How to Move an Addon Domain to Its Own Separate Hosting Account

If one of the addon domains on your hosting account has grown into a business of its own, it often makes sense to move it onto a separate hosting account with its own control panel login, its own resource limits, and its own billing. This guide walks you through backing up the addon domain safely, removing it from your current account, and setting it up fresh on a new one.

Why Move an Addon Domain to Its Own Account

An addon domain shares disk space, bandwidth, and resource limits with your main hosting account. If the addon domain's website is growing, attracting its own traffic, or needs its own email accounts and billing separate from your main site, moving it to a dedicated hosting account gives it room to grow without affecting your primary website.

Before You Start

Removing an addon domain deletes its files, databases, and email accounts from your current hosting account. Complete every backup step below and confirm the new hosting account is ready before you remove anything.

Step 1: Back Up the Addon Domain's Website and Email

1. Log in to your control panel and open File Manager.
2. Navigate to the addon domain's folder (usually inside public_html, named after the domain).
3. Select the folder and choose Compress to create a zip archive, then download it to your computer.
4. If the website uses a database, open phpMyAdmin, select the database, and use Export to download a full SQL backup.
5. If the addon domain has its own email accounts, log in to each one through Webmail and export any messages you need to keep, since email accounts are deleted along with the domain.

Step 2: Set Up the New Hosting Account

Order and activate the new hosting account before you remove anything from the old one, so the domain is never without a destination. If you need a new hosting plan, you can view ZIPROF's hosting plans.

Step 3: Remove the Addon Domain From the Original Account

In cPanel

1. Go to Domains and find the addon domain in the list.
2. Click the Remove (trash) icon next to it.
3. Confirm the removal when prompted.

In DirectAdmin

1. Go to Domain Setup (sometimes listed as Account Manager or Domains).
2. Select the domain you want to remove.
3. Click Delete and confirm.

For more detail on this step alone, see How to Remove a Subdomain or Addon Domain.

Step 4: Set Up the Domain on the New Account

In cPanel

1. On the new hosting account, add the domain as the account's primary domain during setup, or through Addon Domains if it is joining an existing account.
2. Upload and extract your backed-up files into the new public_html folder using File Manager.
3. Create a new database and database user, then import your SQL backup through phpMyAdmin.
4. Recreate any email accounts the domain needs under Email Accounts.

In DirectAdmin

1. Add the domain through Domain Setup on the new account.
2. Upload and extract your files using the File Manager.
3. Create a database and user under MySQL Management, then import your backup.
4. Recreate email accounts under E-Mail Accounts.

Step 5: Point the Domain's DNS to the New Hosting Account

Once the website is live and working correctly on the new account, update the domain's nameservers or DNS records so visitors reach the new hosting account instead of the old one. If you are testing the site before switching DNS, preview it using the new account's temporary URL first.

DNS changes can take a few hours to fully propagate. Keep the old hosting account active until you have confirmed the new one is receiving traffic and email correctly.