How to Migrate Hosting & Transfer Domain to Namecheap

Do you want to migrate your hosting and transfer your domain to Namecheap? You’re in the right place. In this tutorial, I will guide you step-by-step on how to do.

You have taken a wise decision to migrate your domain or hosting to Namecheap because it is an ICANN accredited, secure, fast, affordable, and one of the leading domain and hosting providers in the world. Apart from its amazing features and affordable cost, the thing that distinguishes Namecheap from other hosting providers is its user-friendly Live Chat Support 24/7.

How Hosting Migration & Domain Transfer Works?

Before you begin, let’s have a quick go through on how hosting account migration and domain transfer to Namecheap works.

Step 1 (Hosting Migration): Purchase a hosting plan on a Namecheap and then submit a hosting migration ticket to Namecheap. Namecheap will take a full backup of your current hosting account and migrate it to your purchased Namecheap hosting. All your website data will be restored there. During the migration process your website will remain up (live), it may go offline for 15 minutes.
Step 2 (Finalize the Hosting Migration): In order to finalize the hosting account migration, you have to connect your domain to Namecheap hosting. To do this you have to update the nameservers for your domain of current registrar with the Namecheap’s nameservers, that it will send you via an email. The nameservers are primarily used to point your domain name towards your hosting.
Step 3 (Domain Transfer): You have to repurchase your domain name on Namecheap by getting the domain’s authentication code from your current registrar. After repurchasing your domain on Namecheap you will submit a domain transfer ticket to Namecheap. It will send a request to your current domain registrar to release the domain. The domain transfer process takes 5 to 7 days.

NOTE: For your domain to be eligible for transfer it should be at least 60 days old with your current registrar (domain provider/domain host). The hosting migration and domain transfer with Namecheap do not put your website offline. It remains active (online) and the whole process occurs smoothly.

If you want to transfer ONLY your domain to Namecheap then jump to TOPIC 2, otherwise follow all the topics in the sequence.

How to Migrate Your Hosting to Namecheap
How to Transfer Your Domain to Namecheap
How to Update Your Namecheap cPanel Username and Password

01. How to Migrate Hosting to Namecheap

In this section, I will guide you on How to buy a hosting plan on Namecheap, How to submit your hosting account migration ticket to Namecheap, and How to connect your Namecheap hosting to your domain by updating its nameservers with the Namecheap nameservers.

First of all create a Namecheap account. If you already have a Namecheap account, simply Sign In.

Go to Namecheap Homepage.
If you want to login to your Namecheap account, click the SIGN IN tab located at top of the page and enter your Username and Password.
If you want to create a new Namecheap account click the SIGN UP tab, located at top of the page.
Enter a unique Username. Set a strong Password. Enter your First Name, Last Name, and Email Address.
Click the Create Account and Continue button. It will send you a verification email to confirm the ownership of your email address.

After you create a Namecheap account you will be able to access your Namecheap account.

Click the Hosting tab.
Choose your desired hosting type. For blogs and custom websites Shared Hosting is widely used because it is affordable and fulfills their requirements. The VPS Hosting and Dedicated Servers are special dedicating hostings used for corporate websites, podcasting, game servers, high-traffic websites, video websites, large eCommerce websites, live streaming websites, etc.
Here I am choosing Shared Hosting because I am migrating a WordPress blog. For WordPress blogs and websites you can also choose WordPress (Managed) Hosting, which is more expensive than the Shared Hosting, but offers more automation and features.

Choose the Datacenter location and Billing Cycle. A Datacenter is a location where Namecheap’s servers are physically located. Choose a datacenter location nearest to your main audience’s location. For example, your country is India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, China, or Australia, but your main traffic comes from America, the ideal datacenter location for your website would be US.
Depending on your website storage and traffic requirements choose a Shared Hosting plan. You can scroll-down the Shared Hosting page to view the detail features of each hosting plan.
Click the Get Started button to choose a plan.

Choose Datacenter location, billing cycle and shared hosting plan

Now you have to connect your domain to your hosting plan.

