How to move your website to a new host without downtime

Why people put it off

Most people who want to leave their hosting company don’t, because they’re worried about breaking something. The website going down, email disappearing, or a week of “it’s working for me, but not for them”. Those worries are fair, but a move done in the right order doesn’t affect anyone.

What actually has to move

• The website itself: its files and its database
• Every mailbox, with the mail inside them
• DNS, which is what tells the internet where your site and email live now

The order matters. Everything gets copied across to the new server first. Only when it’s all confirmed working there does DNS get switched. Until that moment, your old site stays live and nobody notices anything.

What you need to have ready

• Where your site and email are hosted now, and who your domain is registered with
• Access to your current hosting control panel, or your current host’s details so they can be requested
• Anything you already know is broken, so it isn’t inherited by surprise
• Whether you use special features: an online shop, a booking system, or custom software

You don’t need any technical knowledge, and you don’t need to tell your current provider anything until it’s finished.

The mistake that causes most of the trouble

Cancelling the old hosting too early. People often cancel the day they decide to move, and then the old site and the old mailboxes vanish before the new ones are ready. Keep the old account running until the move is confirmed complete. After that, cancel it yourself, and don’t leave it to renew by accident.

Also check when the old account expires. With us, data on a non-renewed account is deleted 30 days after expiry and can’t be recovered, and other hosts have their own rules. If you’re ever unsure, take a full copy first.

After the switch

Go through the basics: do the pages load, does the contact form arrive in your inbox, can you send and receive email on your phone? A good migration includes these checks, but they only take a few minutes and it’s worth knowing for yourself.

Does it cost anything?

With us it doesn’t. Migration is free with every hosting plan, including your website, your email and your DNS, with no downtime. If your domain is registered somewhere else you don’t have to move it, and if you’re moving both, we handle them together. See how a migration goes and our hosting plans.

A good time to ask whether the site itself is any good

If you’re moving hosts because the old company is slow, hard to reach or expensive, it’s worth asking whether the website is due a refresh as well. Doing both at once is easier than doing them a year apart. Our guide on whether your site needs a redesign will help you decide.