Moving from IONOS

Moving from IONOS to UK cPanel hosting

Moving from IONOS means moving three things: the website files and database, the mailboxes, and the domains. We copy the first two to our servers in Manchester for free while your IONOS package keeps running. The domains can follow whenever suits you. Hosting starts at £2.99 a month, the same price at renewal.

Ask us to move your website See hosting plans

WebHostGB isn't connected with IONOS. The IONOS steps below come from the IONOS help centre.

Before you start

What to check in your IONOS account first

IONOS groups products into contracts. Knowing what sits in yours, and when it ends, makes the rest straightforward.

Your contract

Know what you're moving

Which domains, web hosting and email are in each IONOS contract
When each contract term ends, as that's when a cancellation takes effect
Whether the site is on IONOS web hosting or made in a website builder
Whether your email is IONOS mail, Microsoft Exchange or something else

Your access

Get the logins ready

An SFTP user for your webspace, or the details to create one
The name, user and password of each database the site uses
The password for every mailbox you want to keep
Any .com registered in the last 60 days, which can't move yet

How the move works

Moving from IONOS, step by step

Copy first, switch second, cancel last. Cancelling too early is the one mistake that’s hard to undo.

01
Choose a hosting plan
Web hosting from £2.99 a month or WordPress hosting from £3.99. Every plan has cPanel.
02
Open a migration ticket
Send your SFTP login, database details and mailbox passwords in a support ticket. Don’t send them by ordinary email.
03
We copy, you preview
We move the files, databases and mail across. You preview the site on our server while IONOS keeps serving visitors.
04
Switch the domain
Point the domain at our nameservers, or transfer it to us. Downtime is usually a few minutes.
05
Cancel the IONOS contract
Only after the site, email and any domain transfers are finished. Moving a domain away doesn’t end the contract on its own.

Domains

Moving a .co.uk or .uk away from IONOS

At IONOS, a .uk domain is released by changing its IPS tag in the Renewal & Transfer page. IONOS says to start the transfer with the new company before you change the tag, so the order matters:

Order the transfer with us first. Start a transfer in our billing area. A .co.uk or .uk is £8.01 a year, whether you register, renew or transfer it.
Ask us for our IPS tag by support ticket. We give it out that way rather than publishing it.
In IONOS, open Domains, then Renewal & Transfer. Select the domain and click Change IPS tag.
Enter our tag and click Save. IONOS then releases the domain and the transfer starts.

The domain keeps its nameservers when it moves, so your website and email carry on as they are. If the tag is refused or the domain doesn’t appear, see how to transfer a UK domain with an IPS tag.

Moving a .com away from IONOS

IONOS locks .com, .net and .org domains against transfer by default, so there are two settings to change, both on the same page:

In Domains, open Renewal & Transfer and select the domain.
Switch off Domain transfer lock.
Click Show Authorisation Code. IONOS notes the code can take a few minutes to appear.
Order the transfer with us and enter the code. A .com is £12.72 a year.

IONOS follows the ICANN rule that a .com must have been registered in your name for at least 60 days before it can move.

Your IONOS contract doesn’t end with the transfer

This catches people out. IONOS’s help says that a domain moving away doesn’t cancel the contract it was in, and you may still be billed. Cancel the contract yourself once everything has moved. Cancel it after the transfer, not before: IONOS says that when a cancelled domain reaches the end of its term, the email and other services connected to it stop working.

Moving your IONOS email

IONOS mailboxes can be read over IMAP. The IONOS help centre gives the incoming server as imap.ionos.co.uk on port 993, with your full email address as the username. That’s what we, or your email app, use to copy the messages.

Create each address on your new hosting, spelled the same. See how to create an email account.
Send us each address and its password in a support ticket and we copy the mail for free. Or copy it yourself by dragging folders in Outlook or Thunderbird, as our guide on moving your email describes.
Leave the MX records at IONOS until the copy is finished and the new mailboxes are ready to receive.

