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+--- Thread: Question Leaving cPanel: what is the smoothest migration path? (/Thread-question-leaving-cpanel-what-is-the-smoothest-migration-path)
Leaving cPanel: what is the smoothest migration path? - JAY - 10-07-2026
cPanel licence prices keep going up and I'm planning to move my sites to a free panel. For anyone who has done it: what's the smoothest way?
What has worked for most people:
- Pick the target panel first, based on what you actually use (do you need email on the server? which PHP versions?). See the comparison thread in this forum.
- Take full cPanel backups of each account (Backup Wizard), plus separate database dumps as a safety net.
- Check for an importer. Some panels can import cPanel backups directly; CyberPanel and HestiaCP have tools for this. Test with one small account first.
- For everything else, move manually: files with rsync, databases with mysqldump, then recreate email accounts and DNS records.
- Lower DNS TTL beforehand, test each site on the new server through your hosts file, then switch DNS.
- Email is the hardest part. Move mailboxes with an IMAP sync tool, and keep the old server running for a few days so nothing is lost while DNS updates.
Please share which panel you moved to and any problems you hit along the way.