Select the the Existing Domain Name.
In the “Existing Domain Name” select the Your Third-Party Domain Name option. If you have already purchased a Namecheap domain and want to connect your hosting plan to it then select Your Namecheap Domain Name. Below you can see that this option is disabled because I don’t have a domain on Namecheap.
In the Find a domain name text field enter your domain name to which you want to connect the hosting plan. For example, if I want to migrate my blog Meer’s World to Namecheap then I will enter my domain name “meersworld.net”.
Click the Connect to Hosting button.

Select the the Existing Domain Name. In the "Existing Domain Name" select the Your Third-Party Domain Name option, and then click the Connect to Hosting.

You can see that the domain is Connected to hosting plan. Click the Add to Cart button.

If you have a Namecheap promo code enter it in the Promo Code field and click the Apply button. It will add a discount to your total. Find the latest Namecheap Promo Codes and Deals.
Click the Confirm Order button.

Click the Confirm Order button. You can also add a namecheap promo code.

Select your Payment Method, provide the details and click the Continue button. Namecheap offers Credit Card, PayPal, and Account Funds payment methods.

Select your Payment Method, provide the details and click the Continue button

Tick the Terms and Agreements and click the Pay Now button.

Tick the Terms and Agreements and click the Pay Now button

Namecheap will send you a Welcome Email with the details of your Hosting Package and cPanel. The Hosting Package details include Hosting Plan name, Main Domain name, Start Date, Server hostname, and IP address.

Welcome Email from Namecheap with hosting package details

CPanel (Control Panel) is the control center of your hosting account where you can upload/edit/delete files, add email accounts, edit settings, manage database, take website backups, and much more.

The cPanel details include: cPanel URL, cPanel username, and cPanel password.
The information i.e. Hosting Plan name, Domain Name, cPanel username, and cPanel password will also be used in the below steps while submitting the Hosting Migration Ticket to Namecheap.

Submit a Hosting Migration Ticket to Namecheap

You have successfully purchased a hosting plan on Namecheap, now it is time to submit Hosting Migration ticket to Namecheap so that they will migrate your hosting account to Namecheap hosting.

Go to Namecheap Homepage.
Hover the mouse over Transfer to US tab and click Migrate Hosting.

Hover the mouse over Transfer to US tab and click Migrate Hosting.

Click the Open a ticket link on “Hosting Migration to Namecheap” page.

Click the Open a ticket link on "Hosting Migration to Namecheap" page.

Fill the required ticket details as I have mentioned with the arrows and submit.

General Information

In the First and Last Name* enter your first and last name.
In the Email* enter your email address. Use the same email address that you have used to create the Namecheap account.

Account Ownership Verification

In the Account Username enter your Namecheap account’s username that you have created in the first step.
In the Support Pin paste a support pin to speed up your request validation. Click the click here link to get a Support Pin.

User Ticket Creation (Hosting Transfers)

In the Third-party (Source) Hosting Account Credentials:* you have to provide the cPanel credentials of your current(old) hosting (where your website is hosted) NOT Namecheap’s. Using these credentials Namecheap team will access your cPanel account and migrate your hosting account to Namecheap hosting.

In the Control Panel URL: paste your cPanel URL.
In the Domain/Hostname: paste the URL of your domain (website).
In the IP Address: enter the IP Address of your domain (website). You can find the IP address of your domain through different ways such as (1) Via CMD (2) Via WhatIsMyIP.com. Go to WhatIsMyIP.com and paste the full URL of your domain in the Domain URL field like “https://www.example.com”. It will return your Domain Server IP.
In the Username: enter your cPanel Username.
In the Password: enter your cPanel Password.

In the Namecheap (Destination) Hosting Account Details (if any):* you have to provide the details of Namecheap hosting that you have purchased.

In the Package: enter the name of your hosting plan that you have purchased like “Shared Stellar Plus”, “Shared Stellar”, “Stellar Business”, etc . Namecheap also sends you the name of Package in the Welcome Email.
In the Domain/hostname enter your domain (website URL) like “example.com”.
In the Username enter your Namecheap cPanel Username.
In the Password enter your Namecheap cPanel Password.

Your Message

In the Subject* enter the purpose of the ticket like, “Hosting migration to Namecheap”.
In the Body* enter the message that you want to tell about the migration to Namecheap. You can also mention at what time you want migration to be done.