Forwarding addresses at IONOS aren’t mailboxes, so there’s nothing in them to copy. Make a note of where each one forwards to, and set them up again with email forwarding in cPanel.

If your email is on Microsoft Exchange or Microsoft 365 rather than IONOS mail, you can keep it and host your website with us. We’ll keep its records in your DNS. Our guide on using Microsoft 365 with your domain shows what they look like. Or move the mail to our business email, from £2.99 a month.

Your website

What we need to move an IONOS website

IONOS’s help describes two parts to a hosting backup: the webspace files over SFTP and the database from phpMyAdmin. That’s what we copy.

SFTP for the files

In IONOS, go to Hosting, then SFTP & SSH, and open the user to see its connection details. If there isn’t one, create an SFTP user and send us the login.

Database access

Send us the database name, user and password, or export the database yourself. IONOS says phpMyAdmin comes with all its web hosting packages: pick the database, click Export and keep the SQL format.

Sites from a website builder

A site made in a website builder lives on that system and can’t be copied as files. Rebuild on WordPress hosting or let us build a new one. Domains and email still move.

During the switch

Keeping email working while you leave IONOS

The safest order is: mailboxes created here, mail copied, then the domain switched, then IONOS cancelled.

Don’t switch the nameservers before the mailboxes exist here. Once the domain points at us, new mail is delivered to our server.
Do a final check of the IONOS inboxes a day or two after the switch. Mail sent in the gap can land there. Ask us to copy again if there’s much.
Download anything you want to keep before the contract ends. IONOS keeps its own automatic backups for 14 days, so don’t rely on those after you leave.
Moving email only? Change the MX records instead of the nameservers. Our guide on changing MX records covers it.

Sources, checked November 2026

IONOS Help: Transferring a .uk domain from IONOS to another provider (changing the IPS tag)
IONOS Help: Transferring a domain from IONOS to another provider
IONOS Help: Still a customer after a domain transfer away from IONOS
IONOS Help: What happens after domain cancellation
IONOS Help: IONOS Mail: server details for IMAP, POP3 and SMTP
IONOS Help: Connection details for FTP/SFTP in IONOS web hosting
IONOS Help: Backing up MySQL/MariaDB databases with phpMyAdmin
IONOS Help: Manually back up webspace and databases

Questions

Questions about moving from IONOS

Where do I change the IPS tag for my .co.uk at IONOS?

In Domains, open Renewal & Transfer, select the domain and click Change IPS tag. Enter our tag, which we give you by ticket, and save. Order the transfer with us first.

Where is the auth code for my .com?

On the same Renewal & Transfer page. Select the domain, switch off Domain transfer lock, then click Show Authorisation Code.

Will IONOS stop charging me once my domain has moved?

Not necessarily. IONOS says a transfer away doesn’t cancel the contract. Cancel it yourself once the move is complete.

Should I cancel IONOS before or after moving?

After. If a domain is cancelled and reaches the end of its term, IONOS disconnects the email and other services using it.

Can you move my site if my IONOS hosting has no cPanel?

Yes. We copy the files over SFTP and the database from its export, and set them up in your cPanel account with us. It’s free on every plan.

Can you move my IONOS email with the old messages?

Yes. Give us each address and password and we copy the mail over IMAP. Forwarding addresses have no mail in them, so we just set them up again.

Do I need to move my domain at all?

No. You can keep it at IONOS and point its nameservers at us. Just don’t cancel the IONOS contract that holds it.

Will my hosting price go up after a year?

No. Our prices include VAT and stay the same at renewal. No contract, and a 60-day money-back guarantee.

More about moving your website, domain and email

Move to us

Move from IONOS to UK cPanel hosting

Web hosting from £2.99 a month, the same at renewal. We copy your files, databases and mailboxes while your IONOS package keeps running, then you switch.

No contract · 60-day money-back guarantee · Servers in Manchester