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Transfer your domain registration from GoDaddy to Bluehost

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.

The process is an ICANN standard, so its shape is the same everywhere: unlock, get an auth code, start the transfer at the gaining registrar, approve it. Two things are specific to this direction. GoDaddy shows you the authorization code on screen rather than only emailing it, which is genuinely more convenient. And Bluehost takes payment before it will accept the code, so the transfer starts with a checkout rather than a form.

The rules you cannot work around are the waiting periods. Sixty days after registration, after a previous transfer, or after a registrant contact change — and, specific to GoDaddy, 120 days for a domain that came bundled with another purchase.

Hands-on time
20 minutes of work
Start to finish
Up to 7 days
Difficulty
Easy
Steps
7

Downtime risk: None if nameservers are left alone. The transfer preserves your existing DNS delegation.

Check this first

Are your nameservers still pointing at GoDaddy?

Worth checking before you transfer, because it changes what happens next. A registrar transfer moves the registration but not the DNS service — so if your nameservers are still GoDaddy's domaincontrol.com pair, GoDaddy is still answering DNS for you afterwards, from an account you may be planning to close. The transfer itself is safe; the trap is closing GoDaddy later and taking your DNS down with it.

The short version — 1 minute to check

  1. 1Run dig NS yourdomain.com +short, or use the lookup button on the migration tool.
  2. 2If it returns nsNN.domaincontrol.com, GoDaddy is still your DNS provider after the transfer completes.
  3. 3That is fine indefinitely while the GoDaddy account stays open.
  4. 4Before you close it, move the DNS — to Bluehost's nameservers or somewhere else.

Not what you need? If your nameservers already point somewhere else — Cloudflare, or a different host — this does not apply and the registrar transfer is genuinely self-contained.

Can I do just this, and nothing else?

Yes — this works on its own

Yes, and this is the task most safely done entirely on its own. A registrar transfer is a billing and ownership change. Your website does not move, your email does not move, and your DNS keeps resolving exactly as it did — the transfer deliberately preserves the existing nameserver settings.

What changes

  • Bluehost bills you for the domain instead of GoDaddy
  • You manage the domain from the Bluehost portal
  • The transfer fee renews the domain for a further year
  • Renewal pricing becomes Bluehost's rather than GoDaddy's

What stays exactly as it is

  • The website stays on whatever server it is on now
  • Email keeps working, untouched
  • Nameservers and every DNS record carry across unchanged
  • There is no downtime and visitors notice nothing

Before doing domain registrar on its own: Only the waiting periods: 60 days since registration, since any previous transfer, and since any registrant contact change — or 120 days if the domain came bundled with another GoDaddy purchase.

Before you start

  • The domain registered at GoDaddy for at least 60 days, and not transferred in the last 60 days
  • No registrant contact change in the last 60 days
  • Not a bundled domain purchased within the last 120 days
  • Access to the registrant email address on the domain
  • A Bluehost account, and payment for the transfer
  • A domain that is not a .uk — Bluehost does not accept those transfers

Step-by-step

Each step is labelled with which side you are working on, so you always know whether you should be signed in to GoDaddy or Bluehost.

  1. 1On your computer

    Check the domain is eligible before you pay for anything

    The waiting periods are enforced at the registry, so no amount of support escalation bypasses them. Confirm first.

    • Look up the creation date and last transfer date in public WHOIS
    • Check whether the status includes clientTransferProhibited — that is the lock you will remove
    • If you changed the registrant name or email recently, count 60 days from that change
    • If the domain came free with another GoDaddy purchase, count 120 days from that purchase
    Check status and dates
    whois example.com | grep -i -E 'creation|transfer|status'
  2. 2At GoDaddy

    Start the transfer-out at GoDaddy

    GoDaddy puts unlocking and the auth code behind the same flow, so rather than hunting for a lock toggle you begin the transfer and it walks you through.

    • Sign in to your GoDaddy Domain Portfolio and select the domain
    • Under Transfer, choose Transfer to Another Registrar — it will tell you here if the domain is not eligible
    • Select Continue with transfer
    • If you have Domain Protection, expect an identity check by SMS, authenticator app or one-time password
  3. 3At GoDaddy

    Reveal and copy the authorization code

    Unlike registrars that only email it, GoDaddy will show you the code directly — a real convenience, and it removes the usual failure mode of the email never arriving.

    • Choose "Click here to see Authorization Code" and copy it
    • The code is also sent to the registrant email address as a backup
    • Select Return to Domain Settings once you have it
    • Domain privacy is turned off automatically as part of this — you do not need to do it separately
  4. 4At Bluehost

    Buy the transfer at Bluehost

    Bluehost takes payment first and asks for the code second, which catches people out — there is no form to paste the code into until checkout is done.

    • Go to Bluehost and choose Domain Transfer, or start from your Bluehost portal
    • Enter the domain without the www; Bluehost checks eligibility
    • The domain is added to your cart — complete checkout and payment
    • The fee is not just a transfer charge: it renews the domain for a year once the transfer completes
  5. 5At Bluehost

    Submit the authorization code

    With payment done, the code goes into the transfer status screen rather than anywhere in the domain's own settings.

