Transferring a domain from Bluehost to GoDaddy takes about five to seven days and requires unlocking your domain, grabbing an authorization code, and completing a purchase on GoDaddy’s end. The process is straightforward, but a few eligibility rules and DNS details can trip you up if you’re not prepared. Here’s exactly how to do it.
Check That Your Domain Is Eligible
Before you start, make sure your domain qualifies for transfer under ICANN’s rules. A transfer will be denied if your domain was registered less than 60 days ago, was transferred to Bluehost from another registrar within the last 60 days, or had a registrant change (your name, organization, or registrant email address) within the past 60 days. That last rule catches people off guard: if you recently updated the contact name or email on your domain’s WHOIS record, Bluehost is required to lock it for 60 days unless you opted out of that lock before making the change.
Your domain also needs to be at least 60 days away from its expiration date. If it’s close to expiring, renew it at Bluehost first, then transfer. The extra registration time carries over to GoDaddy.
Unlock Your Domain at Bluehost
Bluehost applies a registrar lock to every domain by default, which prevents unauthorized transfers. You need to turn this off before GoDaddy can pull the domain over.
Log in to your Bluehost portal and click “Domains” in the left menu. If you have multiple domains, select the one you want to transfer. Look for the registrar lock or transfer lock toggle on the domain management panel and switch it off. Give it a few minutes to take effect.
Get Your Authorization Code
The authorization code (also called an EPP code or auth code) is a one-time password that proves you’re authorizing the transfer. Here’s how to get it from Bluehost:
- From your domain management panel, click the Move & Access tab in the top menu.
- Click Request Auth Code.
- Select a reason for the transfer and click Continue.
- On the confirmation pop-up, click Continue With Transfer, then Send Auth Code.
Bluehost sends the code to the registrant email address on file for the domain, not the general email on your Bluehost account. If you’re not sure which email that is, check the domain’s contact information in the management panel before requesting the code. If that email address is outdated, update it first, but keep in mind that changing it may trigger a 60-day transfer lock.
Start the Transfer on GoDaddy
Once you have the auth code, head to GoDaddy’s domain transfer page and search for your domain name. GoDaddy checks whether the domain is unlocked and shows a green status bar if everything looks good. If it still shows as locked, wait a few minutes and try again.
Enter your authorization code in the field provided. Once both the unlock status and auth code sections show green, click Continue. GoDaddy will offer optional domain protection plans. You can add one or skip it.
Then complete checkout. GoDaddy’s current transfer pricing for .com domains is $0.01 for the first year with a required three-year purchase, with additional years at $22.99 each. That transfer fee includes a one-year extension added to whatever registration time you have left at Bluehost. So if your domain had eight months remaining, you’d have one year and eight months of registration after the transfer completes.
Approve the Transfer
After you pay, GoDaddy initiates the transfer request with Bluehost. You’ll receive a confirmation email from GoDaddy. In many cases, you’ll also get an email from Bluehost asking you to approve or deny the transfer. Approve it to speed things up. If you don’t respond, the transfer typically completes automatically after five days, since Bluehost will release the domain once the waiting period passes.
The entire process usually wraps up within five to seven days. You can check the status on GoDaddy’s transfers page at any time.
Keep Your Website and Email Running
A domain transfer only moves your domain registration from one registrar to another. It does not move your website files, your hosting account, or your email service. If your site is hosted at Bluehost and you want to keep it there, it will continue working after the transfer as long as your DNS records stay the same.
The key records to watch are your A record (which points the domain to your web server), your MX records (which route email to the correct mail server), and any CNAME records you use for subdomains or third-party services. When the domain arrives at GoDaddy, your existing DNS records should carry over. But it’s worth writing down your current records before the transfer starts, just in case you need to re-enter them manually on GoDaddy’s DNS management page.
DNS changes can take up to 48 hours to propagate across the internet, so brief periods of inconsistency are possible during the transition. If your email runs through a service like Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, it will keep working seamlessly as long as the MX records pointing to those servers remain unchanged. The most common cause of downtime during a transfer is accidentally resetting DNS records to default values at the new registrar, so double-check your settings once the transfer completes.
After the Transfer
Once the domain shows as active in your GoDaddy account, re-enable the registrar lock to protect against unauthorized transfers. Verify that your WHOIS contact information is correct and that your DNS records are resolving properly. You can test this by simply loading your website and sending a test email to an address on your domain.
If you were using Bluehost’s free domain registration that came bundled with a hosting plan, your hosting account at Bluehost remains active. You’ll just manage the domain name itself through GoDaddy going forward while your site continues to live on Bluehost’s servers. If you also plan to move your hosting away from Bluehost, that’s a separate process involving migrating your website files and databases to a new host.