How to Transfer a Domain to Hostinger (2026): Step-by-Step, ~15 Minutes

What a domain transfer actually is (and isn't)

Transferring a domain to Hostinger means moving the registration, the billing, renewal, and DNS management, from your current registrar (GoDaddy, Namecheap, Google-Squarespace, wherever) to Hostinger. Your website and email don't move anywhere. We've done this move ourselves with domains coming from GoDaddy and Namecheap into the same Hostinger account that runs our production sites, and the honest summary is: it's easy, but the order of operations matters. Do the checklist below first and the transfer is boring. Skip it and you can end up with broken email or a stalled transfer you can't diagnose.

Before you start: the 6-point checklist

Run through these before touching anything at Hostinger. Five minutes here prevents most transfer problems.

1. Check the 60-day rule. ICANN, the body that governs domain registrations, prohibits transfers within 60 days of the initial registration and within 60 days of a previous registrar transfer. Many registrars additionally lock the domain for 60 days after you change the registrant's name or email. If you're inside any of these windows, stop here and set a calendar reminder; no registrar can override this.
2. Make sure the domain isn't expired (or about to be). Transferring a domain that expires mid-transfer is the messiest edge case in this process. Hostinger's own prerequisites ask for at least 45 days since the last renewal and, ideally, at least 7 days left before expiry. Check both dates at your current registrar before you start. If expiry is close, renew at your current registrar first, then transfer. A transfer inside 45 days of a renewal can fail to extend the expiry date as expected.
3. Save your DNS records, all of them. Screenshot or export every A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, and TXT record from your current DNS panel. If your DNS is hosted at the registrar you're leaving, those records may not survive the move, and this backup is how you rebuild them in minutes instead of hours of guessing.
4. Unlock the domain. Every registrar ships domains with a transfer lock on (it's good anti-hijack protection). You'll turn it off in the steps below.
5. Verify your admin email works. Transfer approval emails go to the registrant/admin contact on the domain. If that's an old address you can't read, fix it first, and note that at many registrars, changing the registrant email triggers that 60-day lock. Check your registrar's policy before editing.
6. Check WHOIS privacy. Some registrars turn privacy off or require it off before they release a domain. GoDaddy turns Domain Privacy off during its transfer flow, and Hostinger lists disabled privacy as a requirement for transfers out. The gaining registrar then sees the real contact info. If your transfer stalls at verification, this is a common cause. Toggle privacy off, retry, and re-enable it at Hostinger afterwards (it's free there).

Step-by-step: transferring your domain to Hostinger

Here's the full walkthrough. Steps 1-6 happen at your current registrar, 7-9 at Hostinger, and step 10 after the transfer completes.

Step 1: Confirm eligibility

Older than 60 days since registration or last transfer, not expired, not inside a registrant-change lock. Covered above. We list it as step 1 because it's the first thing Hostinger's transfer checker will reject you on.

Step 2: Back up your DNS records

Open your current DNS zone and capture everything. Pay special attention to MX records (email), and TXT records for SPF, DKIM, and DMARC are the ones people forget, and they're why "the transfer broke my email" posts exist.

Step 3: Unlock the domain

At GoDaddy: Domain Portfolio → click the domain → Domain Settings → in the Transfer section, switch the lock toggle off.
At Namecheap: Domain List → Manage → Sharing & Transfer tab → in Transfer Out, click Unlock beside Domain Lock.
Other registrars bury it under names like "Transfer Lock" or "clientTransferProhibited", but it's always in domain settings somewhere.

Step 4: Get your EPP/auth code

The EPP code (also called auth code or transfer key) is a short password proving you control the domain.
At GoDaddy: Domain Settings → Transfer to Another Registrar → Continue with transfer, then verify your identity and select the authorization code. GoDaddy turns Domain Privacy off at this step and also emails the code to the registrant address.
At Namecheap: Sharing & Transfer tab → request the Auth Code, give a reason for the transfer, and Namecheap sends it to the registrant email, which can differ from your account email.
Treat the code like a password, and use it soon, because some registrars expire codes after a set period or regenerate them if you re-request.

Step 5: Disable DNSSEC (if enabled)

If your domain uses DNSSEC, the old cryptographic records will break validation once the transfer completes, and some registries reject the transfer outright. Turn DNSSEC off at your current registrar, transfer, then re-enable it at Hostinger. If you've never heard of DNSSEC, it's almost certainly off, so skip ahead.

Step 6: Double-check WHOIS privacy and admin email

One last look: admin email is readable, privacy is either supported for transfers by your registrar or temporarily off. Now you're done at the old registrar.