    • Bluehost portal → Domains → Transfer Status
    • Click the plus icon next to Pending Auth Code
    • Paste the EPP code and submit for verification
    • The code is case- and character-sensitive — watch for a trailing space from copy-paste
  6. 6Either side

    Approve the transfer to speed it up

    Left alone, the transfer completes on ICANN's timetable after about five days. Approving the confirmation email finishes it sooner.

    • Watch the registrant email for confirmation messages from both registrars
    • Approving the release at the GoDaddy end is what actually accelerates it
    • Bluehost documents up to seven days for a transfer to complete
  7. 7At Bluehost

    Check the settings that survived the move

    Once the domain appears in your Bluehost account, confirm the things that matter are intact.

    • Nameservers unchanged — the site should never have gone down
    • Expiry date extended by the year the transfer fee paid for
    • Auto-renew switched on, since it does not carry over
    • Contact details correct, and privacy re-enabled if you want it

What goes wrong

The failures that actually happen on this step, rather than a generic warning to be careful.

  • Bundled GoDaddy domains are locked for 120 days, not 60

    Can cause downtime

    A domain that came as part of a bundle with another GoDaddy purchase cannot be transferred for 120 days from that purchase — double the usual ICANN window, and a rule specific enough that most transfer guides miss it. If the transfer is refused and the domain is well past 60 days, this is the first thing to check.

  • Bluehost does not accept .uk transfers

    Can cause downtime

    If your domain is a .uk, this transfer is simply not available and no amount of preparation changes that. GoDaddy's transfer-out flow will ask for an IPS tag for .uk domains — that is the mechanism those transfers use, and it needs a receiving registrar that supports it.

  • You pay before you can submit the code

    Can cause delays

    Bluehost's flow is checkout first, auth code second. If you are used to registrars that validate the code up front, this feels backwards, and it means a code problem surfaces after you have already paid. Have the code in hand before you start checkout.

  • Changing contact details can lock the domain for 60 days

    Can cause downtime

    The most avoidable failure in any registrar transfer. Someone updates the registrant email so they can receive the auth code, and that change starts a fresh 60-day transfer lock — turning a one-week job into a two-month wait. If the address on file is readable, leave it alone. Do contact tidying after the transfer, not before.

  • The auth code is character-exact

    Can cause delays

    Auth codes contain punctuation that is easy to mangle, and a trailing space picked up by copy-paste is enough to have it rejected. If the code is refused and you are sure it is right, look for whitespace at either end before assuming the code itself is wrong.

  • Transferring the domain does not move your website

    Can cause downtime

    This is the single biggest misconception about registrar transfers. Afterwards the new registrar bills you for the domain and your website is still sitting on the old host's servers. If you then cancel that hosting, the site goes offline — the domain transfer did nothing to prevent it.

  • Transferring close to expiry

    Can cause delays

    Starting a transfer in the last week or two before expiry risks the domain expiring mid-transfer, which is genuinely painful to unwind. Renew first, then transfer — the remaining time comes with you, so nothing is wasted.

How to check it worked

Do not rely on the site looking fine in your own browser — it caches, and it will tell you what you want to hear.

  • The domain appears in your Bluehost account
  • Public WHOIS lists Bluehost as the sponsoring registrar
  • The expiry date is one year further out than before
  • Nameservers are still whatever they were, and the site is still up
  • Auto-renew is enabled and billing details are correct

If it goes wrong

There is no undo once a transfer completes, and the 60-day lock means you cannot transfer straight back. The safety net is earlier: verify eligibility and the registrant email before you start, because that is where recoverable mistakes live.

Questions about this step

How long does a GoDaddy to Bluehost transfer take?

Bluehost documents up to seven days. Approving the confirmation email from the GoDaddy side cuts that to roughly a day or two. Because GoDaddy shows the auth code on screen, you avoid the usual up-to-24-hour wait for a code email.

Will I lose the time left on my registration?

No. The remaining registration period carries across, and the transfer adds a further year on top — the exception being a domain already at the maximum ten-year registration length.

Will my website go down during the transfer?

Not if you leave the nameservers alone. A registrar transfer preserves the existing delegation, so DNS keeps resolving to the same place throughout and visitors notice nothing.

Why can't I transfer my domain?

In order of likelihood: it has been registered or transferred within the last 60 days; the registrant contact details were changed within the last 60 days; the domain is still locked; the auth code is wrong or expired; or the domain is too close to expiry. WHOIS status codes will usually tell you which.

Do I have to turn off domain privacy first?

No. GoDaddy turns privacy off automatically as part of the transfer-out flow, so it is one less step than transferring away from most registrars. Re-enable it at Bluehost afterwards if you want it.

Reference documentation

Provider interfaces change. When these steps and the official documentation disagree, the documentation wins.

Only if you are doing the full move

Stuck on this step?

Send me the domain and what you have tried. I do GoDaddy to Bluehost moves regularly and can tell you what is actually blocking it.

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