Move From GoDaddy 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 GoDaddy works
We handle each step so you can keep working.
Transfer your domain in a few clicks
Enter the domain, confirm and we handle the rest. Every transfer extends your registration by a year.
The short answer
Moving off GoDaddy means two things: the website (files, database, DNS) and, if you use it, GoDaddy 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.
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 GoDaddy 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 GoDaddy 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 GoDaddy 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 GoDaddy
The most common reasons: renewal price jumps after the first term, upsells inside the checkout flow, and hosting performance that doesn’t scale well once traffic grows. See the full price comparison on our GoDaddy 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.
GoDaddy 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 GoDaddy 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: access GoDaddy, export your records, and switch DNS
We copy, we don't cut over yet
- Sign in to your GoDaddy account and open your Domain Portfolio (dcc.godaddy.com).
- Select the domain you’re moving, then open its DNS tab.
- From the Actions menu, choose Export Zone File to download a complete backup of your current DNS records before anything changes.
- If GoDaddy also hosts your email, note the current MX records on that same DNS tab — 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 the Nameservers tab on the same domain and choose I’ll use my own nameservers (or update the individual records we send you, if you’d rather keep GoDaddy as your registrar).
- 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 GoDaddy 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 GoDaddy email too, your existing addresses — nothing changes for the people emailing you or visiting your site.
See the full GoDaddy vs. Liberation comparison →
How to move from GoDaddy without losing your site or email
People who decide to move from GoDaddy usually worry about two things: downtime and lost mail. Both are manageable with a plan. Our migration team copies the site first, tests it, and only then changes DNS, so your current GoDaddy site keeps running until the new one is ready.
What you need before you move from GoDaddy
- Admin access to your GoDaddy account, or someone who can approve the transfer.
- A list of your sites, mailboxes and the domains they use.
- The date range when a short DNS change would hurt least, such as a quiet evening.
- A note of anything unusual, like a custom plugin, a payment form or an old subdomain.
Our migration is free, and you can read the details on the website transfer page and the email transfer page.
What changes when you move from GoDaddy
The visitor sees the same website. Behind it, the files and database sit on hosting we run in the United States, such as shared web hosting for small sites or a VPS for larger ones. Mailboxes move to Liberation Email, which starts at $1.95 per user per month, or to Hub for Teams from $7.49 per user per month.
WordPress sites when you move from GoDaddy
Most sites that move from GoDaddy are WordPress. Files, database, plugins and themes carry over, and we flag anything that may behave differently on the new server before the cutover. The WordPress project documents the general process in its guide to migrating WordPress, which is a useful read even if we do the work for you.
Questions people ask before they move from GoDaddy
Will the site go offline? Not for a planned cutover. Will old email disappear? No, mailboxes are copied across before the switch. Do you have to transfer the domain? No, you can leave it registered at GoDaddy and point it to us, or transfer it later. If you are ready to move from GoDaddy, tell us what you run today and we will give you a clear plan and a written estimate.
Leaving GoDaddy: your export steps
What the vendor documents for getting your data out, in order.
Common questions
Will my site go down during the move?
No — your GoDaddy site stays live while we build and test the copy, and the DNS cutover is scheduled and monitored.
Do I have to move my domain registration too?
No. You can keep your domain registered at GoDaddy and simply point it at Liberation’s servers.
What if I use GoDaddy's website builder, not WordPress?
Tell us what you’re running when you book a call — site-builder migrations are handled case by case since there’s no standard export format.
Is the migration really free?
Yes, for a standard site and mailbox migration, regardless of which plan you choose.
Ready to leave GoDaddy?
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 GoDaddy hard
The site is rarely the problem. The domain is. GoDaddy is a registrar first, and most of their hosting customers also keep the domain, the DNS zone and often email forwarding in the same account. You can copy a WordPress site in an afternoon; you cannot point it anywhere until DNS moves, and you cannot move DNS until you have access to the registrar side of that account.
Expect two locks. ICANN’s transfer policy puts a 60-day hold on a domain after it is first registered and after any change to the registrant contact — so “let me just fix the owner’s email address first” is the most common way people delay their own migration by two months. The second lock is the registrar’s own, which you switch off yourself in the domain settings before requesting the authorization code. Get the code first, tidy contact details afterwards.
Then there is what’s bundled. GoDaddy accounts accumulate separately renewing add-ons: domain privacy, an SSL certificate, website backup, SEO tools, sometimes a mailbox. Each has its own renewal date and none of them cancel because the hosting did. Pull a list of every active product and its renewal date before you move anything, so you are cancelling deliberately instead of discovering a charge four months later.
The mailbox is the part that bites. If your email is a Microsoft 365 tenant resold through GoDaddy, that tenant sits inside their billing and admin relationship — it is not the same thing as a Microsoft 365 subscription bought direct, and moving it is tenant-level work rather than a mailbox copy. We establish which of the two you have before quoting anything, because the answer changes the job by days.
How we handle it: we inventory the account first — domains, DNS records, mailboxes, add-ons, renewal dates — then give you a written cutover plan with the order of operations and the DNS timing changes we make ahead of the switch. Your old account stays live until the new one is confirmed serving. 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; domain transfers are quoted separately, and plenty of customers host with us while leaving the domain where it sits. Book a call and we will tell you which parts are actually worth moving.
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