How can I transfer a domain name to Gandi?

When you transfer a domain name to Gandi, you will benefit from our prices, as well as every perk that comes with having a domain with us. If you use our Simple Hosting solution, having your domain at Gandi will make setting up your instance and automatically renewing your domain every year a lot easier. If you're moving your website at the same time as your domain transfer, this also makes your website transfer process simple and easy.

After a domain transfer, you will also automatically get access to unlimited aliases & forwarding, our LiveDNS name servers Anycast + DNSSEC and the possibility to create mailboxes with email addresses at your domain like "yourname@example.com," so that your customers will better associate you with your website.

Additionally, at Gandi, when you transfer a domain name or purchase a new one, you get a Standard SSL certificate, free for one year. With an SSL certificate, you will get an encrypted connection to your server, an “https” prefix for your website address, and the lock icon will appear next to the address bar in browsers. All of this helps prove your website’s trustworthiness to your users and it's available when you transfer a domain name to Gandi.

While the process of a domain transfer is simple and intuitive, you should be aware of a few conditions your domain must fulfill to be eligible for a domain transfer.

It must be valid, and its expiration date has to be far enough into the future for it to remain valid throughout the domain transfer process. An expired domain, or one that would expire during a domain transfer is not eligible. It must also have been properly registered, and should display the proper contact information in the WHOIS at the time you start your domain transfer. You can make sure that these are correct by looking it up in the WHOIS directory before you transfer a domain name. The email address associated to your domain in the WHOIS when you launch the domain transfer is the one we will contact when you request a domain transfer, so make sure it’s set up correctly and will be active throughout the domain transfer.

Finally, your domain's protection against domain transfer needs to be disabled by the registrar it’s currently registered with (depending on the domain ending). This protection prevents an unauthorized person from trying to steal your domain name using the domain transfer process, but it also prevents legitimate domain transfer requests from going through if it isn't deactivated before you transfer a domain name.

Please note: a domain transfer is not a website transfer. If you have a website hosted on your domain name, when you transfer a domain name, you will need to do a website transfer separately. A website transfer can either mean updating your domain's DNS to point to your existing hosting after the domain transfer, or migrating your website to new hosting.