How to transfer a domain name (and get it out of Wix, Squarespace, Shopify or GoDaddy)

First: do you need to transfer it, or just point it?

“Moving a domain” can mean two jobs. Most people only need the second.

• Transferring moves the registration, the thing you pay for every year, from one domain registrar to another. Billing, renewals and settings move to the new company.
• Pointing changes the DNS records so the domain shows a new website. The registration stays exactly where it is.

If your domain already sits at a registrar you like, you only need to point it; our website moving guide covers that. Transfer it when you are leaving the company that registered it or want lower renewals.

How to transfer a domain, step by step

The steps are nearly the same everywhere, because ICANN, the nonprofit that sets the rules for endings like .com, writes the transfer policy every registrar follows.

1. Copy your DNS records first. Before you touch anything, screenshot or export every record at your current DNS provider: the A and CNAME records for the website, the MX records for email, and the TXT records for SPF, DKIM, DMARC and site verification. If the old company hosts your DNS, those records may not follow the domain.
2. Check the 60-day rule. ICANN’s transfer policy lets a registrar refuse a transfer within 60 days of the domain’s registration, or within 60 days of a previous transfer. Find the date you bought or last moved it. Check the expiry date too.
3. Check the contact email. The transfer code and approval emails go to the registrant, meaning the owner contact on file. Make sure you can read that inbox. One catch: ICANN’s FAQ says you cannot transfer a domain within 60 days of changing the registrant name, organization or email address. Some registrars let you opt out of that lock when you make the change, so look for the option before you save.
4. Turn off the registrar lock. This setting, often called transfer lock or domain lock, tells the registry to reject transfer requests. Turn it off only when you are ready to move. At GoDaddy, also turn off Domain Privacy and set Domain Protection to none, according to GoDaddy’s help center.
5. Get the authorization code. It is also called an EPP code, auth code or transfer code. ICANN says your registrar must give it to you within 5 calendar days of your request.
6. Start the transfer at the new registrar and pay. Open its transfer page, enter the domain and paste the code. You pay the new registrar’s transfer price (see the table below). Registrars say a transfer usually adds a year: Namecheap adds your remaining time to a 1-year renewal for most endings, GoDaddy adds a free year, and Cloudflare says most transfers include a one-year extension. The ICANN pages we checked do not promise this, so read your new registrar’s terms.
7. Approve it. Watch the contact inbox and approve any confirmation emails from the new or the old registrar.
8. Wait. Under ICANN’s policy, if the old registrar does not respond to the transfer request within 5 calendar days, the transfer is approved by default. Builders quote longer windows for the whole process: Wix and Shopify say up to 7 days, GoDaddy 5 to 7 days, and Squarespace up to 15 days.
9. Check your site and email. Load the website and send and reply to a test email. Compare the DNS records against the copy from step 1. Then turn the registrar lock back on and switch on two-factor login at the new registrar.

What a domain transfer costs

You pay the new registrar, and registrars say that payment usually covers an extra year. Here are .com transfer prices from each registrar’s own pages.

• The renewal matters more than the transfer price. GoDaddy’s $0.01 deal requires a 3-year purchase, with additional years at $22.99.
• Prices are about to move. Verisign, which runs .com, raises its wholesale fee from $10.26 to $10.97 on November 1, 2026. Porkbun says its .com price will rise to approximately $11.81 that day.
• Cloudflare has extra conditions. The domain must already use Cloudflare DNS, and Cloudflare says the transfer takes up to 10 days.
• Some endings work differently. Porkbun says .ai transfers include a 2-year renewal, because .ai has a 2-year minimum.

Squarespace does not publish a .com transfer-in price on the pages we checked. For a fuller look at where to keep your domains, see our guide to the best domain registrars.

How to get your domain out of Wix, Squarespace, Shopify or GoDaddy

If your builder sold you the domain, you start the transfer in the builder’s dashboard.

Wix

Go to Domains, open Domain Actions and choose “Transfer away from Wix.” Wix emails the EPP code to the registrant contact email, so check that address first. The lock must be off.

Wix’s help center warns that the domain disconnects from your Wix site and that email needs its MX records set up again. Have the new site and email ready first. Wix scores 3/10 on our exit score because the site cannot leave, but it gets full marks for the domain.

Squarespace

In the domain’s settings, toggle off Domain Lock and click “Request transfer code.” Squarespace asks for your password or two-factor code, then emails the code to the registrant within 24 hours.

Besides the 60-day locks, a lock after contact details change can block you. If your domain came free with an annual plan, that free status does not carry over.

Shopify

Go to Settings, then Domains, pick the domain and click “Transfer to another provider.” Shopify removes the lock automatically and shows the auth code on screen.

The 60-day wait applies to .com, .net, .org and .us. If the move is not finished within 30 days, Shopify locks the domain again.

