How to migrate your site to Maxinodes

Moving an existing website to Maxinodes is straightforward: we copy your site across, you test it on our servers, and then you switch your domain over when you are happy. This article explains who does the work, what we need from you, and how to keep downtime to a minimum.

Applies to: All plans.

The short version: Migration is free on every plan — Self-Managed and Managed alike — and we can do it for you. Your old site stays live until you change your nameservers, so the switch-over is on your terms.

Free on every plan

Migration is free on both product lines. What differs is only how much of the surrounding setup we handle:

Managed (Starter, Growth, Business, Enterprise): Migration is free and handled by us. We move your website, databases and email, and we configure your email DNS (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) for you. This is part of the "Hosting, handled" promise.
Self-Managed (Lite, Plus, Pro): Migration is free here too — just ask and we will do it for you. Self-Managed is self-serve, so you can also migrate yourself using the steps below if you prefer.

Not sure which line you are on? See Self-Managed vs Managed hosting: which is right for you.

What we need from you

To migrate a site for you, please open a ticket in your client area (Support) and include as much of the following as applies:

The domain name you are moving.
cPanel-to-cPanel: your current host's cPanel login URL, username and password, or a full cPanel backup file.
WordPress (or other CMS): admin login, plus FTP/SFTP and database details, or hosting-panel access.
Email: whether you are bringing Professional Email (Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace) and how many mailboxes.
Your registrar login if you would like help pointing the domain, or confirmation that you will update the nameservers yourself.

The more access you give us up front, the faster and cleaner the move.

cPanel-to-cPanel migrations

If your current host also uses cPanel, this is the easiest case. We restore a full cPanel backup (or pull directly from your old host) onto your new account here. Files, databases, FTP accounts, subdomains and cron jobs come across together.

Note: We do not migrate mailboxes from a cPanel mail server, because Maxinodes does not host mailboxes on the hosting node. See "Email migration" below.

WordPress and other CMS sites

For WordPress (and similar platforms) we copy your files and your database, then update the configuration to run on our servers. Your site is tested on our infrastructure before you change anything live. Because we run LiteSpeed with LiteSpeed Cache, most WordPress sites are faster after the move with no extra work from you.

Email migration

Maxinodes does not host mailboxes on the hosting server — there is no cPanel webmail. Email is resold Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace, per seat. So "email migration" means one of two things:

You already use Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace: nothing moves with the website. You simply keep your existing MX record pointing at your current provider when you update DNS.
You want Professional Email from us: order seats in the client area store (the Microsoft 365 group or the Google Workspace group), or add the Add Professional Email add-on. You can then move your existing mail into the new mailboxes. On Managed, we provide guided email setup and configure your SPF, DKIM and DMARC records for you.

The exact email DNS values (MX, DKIM selectors, and so on) always come from the Microsoft 365 admin centre or the Google Workspace setup wizard — add them in the client area DNS manager, not in cPanel. See The DNS records your email needs (MX, SPF, DKIM, DMARC) and How to add Professional Email to your hosting.

Downtime and cutover

Nothing about a migration takes your live site down on its own. Your old site keeps serving visitors until you repoint your domain. The cutover works like this:

We migrate and test your site on our servers (reachable by a temporary preview before you switch).
When you are happy, point your domain at our nameservers at your registrar: ns1.maxinodes.com and ns2.maxinodes.com. See How to point your domain to Maxinodes (set your nameservers).
DNS changes propagate worldwide over a few hours (occasionally up to 24–48 hours). During this window some visitors see the old host and some see the new one, so keep both running until propagation finishes.
Free AutoSSL is issued automatically once your domain points to us, so HTTPS keeps working.

Result: Visitors reach your site on Maxinodes, your SSL certificate is in place, and you can decommission the old host.

Tip: To minimise the "split" window, lower your domain's DNS TTLs a day or two before cutover if your current host allows it, and switch over during a quiet period.

A few details to keep in mind:

Customer websites are served over both IPv4 and IPv6 (dual-stack). When your domain uses our nameservers, the zone we create contains both the A and the AAAA records for your domain, www, cpanel and ftp — you do not have to add anything, and AutoSSL (Let's Encrypt) covers both addresses.
If you are managing records manually instead of using our nameservers, add an A record to 185.185.49.198 and, if you want IPv6, an AAAA record to 2a00:7c80:0:286:c::10. See How to manage DNS records in your client area.