Migration guide
Moving from Bluehost to GoDaddy
Four different things get called "moving to GoDaddy", and they are not the same job. Transferring the registrar changes who bills you for the domain. Changing nameservers changes who answers DNS for it. Copying DNS records keeps your email and verifications alive. Moving files is the only one that touches the actual website.
You can do any one of them without the others. The mistake that takes sites down is doing them in the wrong order — most often flipping nameservers to GoDaddy before the DNS records exist there, which drops email and the website at the same moment.
Below is the order that avoids that, followed by a detailed guide for each task.
Steps checked against both control panels on August 8, 2026. Provider interfaces change — if a menu has moved, the official docs linked in each section are the authority.
Just need one thing?
Every guide below is written to be followed on its own. Pick the one thing you actually need — there is no requirement to move everything.
Move website files and database from Bluehost to GoDaddy
Yes. You can put a working copy of the site on GoDaddy and change nothing else — the domain stays registered at Bluehost, email keeps flowing, and visitors carry on reaching the Bluehost copy.
1–3 hours of hands-on workModerate
Copy DNS records from Bluehost to GoDaddy
Yes, and this is the task most often needed on its own — usually in its smallest form, which is a single A record edit. If the only thing you want is the website served from a different server, you do not need to move the zone, change nameservers, or transfer anything..
30–60 minutesModerate
Point your domain from Bluehost nameservers to GoDaddy
Technically yes, but this is the one task that is never really "just" one task. Changing nameservers hands the entire zone to GoDaddy in a single move, so every record has to already exist there.
10 minutes to changeEasy
Transfer your domain registration from Bluehost to GoDaddy
Yes, and this is the task most safely done entirely on its own. A registrar transfer is a billing and ownership change.
20 minutes of workEasy
Moving all of it? Do it in this order
Only relevant if you are moving everything. Done together, this sequence is the one that never leaves the site pointing at an empty account.
- 1
Move website files and database from Bluehost to GoDaddy
Get a working copy of the site running on GoDaddy first, tested on a temporary URL. Nothing is live yet, so nothing can break.
1–3 hours of hands-on workModerateSame dayFull steps → - 2
Copy DNS records from Bluehost to GoDaddy
Build the DNS zone at GoDaddy while Bluehost is still serving the live one. Records sitting unused at GoDaddy affect nothing.
30–60 minutesModerateRecords apply within an hour of becoming authoritativeFull steps → - 3
Point your domain from Bluehost nameservers to GoDaddy
This is the actual cutover. The moment the delegation changes, GoDaddy's zone becomes the live one — which is safe only because you built it in the previous step.
10 minutes to changeEasy24–48 hours to propagate fullyFull steps → - 4
Transfer your domain registration from Bluehost to GoDaddy
Do the registrar transfer last, or independently. It takes 5–7 days and is the one step with a hard 60-day eligibility rule you cannot work around.
20 minutes of workEasy5–7 days, or 1–2 days if you approve promptlyFull steps →
What each step involves
Move website files and database from Bluehost to GoDaddy
This is the only task that moves the website itself. Everything else on this page moves pointers and paperwork.
Downtime risk: None while you work — the live site stays on Bluehost until DNS changes. Risk arrives at cutover if the copy was never tested.
Read the 9-step guide →Copy DNS records from Bluehost to GoDaddy
DNS records are the individual instructions: this hostname points at that server, mail for this domain goes to that provider, this text string proves you own the domain. They live inside whichever DNS zone is currently authoritative.
Downtime risk: None while Bluehost is still authoritative. Missing records only bite at the moment nameservers change.
Read the 7-step guide →Point your domain from Bluehost nameservers to GoDaddy
Nameservers decide which company gets asked for your DNS records. Changing them hands over the entire zone in one move — website, email, subdomains and verifications all switch to the new provider's answers simultaneously.
Downtime risk: High if the target zone is not ready. This is the moment the switch actually flips for the public.
Read the 6-step guide →Transfer your domain registration from Bluehost to GoDaddy
A registrar transfer changes which company holds the registration and bills you for it. It does not move your website, your files, your email or your DNS records. Your site stays exactly where it is throughout.
Downtime risk: None if nameservers are left alone. The transfer preserves your existing DNS delegation.
Read the 8-step guide →Where you will be working
Bluehost
Shared and WordPress hosting with its own account portal; cPanel sits behind it on most plans.
ns1.bluehost.com · ns2.bluehost.com
Sign in to Bluehost→GoDaddy
The largest registrar; sells cPanel Web Hosting and Managed Hosting for WordPress separately.
Sign in to GoDaddy→Bluehost to GoDaddy: common questions
Do I have to transfer my domain to GoDaddy to use GoDaddy hosting?
No. A domain registered at Bluehost can point at GoDaddy hosting indefinitely — you just change the nameservers, or edit the A record. Keeping the registrar and the host at different companies is a normal, and arguably safer, setup: a billing dispute with one provider cannot take down both your domain and your website.
Will my site go down during the move?
It does not have to. If you build the site on GoDaddy and test it before touching DNS, the only moment of risk is the nameserver change, and even then visitors keep resolving to Bluehost until their local caches expire. The failure mode is not a gap — it is visitors hitting an empty or half-configured GoDaddy account because the cutover happened first.
What happens to my email?
Email follows the MX records, which live in whichever DNS zone is authoritative. If you move nameservers to GoDaddy without recreating your MX records there, inbound mail stops — usually silently, with senders getting bounces you never see. Copy the MX records and any SPF, DKIM and DMARC TXT records before the cutover, not after.
How long does the whole move take?
Plan on an evening of work plus a week of waiting. Files and database are 1–3 hours for a typical small site. DNS records are 30–60 minutes. The nameserver change propagates within 24–48 hours. The registrar transfer runs 5–7 days on its own timetable and does not block anything else.
Should I cancel Bluehost as soon as the site is on GoDaddy?
Keep Bluehost active for at least two weeks after the cutover. It is your rollback, and it is where your last known-good backup lives. Cancelling early usually means the account is purged before you discover the one thing that did not come across — a cron job, a mailbox, a subdomain nobody remembered.
Want this Bluehost to GoDaddy move done for you?
I do these end to end — files, database, DNS records, nameserver cutover and the registrar transfer — with the old host kept as a rollback until it has settled.