Bluehost uses cPanel for most of its hosting plans (Shared, VPS, Dedicated), so the move to CanSpace is a clean cPanel-to-cPanel restore — files, databases, email, and DNS zones come across intact. This article covers both the managed option and self-serve.
Option A: Let us handle it
- Sign up for a CanSpace hosting plan.
- Open a support ticket with your Bluehost cPanel URL, username, and password (or a pre-generated backup file).
- We handle the full cPanel-to-cPanel restore. Usually complete within a day.
Option B: Migrate yourself
Step 1: Sign up with CanSpace
Order a plan so your destination cPanel account exists.
Step 2: Generate a full backup from Bluehost
- Log in to your Bluehost account at my.bluehost.com.
- Click Advanced in the left sidebar — this opens Bluehost's cPanel interface.
- Search for backup and open Backup.
- Under Full Backup, click Download a Full Account Backup.
- Leave destination as Home Directory, click Generate Backup.
- When the
.tar.gzis ready, download it from the Backups Available for Download list.
Step 3: Send us the backup
Attach it to a ticket, share a download link, or upload to your new cPanel via File Manager. We restore it — typically within minutes for small accounts.
Step 4: Preview before switching DNS
Check the migrated site on a temporary URL before updating your nameservers — see How to preview your site before updating DNS.
Step 5: Update nameservers
In Bluehost, go to Domains → My Domains, click the domain, and update to the CanSpace nameservers from your "New Account Information" email. Propagation typically takes a few hours.
Bluehost-specific things to watch for
- MOJO Marketplace / SimpleScripts plugins. These are Bluehost-specific integration plugins that don't work off Bluehost. Safe to deactivate and delete after migration — they don't affect your actual site content.
- Jetpack-related redirects. Bluehost's Jetpack integration sometimes stores Bluehost-specific URLs. If you see odd redirects in wp-admin after migration, disconnect and reconnect Jetpack from WordPress.
- Cloudflare through Bluehost's panel. If you enabled Cloudflare via the Bluehost interface, the integration is tied to Bluehost's account. After migration, if you want to keep using Cloudflare, set it up directly at cloudflare.com — it's free, takes 10 minutes, and gives you more control.
Email migration
The cPanel backup covers email account configs and usually message history (for IMAP). After migration, update your email clients (Outlook, Apple Mail, phone) to use our server's hostname in place of Bluehost's. See device-specific email setup guides.
If your email is with a separate provider (Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, etc.), that's unaffected by the hosting migration — just make sure the MX records stay pointed to that provider when we set up your zone.
Common issues
- "Your account is suspended" message in Bluehost cPanel. Bluehost suspends accounts after you cancel; generate the backup before cancelling.
- Full backup option missing. On older or oversold Bluehost plans this can be disabled. Fall back to individual backups: Home Directory Backup, MySQL Database Backup, and each email account exported via cPanel's Email Deliverability or IMAP download.
- Site slower or broken on our servers. Usually a PHP version mismatch. Check Change your PHP version — set the domain to PHP 8.2 or 8.3 for modern WordPress.
Related articles
- What's included in our free website migration
- How to preview your site before updating DNS
- How do I transfer a domain to CanSpace?
Ready to leave Bluehost? Open a migration ticket
