Migrating a WordPress Site from GoDaddy to Getwebup

GoDaddy migrations trip people up in a way cPanel-to-cPanel moves don't: depending on which GoDaddy plan you're on, you might not have a database, a file manager, or even SFTP access to begin with. Here's how to get a GoDaddy WordPress site onto Getwebup without losing mail or breaking your rankings, whatever plan you started on.

Why GoDaddy migrations are different

GoDaddy sells WordPress hosting under two very different products, and the migration path depends entirely on which one you have:

• cPanel Hosting (Economy, Deluxe, Ultimate) — a real cPanel account. You get File Manager, phpMyAdmin, and FTP/SFTP credentials, so this behaves like moving from any other cPanel host.
• Managed WordPress — no cPanel at all. You get a simplified GoDaddy dashboard, SFTP is often off by default, and there's no phpMyAdmin. This is the plan that catches people out.

Check your GoDaddy product page before you plan anything. If the dashboard says "Managed WordPress" and there's no "cPanel Admin" button, assume you have none of the usual access and skip straight to the plugin-based export below.

Step 1 — Get your files and database out of GoDaddy

If you have cPanel access

Log in to cPanel, zip up public_html from File Manager (or pull it over SFTP), and export the database from phpMyAdmin as a .sql file. Standard stuff — the same process as any cPanel-to-cPanel move.

If you're on Managed WordPress (no cPanel)

You have two options, in order of preference:

1. A migration plugin. Install All-in-One WP Migration or Duplicator from the WordPress admin (Plugins > Add New — this part still works even without cPanel), run an export, and download the archive it produces. This bundles files, database, plugins, and uploads into one file you can hand to Getwebup support or import yourself.
2. Turn on SFTP first. In the GoDaddy Managed WordPress dashboard, look for Settings > SFTP — it's off by default on most plans. Enabling it gives you a username, host, and port so you can pull wp-content manually. You'll still need the plugin route (or GoDaddy's own database phpMyAdmin-lite tool under Settings) for the database, since raw SFTP doesn't give you SQL access.

If the site is small (under a few hundred MB of uploads), the plugin export is genuinely the easier path even if you technically have SFTP — it avoids you having to hand-reassemble the database separately.

Step 2 — Import into Getwebup and test before touching DNS

Upload the site to your new Getwebup hosting account and get it fully working on a temporary URL or an IP-based preview first. Never point the domain until you've clicked through the live site on the new server. Edit your local hosts file to preview it under the real domain name without changing DNS yet:

# Linux/macOS: /etc/hosts
# Windows: C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts
203.0.113.10   yourdomain.com www.yourdomain.com

Browse the site with that hosts entry in place, check that images, forms, and WooCommerce checkout (if you have it) all work, then remove the hosts entry once you're satisfied and move to DNS.

Step 3 — Move DNS without the domain reverting itself

This is where most GoDaddy migrations actually break, and it's almost never a DNS mistake — it's a GoDaddy add-on undoing the DNS change automatically:

Once those are off, either update the A record to Getwebup's IP (keep GoDaddy as your DNS host) or switch to Getwebup's nameservers if you want to manage DNS from there instead. Don't do both halfway — a domain using GoDaddy nameservers with an A record edited somewhere else won't do anything.

Step 4 — Don't let email go down mid-migration

If you're on GoDaddy Workspace Email or Microsoft 365 bought through GoDaddy, that mail is routed by MX records sitting in GoDaddy's DNS zone — completely separate from your website. Moving nameservers without copying these first is the single most common way GoDaddy migrations take down a client's inbox for a day:

Write down every MX, TXT, and relevant CNAME from GoDaddy's DNS zone before you change nameservers, then recreate them exactly in Getwebup's DNS zone editor before — not after — the cutover. If you're keeping GoDaddy as the DNS host and only changing the A record, you can skip this step entirely, since the MX records never move.

Step 5 — Cutover checklist

• Migration plugin export downloaded and imported, or files/database copied via cPanel — confirmed working on a temp URL.
• Domain Forwarding and Website Builder domain links turned off in GoDaddy.
• Managed WordPress auto-DNS detached from the domain, if applicable.
• MX, SPF, and autodiscover records for GoDaddy Workspace/M365 copied into Getwebup's DNS zone before cutover.
• SSL issued on the Getwebup account (AutoSSL/Let's Encrypt) so there's no gap between DNS pointing over and HTTPS working.
• A/AAAA record TTL lowered to 300–600 seconds a day ahead, if you had access to lower it in advance.

Prevention: what to check the day after

Once traffic is flowing to Getwebup, confirm the old GoDaddy hosting is still reachable (don't cancel it yet) in case you missed a redirect or an embedded absolute URL. Check Search Console for crawl errors, send a test email to and from the new mail setup, and keep the GoDaddy account active for at least a week — long enough for DNS caches everywhere to expire and for you to be sure nothing's quietly still pointing at the old server.

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