GoDaddy WordPress Migration: How to Move Your Site Away

Why People Move Off GoDaddy Managed WordPress

GoDaddy's managed WordPress hosting is a mainstream option with a recognizable brand and widespread use. It is not a bad product. But the circumstances under which people decide to move are consistent, and understanding them helps you know whether a migration makes sense for you.

Renewal pricing is materially higher than introductory pricing

GoDaddy's managed WordPress Basic plan is advertised at $5.99/month on a 36-month introductory term (as of May 2026, per GoDaddy's published pricing). At renewal, that same plan is listed at $14.99/month — a 150% increase. The Deluxe plan goes from $8.99/month introductory to $19.99/month at renewal. The Ultimate plan goes from $12.99/month to $26.99/month. These are published figures from GoDaddy's pricing pages; your specific renewal price may vary based on promotions or account history.

For many site owners, the renewal bill is the first time they realize how the economics of promotional hosting work. If you are approaching a renewal, compare the full-price cost of your current plan against your alternatives before you pay.

Staging environments are plan-gated

A staging environment — a private copy of your site where you can test plugin updates, theme changes, or redesigns before pushing to production — is a standard feature in managed hosting. On GoDaddy's managed WordPress, staging is available on the Deluxe and Ultimate tiers, but not on the Basic plan. If you are on Basic and need staging, you are either upgrading or working without a safety net.

The domain question

Many GoDaddy hosting customers also registered their domain through GoDaddy. This is important: your domain and your hosting are separate products. When you move your hosting, you do not have to move your domain. You can keep the domain registered at GoDaddy and simply point its nameservers (or DNS A record) to your new host. Alternatively, you can transfer the domain to a new registrar after the hosting move is complete. Never attempt both at the same time — change one thing at a time.

Before You Start: What to Check

• Domain expiration date. Log into your GoDaddy account and verify your domain is not expiring within 30 days. A domain near expiration complicates migration. Renew it first if needed.
• Domain lock status. If you plan to transfer the domain, it must be unlocked and have no 60-day transfer lock (newly registered or recently transferred domains are locked for 60 days per ICANN policy).
• Active email. If you use GoDaddy's Professional Email or Microsoft 365 through GoDaddy, note that these services are separate from hosting and will continue running independently after you move hosting.
• Current backup. GoDaddy's managed WordPress includes daily automatic backups with 30-day retention. Before migrating, log into your GoDaddy hosting dashboard and create an on-demand backup as your migration starting point. Download it if the interface allows, or note its timestamp.
• WordPress admin access. Confirm you can log into your WordPress dashboard at yourdomain.com/wp-admin before starting.

Step 1: Back Up Your Site with Duplicator

The most reliable way to migrate a self-contained WordPress install is with the free Duplicator plugin (available at wordpress.org/plugins/duplicator). It creates a single installer archive that contains your database, files, themes, plugins, and uploads in one package.

1. In your WordPress dashboard, go to Plugins → Add New and install Duplicator.
2. Go to Duplicator → Packages → Create New.
3. Run the wizard. Duplicator will scan your site and report any warnings (common ones: large database, oversized upload folder). Proceed unless there is an error.
4. Download both files Duplicator generates: the installer.php file and the .zip archive. Keep both — you need both to restore.

If your site is very large (more than 2–3 GB), consider the manual method in our full WordPress migration guide instead. Large archives can time out on shared infrastructure.

Step 2: Set Up WordPress on Your New Host

Most managed WordPress hosts provision a new WordPress install automatically when you create an account. If yours does not, use the host's control panel to install WordPress on the domain or temporary subdomain you will use for staging the migration.

If your new host provides a temporary URL or staging domain (something like staging.yourdomain.com or an IP address), use that for initial setup. This lets you verify the migrated site works before touching DNS.

Step 3: Upload and Run the Duplicator Installer

1. Connect to your new host via FTP/SFTP (credentials in your hosting dashboard). If you are on cPanel-based hosting, you can use cPanel's built-in File Manager.
2. Upload both the installer.php and the .zip archive to the root of your new WordPress installation directory (typically public_html/ or www/).
3. In a browser, navigate to http://your-temp-url/installer.php. The Duplicator installer will walk you through database configuration.
4. Enter the database credentials from your new host (found in your hosting control panel under MySQL Databases).
5. Duplicator will extract the archive and reconfigure WordPress for the new database. When it finishes, it will prompt you to log into WordPress and run a final cleanup step. Complete it.