Step 7: Start the transfer at Hostinger

Log in to Hostinger hPanel (create an account if you don't have one), then go to Domains → Transfer domain in hPanel, or use Hostinger's domain transfer page. Enter your domain name and Hostinger checks eligibility and tells you immediately if the domain is locked, too new, or has DNSSEC issues.

Step 8: Enter the EPP code and pay

Paste the auth code exactly as you received it. Stray spaces from copy-paste are a common cause of "invalid code" errors, and Hostinger's help page says that if a code is rejected right after you unlock the domain, waiting a couple of hours and retrying is worth a go. Then pay the transfer fee. As of October 10, 2026, a .com transfer at Hostinger is listed at $9.99, about half its $19.99 one-year renewal. That's not a fee on top of nothing: ICANN requires transfers of gTLDs to include a one-year extension, so a domain expiring March 2027 will expire March 2028 after the move. Free WHOIS privacy is included. Other extensions vary, so check the exact quote for your TLD.

Step 9: Approve and wait (or skip the wait)

After payment, watch the admin email for a confirmation message and approve it if one arrives. Then the waiting: your old registrar has a release window, and if nobody acts, the transfer typically completes in 5-7 days (Hostinger says up to seven). Here's the trick most guides skip: GoDaddy says approving the transfer at its end can speed things up, so look for that option in your old registrar's transfer-out settings. Namecheap has up to 5 days to release the domain under ICANN policy. Your site stays online the whole time either way.

Step 10: Verify DNS after completion

When the domain appears in your Hostinger account, open its DNS zone and compare against the backup from step 2. Restore anything missing, especially MX and TXT records. Then re-enable WHOIS privacy and DNSSEC if you use it, send yourself a test email, and load your site. If everything matches, you're done, and future renewals happen in hPanel.

Do you even need to transfer?

If your only goal is to host your website on Hostinger, you don't need to transfer your domain at all. You can leave the registration at GoDaddy/Namecheap/wherever and simply change the nameservers to Hostinger's (ns1.dns-parking.com and ns2.dns-parking.com, shown in hPanel). That is a five-minute change at your registrar, costs nothing and has no 60-day rule. Add the domain to your Hostinger hosting plan first so it has a DNS zone, then allow up to 24 hours for the change to spread.

Transfer the registration when: you want one dashboard and one bill for domain + hosting, your current registrar's renewal pricing is painful (a .com renewal at Hostinger is $19.99/yr as of October 2026, compare yours), or you're consolidating a pile of domains. Just point nameservers when: you're inside the 60-day window, your domain renewal deal elsewhere is actually good, or you want to test Hostinger's hosting before committing the domain too. There's no performance difference between the two.

Transferring from Squarespace (including Google Domains)

Domains that were registered at Google Domains are now managed by Squarespace, so "transfer from Google Domains to Hostinger" starts in the Squarespace domains dashboard. Squarespace's own help page sets out these steps (read 15 October 2026):

1. Open the domains dashboard and select the domain.
2. Switch the Domain Lock toggle off. If you see "Can't unlock domain", a lock period is still running. If no toggle appears, go straight to the next step.
3. Click Request transfer code and confirm with your password or two-factor sign-in.
4. Squarespace emails the code to the domain's contact address. The sender is no-reply@squarespace.com and the subject is "Auth code for [yourdomain.com]". It should arrive within 24 hours. The registrant email can differ from the one you log in with, so check spam and the contact details if it doesn't show up.
5. Paste the code into Hostinger at step 8. If you request a second code, only the newest one works.

Squarespace says a transfer can take up to 15 days. For domains held by Squarespace Domains LLC or Squarespace Domains II LLC you get a 5-day window to reject the request, and if you do nothing the transfer is accepted once that window ends. Domains held by Tucows start after five business days unless you confirm sooner. A recent registration, a recent transfer in, or a recent change to the registrant's contact details can each keep the lock on, so do the 60-day check from the checklist first. Remove DNSSEC and screenshot your DNS records before you start, and don't delete MX records while you do.

Moving a domain out of Hostinger

Readers also land here wanting the reverse: Hostinger to another registrar, or a domain that sits in a different Hostinger account. Hostinger's help center gives the sequence (read 15 October 2026):

1. In the Hostinger dashboard open Domains and click Manage beside the domain.
2. In Domain Overview, switch the Transfer lock toggle off. All Hostinger domains are locked by default, and after you change the lock you have to wait 12 hours before you can switch it back.
3. In the same overview, find Authorization code and click Get code.
4. Turn privacy protection off, because Hostinger lists it as a requirement for the transfer to start.
5. Start the transfer at the new registrar and paste the code exactly as shown.

