The fastest path off DreamHost is our Free Transfer service: submit your DreamHost panel URL and login through the portal, and a migration specialist copies your files, database, and email while your DreamHost site keeps serving visitors. You do not need to export anything yourself or touch phpMyAdmin.
DreamHost accounts don't use cPanel, so there's no cPanel-to-cPanel shortcut here. Our team pulls your site through whatever panel DreamHost gives you (their custom control panel, SSH, or phpMyAdmin depending on your setup), so the access you hand over matters more than it would on a cPanel-to-cPanel move.
What to have ready
Go to Free Transfer in the portal sidebar under Goodies and fill in the form. For a DreamHost move, have these on hand:
- Panel URL and login. DreamHost's panel is at a different address than DreamHost.com's account dashboard. If your specialist needs different access to complete the move, they'll follow up on the ticket.
- Which DreamHost plan you're on. DreamHost mixes shared, VPS, and dedicated plans under one brand, so noting which one you have helps the specialist find your files and database faster.
- Database name, if it's non-obvious. DreamHost auto-generates database names that don't always match your domain. If you know it, drop it in the notes.
- Email, if you want it moved too. DreamHost hosts mail separately from web files in some plans. Note it in the form, and your specialist can advise on the best way to bring your mailboxes across.
The full walkthrough of the form itself, including how we handle the password field, is in Requesting your Free Transfer, step by step.
What stays live during the move
Your DreamHost site keeps answering visitor traffic the entire time your specialist is copying files and the database over. We don't touch your DNS or your domain's nameservers during the copy, so visitors keep reaching your DreamHost site the whole time. If you're also moving the domain itself, Free domain with hosting covers how that's handled alongside the transfer.
If your DreamHost site was actually built in Squarespace, Wix, or Shopify (some people register the domain at DreamHost but build the storefront on a hosted platform), the files aren't sitting on a server you can copy. Those platforms require an export-and-rebuild instead of a file transfer, and the process is different for each one. Mention which platform you're actually on in the notes field so your specialist routes it correctly instead of trying to find files that don't exist on the DreamHost server.
Money you already paid DreamHost
If you prepaid for a chunk of time at DreamHost that you won't use because you're moving now, don't write it off automatically. See Migration credit for unused hosting time for how to claim credit toward your Flashcloud invoices. This is separate from the free transfer itself. One is moving the site, the other is what happens to the money you already spent.
After the cutover
Once your specialist confirms the migration is complete, it's a good idea to change your DreamHost password and not leave the old login active on most hosting accounts. From there, Your first day with Flashcloud: a setup checklist walks through what to check on the new account.
If something looks off
If a plugin misbehaves after the copy, or your DreamHost site used a feature (like a custom cron job or a specific PHP module) that doesn't carry over cleanly, open a ticket from the portal. It goes straight to a real person, not a queue.