GoDaddy → Porkbun
What it saves, what actually moves, what you rebuild — and the thing that catches people.
What it costs, and what it saves
GoDaddy, as listed on godaddy.com/tlds/com-domain on 2026-10-03: a new .com is $0.01 for the first year with a 3-year purchase required, and additional years and renewals are $22.99/year, with taxes and ICANN fees excluded. Porkbun, as listed on porkbun.com/products/domains the same day: .com registration, renewal and transfer-in are each $11.08 with ICANN fees included, and WHOIS privacy is free. A .com transfer costs $11.08 and adds one year, so each .com saves about $11.91/year at renewal, before counting the ICANN fee GoDaddy adds on top.
Moves cleanly
The registration moves with its remaining time: in most cases a transfer adds one year to the current expiry, and the domain keeps its name and creation date. DNS records move cleanly if you copy them first - GoDaddy exports the zone as a BIND-format file (Domain Settings > DNS > Export Zone File), and Porkbun accepts a zone-file upload, which its guide calls the most reliable way to copy every record.
You rebuild
Anything GoDaddy sells on top of the domain stays a GoDaddy product and has to be re-pointed or replaced: Microsoft 365 or Professional Email from GoDaddy, website hosting or the site builder, SSL certificates, and paid Domain Protection. Email keeps working only if you re-create its MX, TXT and CNAME records at Porkbun; DNSSEC should be removed before the transfer and set up again afterwards.
What GoDaddy costs you today
.com renewals around $21.99/yr — roughly double the ~$10 wholesale cost — plus hosting plans whose renewal prices step up sharply after the intro term.
What actually holds you in
Domains are portable by design — ICANN transfer rules protect you — so the lock-in is mostly convenience: bundled email, DNS, hosting, and billing in one account make leaving feel bigger than it is.
What you are moving to
Porkbun charges roughly the same at renewal as at registration (~$11/yr for a .com), includes WHOIS privacy and SSL free, and has a clean interface with responsive human support. It is the registrar hobbyists and developers recommend to each other — and it pays Macrostack nothing, which tells you why it's our pick.
~$11/yr for .com — the renewal matches the intro price; free WHOIS privacy and SSL
Porkbun strengths
- Renewal price equals the intro price — no first-year bait
- Free WHOIS privacy on every domain, forever
- Clean interface and responsive human support
What you give up
- No phone support
- Hosting offerings are minimal — pair it with a separate host
The migration, step by step
- 1Check eligibility at GoDaddy: the domain must be more than 60 days past registration or a previous transfer and outside any 60-day lock you accepted after a contact change. Downgrade paid Domain Protection first; Porkbun's GoDaddy guide says it blocks the transfer.
- 2Export the zone file from GoDaddy (Domain Settings > DNS > Export Zone File) and list every MX, TXT (SPF, site verification), CNAME and SRV record, especially those from your GoDaddy Email & Office Dashboard.
- 3At Porkbun, set up the DNS zone before transferring: upload the zone file or let Porkbun scan records, confirm the email records, then switch the domain to Porkbun's four nameservers and wait for propagation (most changes within an hour, up to 48 hours).
- 4Delete any DNSSEC records, set the Transfer toggle at GoDaddy to unlocked (it can take up to 90 minutes to apply), then choose Transfer to Another Registrar to reveal the auth (EPP) code; GoDaddy turns Domain Privacy off at this step.
- 5Enter the domain and auth code at porkbun.com/transfer and pay $11.08 per .com; approving the pending transfer at GoDaddy usually completes it in about 30 minutes instead of the normal 5-7 days.
- 6Overlap and cutover: keep GoDaddy email or hosting running until mail and the website are confirmed working on Porkbun DNS, then cancel those GoDaddy products separately and turn on Porkbun auto-renew and WHOIS privacy.
The gotcha
Email is where this switch breaks. Microsoft 365 or Professional Email bought from GoDaddy is a separate subscription that does not move with the domain; if the domain sits on GoDaddy's nameservers and you transfer without first re-creating the MX, TXT and CNAME records from your Email & Office Dashboard at Porkbun, incoming mail stops. GoDaddy also turns Domain Privacy off as soon as you continue to the auth code, so your contact details lose that service until Porkbun's free privacy applies. And if you renew an expired domain at GoDaddy and transfer within 45 days, Porkbun warns the extra registration year may not be added.
When to stay on GoDaddy
Stay with GoDaddy if the domain is under 60 days old or inside a 60-day lock, if you prepaid a multi-year bundle (the $0.01 first-year offer requires 3 years), or if email, hosting, site builder and SSL all live in one GoDaddy account and a single bill and support line matter more to you than about $12 per .com per year. A reseller or team managing many domains through GoDaddy's tools may also find the transfer work outweighs the saving.
More Layer 3 migrations
Figures verified 2026-07-18 against vendor pricing pages. Prices change and migrations differ by estate — treat the cost delta as a starting model, not a quote. Rankings and recommendations here are merit-only; affiliate income never changes a verdict. See our methodology.