Unhappy with slow hosting, dollar invoices or support that never answers? Moving your website to a new host is easier than most people think, and done correctly your visitors will never notice. This guide explains how to move your website to a new hosting provider in Tanzania without downtime.

Before you start: a checklist

• Your login to your current hosting control panel (cPanel, DirectAdmin or similar).
• Your login to the place where your domain is registered.
• A list of every email address on your domain.
• Your WordPress admin login if your site uses WordPress.

Important: do not cancel your old hosting until the move is complete and tested.

Step 1: Choose and order your new hosting

Pick a plan with enough space for your website and email. If your current site uses 3 GB, choose a plan with comfortably more. See our hosting plans.

Step 2: Take a full backup

In cPanel, use the Backup tool to download a full backup, or download your files and export your database. For WordPress you can also use a migration plugin.

Step 3: Copy the website to the new host

Upload the files, create the database, import it, and update the configuration file (for WordPress, wp-config.php) with the new database details. If both hosts use cPanel, a full cPanel backup can often be restored in one step – our team can do this for you.

Step 4: Recreate your email accounts

Create the same email addresses on the new host. If you need to keep old messages, they can be copied across with an IMAP migration.

Step 5: Test before switching

Ask your new host for a temporary URL or use your computer's hosts file to preview the site on the new server. Check pages, forms, logins and images.

Step 6: Lower the DNS TTL (optional but smart)

A day before switching, lower the TTL on your DNS records to a few minutes. This makes the final switch take effect faster.

Step 7: Point your domain to the new host

Change your domain's nameservers (or A and MX records) to the new provider. Changes usually spread within a few hours, sometimes up to 24–48 hours. Because the old hosting is still running, visitors see a working site the whole time. Read more in our DNS guide.

Step 8: Check everything, then cancel the old host

After a few days, confirm that the site loads from the new server, email arrives in the new mailboxes, and the SSL padlock shows. Only then cancel the old hosting.

Let us move it for you

Most customers prefer not to do this themselves. Order hosting with Oneway Africa Technologies and open a ticket or message us on WhatsApp with your current host details, and our team will help move your website and email.