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Moving from GoDaddy to Bluehost is straightforward, completely safe, and can be done in an afternoon without any technical knowledge. Your old site stays live the entire time — there is no risk of losing anything. Bluehost offers free migration assistance through their 24/7 phone support team. Here is the complete process.
GoDaddy is one of the most used — and most complained about — hosting providers in the world. Renewal prices that creep up year after year, aggressive upsells at every step, and a support experience that leaves many users frustrated. If you have decided it is time to move, you are in good company. Bluehost is one of the most common destinations for businesses leaving GoDaddy — for good reasons. Here is exactly how to make the move.
Renewal prices significantly higher than introductory rates. Constant upsell prompts. Confusing dashboard that buries basic settings. Support that varies widely. Every visit to your account feels like a sales exercise.
Transparent pricing with renewal rates shown upfront. Clean dashboard. Genuine 24/7 phone support — call and a real person answers. One of a small number of hosts officially recommended by WordPress.org. Free SSL on every plan.
Access to your GoDaddy account — you will need to log in to export files and manage your domain.
A complete backup of your site — download a full backup from GoDaddy before starting. If your site is WordPress, use UpdraftPlus to create a backup. If it is a static site, download all files via GoDaddy file manager.
Your domain registrar login — if your domain is registered with GoDaddy (common), you will need to change nameservers later. If registered elsewhere, you will need that login instead.
Your email details — if you use GoDaddy email, note down your settings before migrating. Email migration is a separate process.
Go to Bluehost and choose your plan. For most small businesses migrating from GoDaddy, the Business plan at $6.99/month is the right choice — it includes unlimited websites, automated backups, and free domain privacy.
During signup, when asked about a domain, select "I'll use an existing domain" and enter your current domain name. Do not register a new domain at this stage. Complete checkout and your Bluehost account will be active within minutes.
This is the easiest route for most people — and it is completely free. Once your Bluehost account is active, contact their support team and request a free website migration from GoDaddy.
Bluehost's migration team copies all your website files, database, and settings from GoDaddy to Bluehost. Your original GoDaddy site stays completely untouched and live throughout. They will notify you when the copy is complete and ready to review.
On GoDaddy: Install the free Duplicator plugin. Go to Duplicator → Packages → Create New. This creates a zip archive and an installer.php file. Download both to your computer.
On Bluehost: Log into cPanel → File Manager → navigate to your domain's public_html folder. Upload both Duplicator files. Then visit yourdomain.com/installer.php in your browser and follow the guided wizard to complete the migration.
Before pointing your domain to Bluehost, confirm everything works correctly on the new server using the temporary URL Bluehost provides. Check every page, every image, every link, every form. Test on mobile and desktop.
Your original GoDaddy site is still live, so there is no rush. Get it right before flipping the switch.
Once everything looks perfect, update your domain nameservers to point to Bluehost.
Bluehost nameservers:
ns1.bluehost.com
ns2.bluehost.com
If your domain is with GoDaddy: Log into GoDaddy → My Products → Domains → your domain → Manage DNS → Nameservers → Change → Enter Custom → enter both nameservers → Save.
Once your domain is pointing to Bluehost and DNS has propagated, activate your free SSL certificate.
Wait 48-72 hours after the nameserver change. Visit your site from multiple devices to confirm it is loading from Bluehost. Check email is still working if you use domain email.
Once completely satisfied, log into GoDaddy and cancel your hosting plan only. Do not cancel your domain registration — let it run until renewal then transfer it to Bluehost or another registrar. Hosting and domain registration are two completely separate things.
If you use GoDaddy email (yourname@yourdomain.com), this is separate from your hosting and will not be automatically migrated. You can keep your GoDaddy email subscription running independently even after moving hosting to Bluehost — your email will not be affected as long as your MX records stay pointing to GoDaddy's mail servers.
Alternatively, Google Workspace ($7/month) or Zoho Mail (free tier available) are popular alternatives. Migrate email separately after your hosting migration is stable.
Moving from GoDaddy to Bluehost is one of the most straightforward hosting migrations available — largely because Bluehost offers free migration assistance and their team does most of the technical work for you. The entire process from signup to fully live on Bluehost can be completed in an afternoon, with zero downtime and zero risk to your existing site.
Bluehost from $3.99/month — free migration assistance, free SSL, free domain, 24/7 phone support. One of a small number of hosts officially recommended by WordPress.org. 30-day money-back guarantee.
Switch to Bluehost today →