Tick the “By using this service, you provide explicit consent for Namecheap……..”.
Tick the Captcha, “I’m not a robot”.
Click the Submit button.

Fill the hosting migration ticket details

After submitting the ticket you will receive an email from Namecheap confirming the receipt of your ticket. It contains Ticket ID, Subject, Department, Type, Status, and Priority.

Connect Namecheap Hosting to Your Domain

Once the migration is done you will receive two emails from Namecheap (1) Email containing your Namecheap cPanel’s updated Username and Password (2) Confirmation email that your hosting account has been restored/migrated to Namecheap.

In the second email you will also be asked to finalize the transfer/migration of your Hosting Account by connecting your domain to Namecheap hosting by updating its nameservers, that they will provide you in the email.

What does connecting your domain to Namecheap hosting means? Your hosting account is migrated to Namecheap, but not your domain. Your domain is still pointing to your old hosting account. You can make your domain to point to Namecheap hosting instead of old hosting by updating its nameservers.

The nameservers are primarily used to point your domain name towards your hosting. They also help your website URLs to connect with a server IP address in a human-friendly way.

The Namecheap nameservers will be similar to these:

dns1.namecheaphosting.com
dns2.namecheaphosting.com

Login to your current(old) hosting (registrar) where your domain is hosted and update its nameservers with Namecheap nameservers. Every hosting has different settings/method to update domain nameservers. If you don’t know how to update/change nameservers go to your hosting support section and read the relevant documentation.

Below, I have shown how to update the nameservers of a domain powered by WHM-powered hosting.

Login to your old hosting account.
Click the domain Settings icon.
Click the Manage Nameservers option.

Click the domain Settings icon and then Click the Manage Nameservers option.

Select the “Use custom nameservers” option and replace the old nameservers with Namecheap nameservers that Namecheap will provide you in the email.
Click the Change Nameservers button.

Do remember that it takes sometime for updated nameservers to propagate worldwide. Normally they propagate quickly, within few minutes.

Select "Use custom nameservers" option and replace the old nameservers with Namecheap nameservers that Namecheap will provide you in the email.

After updating the nameservers send an email reply to Namecheap Support with reference to Ticket ID that you have updated the domain nameservers. They will respond accordingly.

You have successfully migrated your hosting account to Namecheap and connected your domain to it. In the next section, I will guide you on how to transfer your domain to Namecheap.

02. How to Transfer Domain to Namecheap

In this section, I will guide you step-by-step on How to repurchase your domain on Namecheap, and then How to submit a Domain Transfer Ticket to Namecheap.

Get Domain Authorization Code

Before you repurchase your domain on Namecheap you have to do two things (1) Unlock your domain (2) Get the authorization code from your current(old) registrar (domain host). The authorization code is used for the security purpose. It verifies that you’re the real owner of the domain.

Send an email to your domain registrar’s Sales Department and ask them to issue your domain authorization code. Once they issue your domain authorization code it will also be unlocked. The authorization code will be used in the next section.

Domain authorization code in order to transfer to namecheap

Repurchase Your Domain on Namecheap

Since you have unlocked your domain and got its authorization code, now it is time to repurchase your domain on Namecheap.

Go to Namecheap Homepage and SIGN IN to your Namecheap account. If you don’t have a Namecheap account click the SIGN UP link and Create an Account.

Go to Namecheap Navigation and hover mouse over Transfer to Us tab.
Click the Transfer Domains option.

Go to Namecheap Navigation and hover mouse over Transfer to Us tab. Click the Transfer Domains option

Enter your domain name like “example.com”.
Click Transfer.

Enter your domain name like "example.com" and Click Transfer.

Namecheap will also verify whether your domain is eligible to be transferred or not. If it is eligible you will see a message, “Congratulations! Your domain example.com is eligible for transfer”.
The REGISTRAR LOCK tells you the status of your domain whether it is locked or not.
In the AUTHORIZATION CODE paste/enter the authorization code that you have got from your domain registrar. Click the VERIFY AUTH CODE button. If it is correct you will see a Green Tick. The add to cart button will also be enabled.
Click the add to cart button.

