How to transfer a domain to Porkbun with no DNS downtime

If you're transferring your domain to Porkbun and are worried about downtime or disruption in service, you're in the right place! This process can seem intimidating at first, but we'll make it easy on you. Let's get started!

In this guide:

Do I even need to do this?
Submit the domain transfer
Set up your domain's DNS before completing the transfer

Do I even need to do this?

That's the right question to ask first! In some situations, you don't need to do any extra steps, and your domain will transfer over and continue working normally. This is because when you transfer a domain to Porkbun, the currently assigned nameservers will automatically transfer over with the domain name itself.

If you are using nameservers that will continue to work after the transfer (such as nameservers given by your web hosting provider or a third-party DNS provider), you can transfer your domain to Porkbun without the extra steps — everything will continue working normally, and the DNS will remain intact.

If you are instead using nameservers that will NOT continue to work after the transfer (such as nameservers provided by your current domain registrar), then your DNS will be affected. In that case, follow this guide to move everything over without downtime.

Okay, but how am I supposed to know if my nameservers will keep working?

Honestly, great question. We wish there wasn't so much uncertainty around this subject. Basically:

If you're using nameservers from a provider that's different than your current registrar (like a third-party web hosting company), you're probably fine to transfer the domain without any extra steps.
If you're using nameservers given to you directly by your current registrar, you'll most likely want to follow this guide.

If you're unsure about your particular domain's nameservers, you can always ask your current registrar (or Porkbun's support team) for clarification. The rest of this guide will show you how to transfer your domain without downtime. Let's get started!

Submit the domain transfer

Start the transfer process for your domain. This involves unlocking your domain and retrieving an authorization code (also known as an EPP code) from the current registrar.

We have a general guide for transferring domains from any registrar, and we also have specific guides for common registrars, so feel free to look through our Knowledge Base to find the relevant guide for your domain.

When you've submitted your domain transfer with the authorization code on our Transfers page, you'll be presented with some additional options. You typically want to keep the first two boxes checked to enable WHOIS privacy and automatic renewal for the domain.

To avoid downtime, the important option to keep checked/enabled is the third checkbox. This will allow you to submit your domain transfer, but we won't actually process it until you've set up your domain's DNS zone with Porkbun. This ensures that your domain's DNS will continue to function correctly after you finish transferring your domain.

Once you've made your selections, click on "Add Transfers to Cart".

You'll be redirected to your cart automatically. Make sure to leave the checkbox enabled that confirms you'd like to set up your DNS on Porkbun prior to transferring the domain.

If everything looks correct, click on "Continue to Billing" to finish purchasing the transfer.

After checkout, you'll be taken to a page showing that the order was successful, and you should see a section with more information about setting your DNS up on Porkbun prior to the actual transfer. Click on "Set Up DNS Now" to continue, then move on to the next section.

Set up your domain's DNS before completing the transfer

On the "Transfer DNS Setup" page, you can configure your domain's DNS zone and get everything working prior to your actual transfer. There's a lot here, so we'll take it one step at a time.

On step 1, the goal is to copy over your domain's current DNS records to Porkbun. There are a few different options for doing this, and you can use all of them if needed.

Look up my current DNS

When you use this option, our system will attempt to automatically detect any DNS records you have already applied to your domain at the current registrar. We'll catch a lot of them, but it's important to know that this is not a perfect system that will detect every possible record. It's important to double check your DNS records after using this tool to see if anything was missed.

Upload a zone file

This method is the most reliable way to copy every single DNS record over to Porkbun. If your current registrar allows you to export a BIND zone file (sometimes just called a DNS zone file) containing your domain's DNS records, you can upload that file here to set all of the records up on Porkbun.

Enter records myself

This option lets you manually enter DNS records on the domain. If the automatic record detection misses any of your domain's DNS records, or if you can't get a zone file from the current registrar, this option will let you enter the missing records manually so you can ensure everything gets copied over. For help with adding DNS records manually, check out this guide.

By the end of this first step, you should be able to compare your DNS records on Porkbun with the records you have set up at your current registrar and see that they're exactly the same.

Note

If you have any DNSSEC records added to your domain, we recommend deleting them before transferring the domain. This will prevent DNS resolution issues, and after the transfer you can always turn Porkbun's DNSSEC on or add your own DNSSEC record.

Now that you've set up your domain's DNS records on Porkbun, step 2 involves changing your domain to use Porkbun's DNS nameservers. This will get everything working through Porkbun, preventing your previous registrar from disabling DNS and bringing your website and email offline.

Instructions on changing nameservers will vary depending on your current registrar. Just make sure that you remove any nameservers that are already applied to the domain, and replace them with all four of the nameservers Porkbun provides.

After you've updated the nameservers at your current registrar and waited a few minutes, you can try clicking on the "Check my nameservers and records" button to see if that change has gone through successfully. Once you've set up your domain's DNS records and changed to Porkbun's nameservers, you're ready to move on to step 3 and finish this whole thing up.

This is it! Now that you've set up the records and nameservers, you can finish transferring your domain without worrying about anything going offline. Double check that you've entered the correct authorization code that your registrar gave you, and when everything is ready, click on "Start the transfer".

After submitting the transfer, you'll be taken back to the page on your account where you can review the status of the transfer and make sure everything is processing successfully. For more information, look through our guide on what the various transfer statuses actually mean.

Success! You've set up the DNS zone for your domain on Porkbun ahead of time, and it will now transfer over without things going offline since we're already resolving everything in our system.

Domain transfers typically take about 5-6 days to complete, unless your current registrar can expedite that process for you. We recommend reaching out to them directly to ask for help with speeding up your transfer.

Take a break. Sip from the trough. Roll around in some mud. Go ahead, you deserve it!

Feel free to reach out to our support team if you have any questions or concerns about transferring your domain to Porkbun.