Step 4: Test the Migrated Site

Before touching DNS, verify everything on the temporary URL:

• Log into WordPress admin and confirm all posts, pages, and media are present.
• Check that all plugins are active and functioning.
• Submit a contact form if you have one, and confirm the notification arrives.
• Browse the front end on both desktop and mobile.
• If you have WooCommerce, place a test order using a sandbox payment method.
• Run the site through Google PageSpeed Insights on the temporary URL to confirm baseline performance.

Do not proceed to DNS until the site is fully verified on the new host.

Step 5: Update DNS to Point to the New Host

There are two approaches, depending on whether you are keeping your domain at GoDaddy or transferring it.

Option A: Keep domain at GoDaddy, change nameservers or A record

Log into your GoDaddy account, go to My Products → Domains → DNS for your domain. Your new host will provide either:

• Nameservers (e.g., ns1.yournewhost.com / ns2.yournewhost.com) — replace GoDaddy's nameservers with these, or
• An IP address — update the A record for your root domain (@ record) to point to the new host's IP.

DNS changes propagate across the internet gradually. Most resolvers update within a few hours, but full propagation can take up to 48 hours. During propagation, some visitors will see the old site and some the new one. Because your WordPress site exists at the same URL structure on both hosts, this transition is seamless for visitors either way.

Option B: Transfer domain to new registrar

Domain transfers are a separate process from hosting migrations, take 5–7 days to complete (per ICANN transfer policy), and require an authorization code (EPP code) from GoDaddy. Do the hosting migration first, confirm the new site is live and working, then initiate the domain transfer as a separate task. Do not run both simultaneously.

Step 6: Cancel GoDaddy Hosting (Not the Domain)

Once you have confirmed DNS has propagated and your site is loading correctly from the new host, log into GoDaddy and cancel your managed WordPress hosting subscription. Do this carefully in the GoDaddy dashboard — cancel the hosting product only. Verify your domain registration is still active and separate before you cancel anything. GoDaddy's interface bundles multiple products, so confirm exactly which item you are cancelling before submitting.

GoDaddy's refund policy varies by product and billing cycle. Review their terms before cancelling if you have prepaid time remaining.

Post-Migration Checklist

• Verify Google Search Console has not flagged crawl errors after the move.
• Confirm SSL certificate is active on the new host (most managed hosts provision this automatically; check for HTTPS in the browser).
• Update your site's URL in WordPress if you changed from HTTP to HTTPS during the migration: Settings → General in the WordPress dashboard.
• Submit your sitemap to Google Search Console if you have not already.
• Set up backups on the new host and confirm the schedule.
• Remove the Duplicator installer.php file from the new host's root directory — it is a security risk if left in place after migration.

A Note on Email

If your email uses a GoDaddy-provided service (Professional Email or Microsoft 365 through GoDaddy), it is hosted separately from your website hosting and will continue working normally through the hosting migration. Your email MX records are independent of your website's A record. As long as you do not change the MX records, email is unaffected by the hosting move.

If your email runs through the same cPanel hosting account as your website (using GoDaddy's shared hosting email), migrating hosting means migrating email too. This requires additional steps: exporting your mailboxes and re-creating them on the new host. If you are in this situation and need help, book a free call — this is a migration scenario we handle regularly.

GoDaddy Migration FAQ

Is migrating from GoDaddy free?

Yes. Our GoDaddy migration service is free for new hosting customers — we move your WordPress files, database, and email with no migration fee and no downtime.

What happens to my domain registered with GoDaddy?

You can keep the domain registered at GoDaddy and simply repoint its DNS to your new host, or transfer the domain to us. Either way works — the site migration is independent of where the domain is registered.

Can I move a GoDaddy Managed WordPress site to a standard WordPress host?

Yes. We export your site from GoDaddy Managed WordPress and rebuild it on a standard WordPress host, preserving your content, URLs, and SEO. GoDaddy's managed environment does not lock you in.