// transfer guide
how to transfer a domain away from Gandi.
The actual steps, the gotchas that stop people halfway, and an honest answer on whether moving is worth it for your domains.
read these first
- Gandi restructured its pricing and bundled services in 2023, which is what put a lot of long-standing customers on the move. before you go, list what you actually use on the domain — mail, SSL, DNS — because those don't travel with the registration.
- Gandi is EU-based and GDPR redaction already hides most registrant detail from public WHOIS, so turning privacy off exposes less than it would at a US registrar. the auth code still goes to the registrant address on file, so that address has to be right.
- ICANN's 60-day lock after registration or a previous transfer applies here like anywhere else, and there's no way to shorten it.
step by step.
- sign in to the Gandi admin and open your domain list.
- select the domain and open its management page.
- turn off the transfer lock — Gandi keeps it with the domain's protection settings, and some accounts also carry an account-wide protection option that has to come off as well.
- check the registrant contact email is current and reachable before requesting anything.
- request the transfer/auth code. Gandi generally exposes the code in the interface rather than only by email, so look on screen first.
- if you run Gandi mailboxes on this domain, decide where mail goes before you move — transferring the registration doesn't migrate mailboxes and you can lose access to them.
- enter the code at the gaining registrar and confirm the release.
is it worth it?.
prices verified 10 August 2026 · methodology
Here is where Gandi sits against the cheapest registrar we track, on the TLDs where the gap is widest. If none of your domains are on this list, the transfer probably is not worth your afternoon.
| TLD | Gandi | cheapest we track | saving / yr | over 5 yrs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| .io | £55.00 | Dynadot £32.00 | £23.00 | £115.00 |
| .ly | £85.00 | Porkbun £70.00 | £15.00 | £75.00 |
| .org | £19.00 | Porkbun £9.35 | £9.65 | £48.25 |
| .net | £19.00 | Porkbun £9.89 | £9.11 | £45.55 |
| .com | £17.40 | Cloudflare £8.57 | £8.83 | £44.15 |
| .is | £55.00 | Porkbun £48.00 | £7.00 | £35.00 |
| .co.uk | £11.00 | Porkbun £4.47 | £6.53 | £32.65 |
| .uk | £11.00 | Porkbun £4.47 | £6.53 | £32.65 |
where to move it
There is no single right answer, because registrars price per TLD — the cheapest place for a .com is often not the cheapest for a .io. The honest approach is to check the TLD you are actually moving: browse renewal prices by TLD, or use the free price check on the exact domain.
One more thing worth doing before you transfer anything: confirm which registrar the domain is really at. Reseller and wholesale arrangements mean the name in a WHOIS record is often not the company billing you. The registrar lookup reads it straight from the registry.
questions people actually ask.
How long does a transfer away from Gandi take?
Usually five to seven days. Once you submit the auth code at the new registrar, the losing registrar has five days to release the domain — approving the confirmation email yourself skips most of that wait. The domain keeps resolving throughout, provided you do not change nameservers mid-transfer.
Does transferring away from Gandi cost money?
The gaining registrar charges one year's renewal to accept the transfer, and that year is added to your existing expiry rather than replacing it. So you are prepaying a year you were going to buy anyway, at the new registrar's price. Most registrars, including this one, do not charge a separate outbound fee.
Will my website or email go down during the transfer?
No, as long as you leave the nameservers alone. A registrar transfer moves who bills you and who manages the registration; it does not touch DNS records by itself. Change nameservers before or well after the transfer, never during it.
Why can't I transfer my domain yet?
ICANN blocks transfers for 60 days after a domain is registered, after a previous transfer, and after a change to the registrant contact details. If you have just edited the registrant name or email, that clock has probably restarted. There is no way to shorten it — you wait it out.
// stop checking one at a time
find every domain worth moving, in one pass.
Doing this domain by domain is how people give up halfway. Owndle imports your whole portfolio, works out the gap on each one, and ranks them by how much moving would actually save — then alerts you before each renewal so nothing lapses in the meantime.
start free — 10 domains →// no card · magic-link sign-in · alerts at 90/30/7/1 days