GoDaddy

This covers domains bought at GoDaddy, including ones used with its Website Builder. First turn off the domain lock and Domain Privacy, and set Domain Protection to none. Then, in your Domain Portfolio, pick the domain, choose “Transfer to Another Registrar” and click “Click here to see Authorization Code.”

Watch for two waits. GoDaddy applies a 60-day restriction if a lock was applied. And it says “Domains that are part of a bundle can’t be transferred within 120 days of new registration.” The help page does not define what counts as a bundle, so if your domain came with a hosting or builder plan, ask GoDaddy support before you plan around a date.

When you can’t transfer a domain (yet)

A registrar can say no for a handful of reasons. Here are the common ones, mostly from ICANN’s own list.

• It is too new. Within 60 days of registration, or within 60 days of a previous transfer.
• You changed the owner details. After a change of registrant (name, organization or email), registrars must apply a 60-day transfer lock, unless you opted out beforehand where the registrar offers that.
• It is in redemption. ICANN says a registrar cannot refuse a transfer just because the domain expired. But once a domain enters the Redemption Grace Period, the current registrar must restore it first, usually for a fee. At Namecheap, restoring a .com costs $88.48, which is the redemption fee plus the renewal price.
• There is a dispute or a payment problem. UDRP cases (the formal process for trademark complaints over a domain), court orders and unpaid bills can all block a transfer.
• A registry lock is on. Some owners add Verisign’s Registry Lock for extra security. Removing it takes a phone check with a security phrase through your registrar, so plan extra time.

Rule changes are coming, but not yet

ICANN is reworking the transfer policy. The GNSO Council, the ICANN group that writes domain policy, adopted the final report of its Transfer Policy Review on March 12, 2025, and sent it to ICANN’s Board. ICANN’s project page still lists Board adoption, implementation and the effective date as “TBD.”

The trade publication Domain Incite reports the changes would replace the 60-day locks with a 30-day lock after registration or transfer, drop the 60-day lock after an owner change, and take at least 18 months to put in place after Board approval. Until ICANN publishes an effective date, the current 60-day rules apply.

Keep your email and website working during the move

A transfer should not take your site or inbox down, but it can if your DNS lives with the old company.

Protect your email (MX records)

MX records tell the world where to deliver email for your domain. If they vanish, mail stops arriving. Copy them, plus the SPF, DKIM and DMARC TXT records, to your new DNS provider before the transfer completes. If you use a separate email host, its setup page lists the exact records.

Use a contact email on a different domain than the one you are moving, as ICANN’s security committee recommends, so transfer emails still reach you if something breaks.

Keep the site live (copy the DNS zone)

The “zone” is the full set of DNS records for your domain. Recreate it at the new DNS provider, check it matches your copy, and only then switch nameservers. If you are keeping DNS somewhere neutral, such as your host, you may not need to change nameservers at all.

Don’t let it expire mid-transfer

Start the transfer well before the expiry date. ICANN’s renewal rules say that after a domain expires, the registrar must cut off DNS, which takes the website and email offline, for at least the last 8 days before deletion. After deletion, there is a 30-day Redemption Grace Period, then 5 days pending delete, and then anyone can register the name.

If the expiry date is close, renewing first is usually safe. Namecheap (for most endings) and GoDaddy both say they keep your remaining time when you transfer in.

The domain is the one piece you always get to keep

When you leave a website builder, a lot can stay behind: the design, the blog, sometimes the whole site. The domain is different. On our exit scores, 16 of the 17 platforms we rate let you transfer the domain out and keep your URLs. Square Online is the exception on paper, because its docs do not confirm a transfer-out process.

Your visitors, rankings and email address are tied to the name, not the builder. Keep it at an independent registrar and connect it to whatever builder you use, and you never have to transfer it under pressure. Our guide to leaving your website builder covers what else you can take.

What to do next

• New to domains? Start with domains 101 and the glossary entry for domain name.
• Choosing where to move it? Compare prices and renewals in best domain registrars.
• Moving your site too? Follow the website moving guide before or after, not on the same day.
• Checking how locked in you are? See the exit scores for 17 platforms.

Sources

ICANN: Transfer Policy, registrant FAQs, renewal and expiration FAQs, Expired Registration Recovery Policy, EPP status codes, SSAC registrant guidance (SAC044), GNSO Transfer Policy Review. Verisign: Registry Lock, Q1 2026 results. Wix: transferring a domain away from Wix. Squarespace: transferring a domain away. Shopify: transferring Shopify domains. GoDaddy: transfer my domain away, domain transfer pricing. Namecheap: transfer pricing, redemption pricing. Spaceship: .com pricing. Porkbun: domain pricing, .com price change. Cloudflare: transfer to Cloudflare, Registrar FAQ.