Request a Free Transfer from the portal sidebar and give our migration specialist your HostGator cPanel URL, username and password. Your HostGator site keeps serving visitors while we copy your files, databases and email over.
What to share with the migration team
HostGator runs standard cPanel, so the fastest path is your HostGator cPanel login (Panel URL, username, password) in the Free Transfer form. That single login gives the specialist access to your files and MySQL databases, so there's no need to hunt down separate FTP or database credentials.
To find cPanel at HostGator, sign in to the Customer Portal, open Hosting, select My Plans and click the cPanel button. The portal opens cPanel without asking for a password, so if you've never set one, reset it there first or mention it in the notes. Either way, don't paste the password directly into a public form field if you can avoid it. If you'd rather not put it in the form, use the secure-share panel on a support ticket instead: it lets you send a password with a link that self-destructs after 1 to 30 days.
Mention anything unusual about the HostGator account in the Notes field: a specific database name the site expects, a staging subdomain that shouldn't be copied, or a plugin (WordPress security plugins are common offenders) that tends to break when the domain or server changes underneath it.
What stays live, and what doesn't move automatically
Your HostGator hosting keeps answering visitor traffic for the entire migration. Nothing about DNS or nameservers changes until the copy is verified and you approve the cutover. You can preview the copy before changing DNS, and how long a migration takes gives typical timings.
Two things worth deciding upfront:
- Email. We move your mailboxes with their contents. If your email runs somewhere else, such as Google Workspace, tell the specialist so your MX records keep pointing there.
- Domain registration. If HostGator is also your registrar, you can keep the domain there and point its nameservers to ns1.flashcloud.com and ns2.flashcloud.com once the site is ready, or transfer it to Flashcloud. Every plan includes one free domain, by registration or transfer, and on yearly and 3-year plans an eligible domain then renews free while your plan is active. A domain registered in the last 60 days can't be transferred yet. The steps are in transferring a domain to Flashcloud. Move the site first and the domain second, so nothing goes offline in between.
Once the migrated site is live on Flashcloud and confirmed, go back into your HostGator account and change that cPanel password. Don't reuse it anywhere.
Don't lose the HostGator time you already paid for
If you prepaid HostGator for time you won't use, we match it with up to 6 free months on your new Flashcloud plan. Twelve months left at HostGator adds six, and three months left adds three. It applies to yearly and 3-year plans, and we need a recent HostGator invoice showing your plan and renewal date. It's separate from the free migration itself. Free months for unused hosting time explains how to send the invoice.
First time setting up your account?
If this migration is also your first task on Flashcloud, your first day with Flashcloud: a setup checklist covers the rest of the setup, security lockdown included, while the transfer runs in the background. If you're registering a new domain rather than transferring one, see free domain with hosting for how that works.
Before you cancel HostGator
- Check that your site, forms and email all work on Flashcloud, on your real domain.
- Download your own full backup from HostGator first. HostGator describes its backups as a courtesy, so don't count on them later.
- If your domain is registered at HostGator, transfer it or keep it renewed there, so it doesn't lapse with the hosting.
- Cancelling within the first year of a free HostGator domain? HostGator charges a non-refundable $17.99 domain fee.
- Keep your last HostGator invoice. You'll need it for the free months.
Still comparing hosts? Our HostGator alternatives guide compares five options on renewal price and what's included, and free migration shows everything we move for you.
When to open a ticket
Submit the Free Transfer form to start things moving, then use Support in the portal for anything that comes up mid-migration: a stuck HostGator login, a database the specialist can't locate, or questions about your free months before you cancel HostGator. These go to real people, not a queue.