Enter the authorization code and click add to cart button

Click the View Cart button.

Enable Domain Privacy*. It is a free service.
Add SSL and Premium DNS. They are important for the security and speed of your website. Also enable AUTO-RENEW for all the services.
Find the latest Namecheap Promo Codes and Deals, and add in the Promo Code field, if available.
Click the Confirm Order button.

Enable domain privacy, add SSL and premium DNS, promo code and click the Confirm Order button.

Select a Payment Method and enter the details.
Click the Continue button.

Select a Payment Method and enter the details. Click the Continue button.

Click the Pay Now button.

Your order will be processed.

If your payment is verified, it will show you the Purchase Summary.
Now go to your Namecheap account and check the status of your domain transfer.

If your payment is verified, it will show you the Purchase Summary.

On the Dashboard and Domain List section you can check the status of your domain transfer.
Initially you will see a message, “Awaiting email confirmation“. Namecheap sends an email to your domain registrar to release your domain so that it will be transferred to Namecheap.
After your domain registrar confirms the email, the status will be changed, as shown in the next step.

On the Dashboard and Domain List section you can check the status of your domain transfer.

After the email confirmation from your domain registrar(host) you can see the message under your domain on Namecheap Dashboard that, “Domain is with another registrar. Awaiting release from previous registrar”.
It will take 5 to 7 days for your domain to be transferred to Namecheap. In the next sub-section, I have guided on what you have to do after your domain is transferred to Namecheap.

Domain is with another registrar. Awaiting release from previous registrar

Things To Do After Domain is Transferred to Namecheap

After your domain is transferred to Namecheap you will get a Congratulation email “Domain Transfer Complete“.

You will receive congratulation email "Domain Transfer Complete" from Namecheap.

After this email you will get another email from Namecheap with the title “IMMEDIATE VERIFICATION required for your domain“. You have to verify your email address and agree to the Registration Agreement.

Scroll-down to the email content and click the link that says, “Click here to verify your email address and agree to the Registration Agreement“. After you click the link your email address will be verified.

Scroll-down to the email content and click the link that says, "Click here to verify your email address and agree to the Registration Agreement"

Now login to your Namecheap account. You will see a message under your domain, “You have 15 days left to verify contact info“.

Click the VERIFY CONTACTS button. Your contact info will be verified.
Refresh the page, the notification under your domain will be disappeared and you will see MANAGE button instead of VERIFY CONTACTS.

Click the VERIFY CONTACTS button. Your contact info will be verified.

The last thing you have to do is to activate the SSL(Positive SSL), and Premium DNS (If you have purchased). Contact the Namecheap Live Support and ask them to active SSL and Premium DNS for you.
Activating Premium DNS can be bit confusing for a non-technical person. Firstly, you have to enable the Premium DNS from your domain’s Manage settings, and then add HOST RECORDS on Advanced DNS by copying them from your Namecheap cPanel (Domain Zone Editor). Read the Namecheap’s guide on activating Premium DNS and add Host Records.
Below you can see that all the services are activated.

activate the SSL(Positive SSL), and Premium DNS fro your domain

03. Update Namecheap cPanel Username & Password

In the Hosting Migration ticket you have provided the credentials of your cPanel account i.e. Username and Password to Namecheap. Though Namecheap takes care of your privacy, but it is still important to create a new password.

Login to your Namecheap cPanel account.
Enter your Username and Password.
Click the Log In button.

Enter your Namecheap cPanel username and password

On your cPanel account go to top-right corner and click the Downward Arrow associated with your Username.
Click the Password & Security.

Click the downward arrow and click the Password & Security.

Enter the Old (Current) Password of your Namecheap cPanel account.
Enter a New Password or click the Password Generator to create a secure new password for you.
Save the New Password in your computer.
Click the Change your password now button.

Enter Old password of your Namecheap cPanel account and Enter New password.

Final Thoughts

So it was all about migrating your hosting and transferring your domain to Namecheap. I hope that this guide would have helped you to do things smoothly with great ease. If you have any confusion or issues related to migration contact Namecheap Support via their Live Chat or submit a Support Ticket.

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