Every new hosting plan with CanSpace includes a free website migration from your current host. This article explains what's covered, what's not, and how to get started.
Bottom line: sign up for a hosting plan, open a support ticket with your current host's login details, and we'll move your site for you — files, databases, email, and DNS — at no charge. Most migrations complete within a day, with zero downtime.
What's included
With any annual or longer hosting plan, we include migration of one website from your current host to ours:
- Website files — everything that makes up your site (HTML, WordPress, any PHP application)
- Databases — MySQL, PostgreSQL (on VPS/dedicated), or any other supported database the site uses
- Email accounts — mailboxes, forwarders, filters, and autoresponders
- Email message history — the actual contents of each mailbox (where technically possible)
- DNS setup — we configure the zone on our end to match what you have now
- SSL certificate — once DNS points to our servers, we issue a fresh SSL certificate for your domain
We also handle the cutover: our team can time the nameserver switch to minimize any possibility of downtime. In most cases visitors and email stay working throughout.
What's not included
- Multiple sites — the free migration covers one site. Additional sites are available at $75 each for a larger plan, or we can quote a bundled migration if you have several to move.
- Proprietary platforms that don't allow export — Wix, Squarespace, Weebly, and similar locked-in platforms don't let you download your site files. We can't migrate from those directly; the site has to be rebuilt. See our guides for migrating from Wix and migrating from Squarespace for the rebuild-based approach.
- Custom development work — if your site needs code changes, bug fixes, or redesign work as part of the move, that's beyond the scope of a migration. We're happy to refer you to a developer.
How to request your migration
- Sign up for a hosting plan at canspace.ca. Pick whichever plan fits the site you're moving — our Medium plan is the popular default for most WordPress and small-business sites.
- Open a support ticket from your client area once your plan is set up. Include:
- The domain you want migrated.
- Your current host's name (HostPapa, GoDaddy, Hostinger, etc.).
- Your login credentials for your current host's control panel or a cPanel backup file if you prefer to generate that yourself. Alternatively, cPanel / FTP / SSH credentials — whatever we need to access your site.
- Anything specific to know about the site — staging environment, custom database users, scheduled cron jobs, etc.
- We'll confirm receipt within a few minutes and start the migration. Our team lets you know when the migration is complete and staged at a temporary URL for you to verify.
- Once you've confirmed the copy looks good, we switch your nameservers (or you do — whatever you prefer) to point to our servers. The old host continues to serve traffic during the changeover window, so there's no downtime for most visitors.
Prefer to migrate yourself?
If you'd rather handle the move yourself, we have per-provider guides covering the self-serve process:
- Migrate from HostPapa
- Migrate from Web Hosting Canada (WHC)
- Migrate from GoDaddy
- Migrate from Bluehost
- Migrate from HostGator
- Migrate from Namecheap
- Migrate from Hostinger
- Migrate from Wix (rebuild required)
- Migrate from Squarespace (rebuild required)
- Migrate email from a non-cPanel provider (Gmail, Microsoft 365, Zoho, Hostinger, etc.)
Why move your site to us
A few things worth mentioning that clients typically like:
- All data stays in Canada. All of our servers are located in Canadian data centres, so your site and your visitors' data never cross the border. This matters for PIPEDA, for regulated industries, and increasingly for clients who just want to keep Canadian business on Canadian soil.
- Stable renewal pricing. The price you sign up at is the price you'll renew at — no promotional teaser rates that triple at renewal.
- Canadian support team. Not an overseas call centre, not a chatbot first. Tickets are answered by people here.
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Ready to move? Open a migration ticket