The same 60-day rule applies. A domain registered or transferred less than 60 days ago can only be unlocked after that date, and if the toggle snaps back to locked, unlocking isn't possible yet. .co.uk, .eu and .es domains have their own Hostinger transfer guides because their requirements differ, so read the one for your extension before you start. The receiving registrar may add its own conditions, so check its transfer page too.

Troubleshooting: when the transfer goes sideways

"Invalid auth code." It's usually a copy-paste issue, such as trailing whitespace or a truncated code. Re-copy carefully. If it still fails, request a fresh code from the old registrar (old codes can expire or get regenerated) and retry.

Transfer rejected for the 60-day lock. Nothing to fix. You're inside ICANN's window from registration, a prior transfer, or a registrant-info change. Wait it out and point nameservers at Hostinger in the meantime so your hosting isn't blocked.

Transfer stuck at "pending." First, check the admin email (and spam) for an unanswered approval message. Second, log in to the old registrar and look for an "approve transfer" option. Third, confirm the domain is actually unlocked, because some registrars re-lock after security events. If it's been over 7 days with all of that clean, contact Hostinger support with the domain name; they can see the registry-side status.

Domain expired before/during transfer. This is the messy one. An expired domain often can't transfer until it's renewed, and renewing during the redemption period usually adds a redemption fee on top of the renewal. If expiry is close, renew at the current registrar first, then transfer. The transfer's included year still stacks on top.

DNSSEC errors after completion. If your site suddenly won't resolve for some users post-transfer, stale DNSSEC records are the likely culprit. Remove the old DS records (or re-set DNSSEC fresh at Hostinger) and resolution recovers as caches expire.

FAQ: Hostinger domain transfers

How much does it cost to transfer a domain to Hostinger?

As of October 10, 2026, a .com transfer is listed at $9.99, about half a $19.99 one-year renewal. The fee isn't wasted: it adds a full year to your existing expiry date, and free WHOIS privacy is included. Other extensions vary, so check Hostinger's quote for your exact TLD.

How long does a domain transfer to Hostinger take?

Your active work is about 15 minutes. The registry side typically takes 5-7 days because the old registrar has a release window, but if your old registrar lets you approve the transfer (GoDaddy says approving can speed it up), approving shortens the wait.

Will my website go down during the transfer?

No. A transfer moves the registration, not DNS resolution. Your existing nameservers keep answering throughout. The only real risk is registrar-hosted DNS getting wiped after the move, which is exactly why we back up every record before starting and verify them after.

Will my email stop working?

Not if your MX records survive. Third-party email (Google Workspace, Microsoft 365) is unaffected mid-transfer. Email hosted at the registrar you're leaving is the danger case, because their mail service may end when the domain does. Save MX and TXT (SPF/DKIM) records before transferring and re-create them at Hostinger immediately after.

Do I lose the time left on my current registration?

No. For .com, .net, .org and other standard gTLDs, the transfer year stacks on top of your existing expiry date. A domain due to expire March 2027 expires March 2028 after transferring. Some country-code TLDs differ, but mainstream extensions lose nothing.

Can I transfer a domain I just registered?

Not yet. ICANN locks domains for 60 days after registration and after any previous transfer, and many registrars add a 60-day lock after registrant-info changes. No registrar can override it. Point your nameservers at Hostinger in the meantime if you need the hosting now.

Do I need Hostinger hosting to transfer my domain to Hostinger?

No. Hostinger's transfer help page lists unlocking, the EPP code and payment as the steps and doesn't make a hosting plan a prerequisite, and its transfer form lets you keep your existing nameservers. If you do host with Hostinger, keeping both in one hPanel account simplifies DNS, SSL, and renewals, which is the main reason to consolidate.

Should I transfer, or just change nameservers?

If you only want your site on Hostinger hosting, change nameservers. It's free and has no 60-day rule, though it can take up to 24 hours to spread. Transfer the registration when you want billing and DNS consolidated at Hostinger or your current registrar's renewal pricing is worse. See the section above for the full breakdown.

Bottom line

A Hostinger domain transfer is about 15 minutes of real work wrapped in a few days of registry waiting: back up DNS, unlock, grab the EPP code, start the transfer in hPanel, pay roughly a year's renewal (which extends your expiry, so nothing is lost), and approve the release at your old registrar, which can shorten the 5-7 day wait. Respect the 60-day rule, keep a copy of your DNS records, and the whole thing is uneventful, which is exactly what you want from anything touching your domain. And if all you actually need is Hostinger hosting, remember the honest shortcut: changing nameservers is free, takes five minutes to set and can take up to 24 hours to spread. If you're weighing Hostinger itself, our Hostinger vs GoDaddy comparison and best WordPress hosting guide cover how it performs on real production sites.