How to transfer a domain to another registrar

Transferring a domain to another registrar takes five steps: unlock the domain at your current registrar, get the AuthInfo code (also called the auth, EPP, or transfer code), confirm the contact email on file reaches you, start the transfer at the new registrar using that code, and approve the confirmation. Once you’ve confirmed, the transfer completes within about five calendar days. The “price” you pay isn’t really a fee, either — nearly every gTLD transfer bundles a one-year renewal at the new registrar’s standard rate, and that year is added to your existing expiration date. You’re mostly pre-paying time you would have bought anyway.

How does a domain transfer actually work?

ICANN standardizes the process for generic TLDs like .com, so it looks the same whether you’re leaving GoDaddy for Porkbun or Namecheap for Cloudflare. Five steps, in order:

1. Unlock the domain at your current registrar. Look for the status clientTransferProhibited — the standard registrar lock that blocks outbound transfers — and turn it off. (New terms? The domain glossary covers registrar vs. registry, EPP codes, and lock statuses in plain language.)

2. Get the AuthInfo/EPP code. Most registrars let you generate or reveal it yourself in the control panel. If yours doesn’t, ICANN requires it to hand the code over within five calendar days of your request.

3. Make sure the registrant email on file actually reaches you. The confirmation email — formally a Form of Authorization, or FOA — goes to the registrant contact, and WHOIS privacy services can silently swallow it if the proxy address doesn’t forward. Many registrars recommend temporarily disabling privacy before you start and re-enabling it afterward, though some handle transfers fine with privacy left on. Details in our guide to GDPR, WHOIS privacy, and your domain.

4. Initiate the transfer at the gaining registrar. You’ll enter the domain, paste the AuthInfo code, and pay for the bundled renewal year at checkout.

5. Approve and wait. The gaining registrar asks for your go-ahead, and your current registrar confirms the request on its side. Once you’ve confirmed, the transfer completes within five calendar days unless the losing registrar affirmatively denies it. If your old registrar simply doesn’t respond, the default is approval — silence can’t hold your domain hostage.

When can’t you transfer yet?

ICANN imposes three separate 60-day locks on gTLDs — hitting one is the most common reason a transfer stalls:

• 60 days after initial registration. A newly registered domain cannot move to another registrar in its first 60 days, and the lock can’t be waived. It’s the classic trap for impulse-buyers who immediately want to consolidate at their usual registrar — covered in the first hour after registering a domain.
• 60 days after a previous transfer. Just moved the domain? It waits another 60 days before it can move again.
• 60 days after a change of registrant. Materially changing the registrant’s name, organization, or email triggers its own 60-day transfer lock — unless you opted out before making the change. Registrars may offer that opt-out but don’t have to, and it can’t be applied retroactively.

One update worth knowing: ICANN’s board approved shortening the post-registration and post-transfer locks from 60 to 30 days (Board resolution, June 2026), but as of mid-2026 the change is not yet in effect — the 60-day lock still applies in practice, and no go-live date has been announced. The policy is now in ICANN’s implementation phase — registrars have asked for up to 18 months of runway once details are final — so don’t plan around the shorter window yet.

The other timing caution is expiration. Counting prep and approval, a transfer can take up to a week end-to-end, and some registrars and registries won’t process one in the final days before expiry — the exact cutoff varies, so check yours. If the domain expires in the next few weeks, renew first, then transfer.

What does a transfer cost?

The honest answer: a year of renewal, not a fee. For nearly all gTLDs, the transfer price is the gaining registrar’s normal one-year renewal rate, added on top of the time you already have — up to a total term cap of ten years. (A domain with nine-plus years banked gains little from the bundled year — you can’t stack past the cap by transferring repeatedly.) A few registrars exclude certain ccTLDs from the bundled year, so check the terms for non-gTLDs.

Where registrars differ is what that renewal year costs. Cloudflare Registrar’s model is at-cost — wholesale registry pricing with no markup, plus free WHOIS privacy. Budget registrars like Namecheap and Porkbun listed .com transfers in the low-$11 range as of July 2026, bundling the year and free WHOIS privacy — a checked-at-the-time snapshot, not a quote, and Namecheap’s figure was explicitly a sale price. GoDaddy’s transfer pricing is promo-driven, so check the live checkout price rather than any blog post, including this one. For the fuller picture of at-cost versus marked-up registrars — and which one to move to — see the best registrars for indie hackers.

One common worry: if you transfer shortly after an auto-renewal, the renewal charge at your old registrar is reversed (the auto-renew grace period is typically around 45 days), and the transfer still adds its year at the new registrar. It feels like losing the renewal you just paid for; the net effect is usually neutral.

Can a registrar refuse to let your domain go?

Only for reasons on ICANN’s list. Under the Transfer Policy, a registrar may deny a transfer for: evidence of fraud, a pending UDRP dispute, a court order, a reasonable dispute over the identity of the registrant or administrative contact, non-payment for a previous registration period (the domain goes on Registrar Hold — see our clientHold guide), an express written objection from the transfer contact, or the domain being inside the post-registration or post-transfer 60-day window.

Just as important is what they may not deny for: non-payment of a future registration period, a lack of response from you, or the domain merely sitting in lock status when you’re able to remove the lock yourself. A registrar also can’t use transfer denial as leverage to collect payment for anything beyond unpaid prior or current registration fees. If a transfer is denied, the registrar must tell both you and the gaining registrar why — and if the reason isn’t on the list, you can escalate through ICANN’s transfer-dispute channels. The system is genuinely tilted toward letting you leave.

What about .io, .de, or .eu domains?

Everything above is ICANN’s regime for generic TLDs. Country-code TLDs set their own transfer rules — the 60-day locks don’t automatically apply. It’s the same theme as country-code domain hacks: ccTLDs play by their own rules, for better and worse.

• .io is a ccTLD (British Indian Ocean Territory), not a gTLD, despite being marketed like one. It isn’t governed by ICANN’s Transfer Policy at all; your registrar’s .io-specific documentation is the authority.
• .de transfers go through DENIC’s own AuthInfo mechanism: the code is 8–16 characters and expires after 30 days, and transfers are blocked while a DISPUTE entry is active. No ICANN-style 60-day lock applies.
• .eu uses EURid’s Transfer Authorisation Code — 16 characters, valid for 40 days or until used — and you typically have five days to confirm the transfer before the request lapses. Suspended .eu domains generally can’t be transferred.

For any other ccTLD, go straight to the registry’s own transfer page rather than assuming the gTLD playbook applies.

Once the domain lands at its new home, the rest is housekeeping — re-check your DNS, reconnect your domain to your host, and confirm email on your domain still flows. And if a new project needs a new name, Domain Yoga turns one prompt into roughly 250 availability-checked, brandability-ranked ideas in seconds — so the next domain starts life at the registrar you actually want.