Guide
Switching website providers, without losing your email.
Your website, your domain and your email are three separate things that happen to share a name. Once you see how they connect, moving a website is much less scary.
The short version
- The domain (yourbusiness.com) is something you rent from a registrar. It should be registered in your name.
- A list of settings called DNS records says where each service for that domain lives: one set for the website, another set for email.
- Moving the website means changing the website records. Your email keeps working as long as the mail records stay as they are.
- The one real trap is email that is bundled with the old website provider. Move those mailboxes first.
How the pieces fit together
Domain. You register it with a registrar, and you pay them a yearly fee. Whoever is listed as the owner controls it. Check that your name and email are on it.
Website. The pages live on a host. DNS records for your domain (usually an A or CNAME record, or the domain’s nameservers) point visitors to that host.
Email. Your mailboxes live with an email host, such as Google Workspace, Microsoft 365 or your registrar. Records called MX say where mail is delivered. SPF, DKIM and DMARC records help your messages reach inboxes instead of spam.
Switching, step by step
- Find out where the domain is registered, and in whose name. Look it up at a WHOIS service such as lookup.icann.org, or check your billing emails. If the old provider registered it in their own account, you will need them to transfer it to you. That needs an unlock and an authorization code, and a domain usually cannot be transferred within 60 days of registration or a previous transfer.
- Find out where your email lives. Is it Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, or a mailbox plan from the website company? If it is bundled with the old website plan, plan to move it before you cancel.
- List everything the old site does. Contact forms, online booking, a store, a login area, a mailing list. Those features will not carry over to a plain website by themselves, so decide how to replace each one.
- Copy every DNS record before changing anything. Take a screenshot or export of the full list, especially the MX, SPF, DKIM and DMARC records. Keep it somewhere safe.
- Change only the website records. Point the root domain and the www name at the new host. Leave the mail records alone. If the new host needs the domain’s nameservers, first copy every existing record into the new DNS setup and compare the two lists, and only then switch the nameservers.
- Check both. Open the website on your phone and your computer, and send yourself test emails in both directions.
- Cancel the old plan last, after everything works and any bundled mailboxes have moved.
When email is “bundled” with your old website provider
Bundled usually means the mailboxes are part of the same account and bill as the website. It can look like a mailbox plan from the website company, an add-on from a website builder (often Microsoft 365 or Google underneath, but billed through the builder), or free mailboxes that came with hosting. The address is yours, because it is on your domain, but the mailbox behind it belongs to that provider’s account, and it can be switched off when you cancel.
You can fix this without the old provider’s help. Sign up for a new email host and create a mailbox with the same address. Use the new host’s import tool to copy the old mail over through IMAP, using the old mailbox’s login. Then change the mail records on your domain to point at the new host. Do this before cancelling, check the old mailbox for a day or two for stragglers, and run the import again if needed.
Questions people ask
Will my email stop working when I switch website providers?
Not if the mail records on your domain stay as they are and the mailboxes are not part of the old provider’s plan. Website records and mail records are separate settings. The risk is mailboxes that come bundled with the old website plan, because they can be switched off when you cancel.
Can I keep the same email address?
Yes. The address belongs to your domain, not to the old provider. You create a mailbox with the same address at a new email host, copy your old mail across, then point the mail records at the new host.
Do I need to transfer my domain to switch websites?
Usually not. If the domain is registered in your name, you leave it where it is and change only the website records, or point its nameservers at the new host after copying every record. A transfer is needed only if the old provider holds the domain in their own account.
What are IMAP and Exchange?
IMAP is the standard way an email app such as Outlook, Apple Mail or a phone app reads a mailbox. Exchange is Microsoft’s business email and calendar system, part of Microsoft 365. They are about mailboxes, not websites. I build and host websites, and I do not run mailboxes.
Where I fit in
I design and host websites for small, local businesses. I do not run mailboxes or provide Exchange or IMAP. If you ask me to move your website, I change the website records and leave your mail records alone, and I can walk you through moving mailboxes to a host you choose. I’m not taking orders or payments yet, because my business registration is still being finalized, but free samples are open now.
Starting from scratch instead? See how a first website gets started.