work — but worth establishing before someone quotes you a one-click restore they cannot actually perform.
The second issue is account history. Many DreamHost accounts began as a personal site and grew into a business one, which means the account holder may be an individual rather than the company, several unrelated domains may sit behind one login, and nobody is entirely sure which of them still matter. Taking that inventory is the first real task and the one most often skipped.
Their DNS is usually doing more than it appears to. Beyond the website records you will commonly find mail routed somewhere else, a subdomain aimed at a third-party tool, and verification records for services abandoned years ago. We export the entire zone rather than rebuilding the records people remember, because the forgotten ones are precisely the ones that break something later.
Mail deserves specific attention here. Whether your mailboxes are DreamHost’s own email or a Google Workspace account attached to the domain changes the job completely — one is a mailbox copy, the other is a DNS and identity question with nothing to copy at all. We establish which you have before quoting anything.
How we handle it: we inventory the account and ask which domains still matter, extract files, database, mailboxes and the complete DNS zone individually, rebuild on our side, and test on a temporary address before cutover. Website Migration is included with hosting, email and Hub plans. If you are not on a plan, or you want a one-off move, it is $250. Book a call and we will start with that inventory.
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