How to Migrate Email from GoDaddy to Microsoft: Complete 2026 Business Guide

How to Migrate Email from GoDaddy to Microsoft A Complete 2026 | Featured Image

Posted at 12:03h in Blog, Digital Transformation, SharePoint by Nirav Langhanoja 0 Comments

Migrating your email from GoDaddy to Microsoft 365 is a smart move for any business that wants better control, stronger security, and access to the full suite of Microsoft productivity tools. If your company is still using GoDaddy-hosted email or a GoDaddy-managed Microsoft 365 tenant, shifting to a direct Microsoft 365 tenant (or a new Microsoft tenant) can unlock real admin privileges, advanced security options, and long-term flexibility.

In this guide, I’ll walk you through why you might migrate, how to do it (step by step), and what to look out for—with a real-world example and helpful FAQs. I’ve seen this work for many clients, and I write this from actual migration experience working with businesses.

Why Migrate from GoDaddy Email to Microsoft 365?

Limited Control and Admin Restrictions

GoDaddy’s “managed-by-GoDaddy” Microsoft 365 offering often comes with limitations. Many admins report restricted Exchange admin access, lack of full PowerShell support, and minimal control over advanced security settings.

These constraints can become a major bottleneck when your business grows or when you want to enforce modern security—for example, conditional access, multi-factor authentication (MFA), or zero-trust policies.

Need for Reliable, Scalable, Enterprise-Grade Tools

Direct Microsoft 365 licenses give teams full access to services such as Outlook, Exchange Online, SharePoint, Teams, OneDrive, Power Platform, and more. That’s a huge upgrade compared to basic GoDaddy email hosting.

Plus, with a self-managed tenant, you get transparent billing, easier license management, and better support—critical for business growth.

Long-Term Control, Data Portability & Compliance

When you manage your own Microsoft 365 tenant, your organization gains true ownership of its domain, mailboxes, policies, and data. This matters especially for compliance, audits, or when you scale up users over time.

Real-World Example: “TechStart Solutions”

Here’s a quick real-life story (fictionalized for privacy)—a pattern I see often:

“TechStart Solutions,” a small mid-sized SaaS company, started with GoDaddy because they registered their domain there. Initially, email and Microsoft services worked fine. But as they hired more staff and began using Teams, SharePoint, and custom Power Automate workflows, they ran into trouble: they couldn’t enable MFA broadly, had no access to certain add-ins, and lacked proper backup/restore capabilities.

After a business-impacting issue—a senior developer accidentally deleted critical emails, and there was no easy way to restore them under GoDaddy’s admin constraints—they decided to migrate fully to Microsoft 365.

With careful planning over a weekend, they exported mailbox data, set up a fresh Microsoft 365 tenant, migrated mailboxes & DNS, and re-provisioned users, and by Monday morning were fully operational. No data lost. Better security. And a much happier team.

That’s the kind of smooth, clean migration you can achieve—if done properly.

How to Migrate: Step-by-Step Process

Here’s a broadly applicable workflow for migrating from GoDaddy to Microsoft 365. Depending on your exact setup (GoDaddy-hosted email, GoDaddy-managed Microsoft 365 tenant, IMAP, hosted Exchange, etc.) some steps may vary slightly.

Evaluate Your Current Setup & Plan Migration

List all mailboxes: active users, shared mailboxes, aliases, distribution lists, forwarding rules, auto-responders, etc.
Check any calendars, contacts, shared folders, andetc.), OneDrive/SharePoint data (if in use).
Ensure you have admin rights or credentials wherever needed.

Choose Migration Method

Based on how your email is hosted:

IMAP migration—suitable if you only have standard email mailboxes (no complex Exchange data). Microsoft 365 admin center supports IMAP migration from GoDaddy.
Tenant-to-tenant / Third-party migration tool—for GoDaddy-managed Microsoft 365 mailboxes (cloud), or when you need to migrate not just email but calendars, archives, and folder structures. Tools like CodeTwo Office 365 Migration support GoDaddy as a source and let you migrate mailboxes, public folders, archives, and more.

If you have few users, a simple export/import (PST export from Outlook → import into new Microsoft 365 mailbox) can also work—though it’s more manual and error-prone.

Prepare the New Microsoft 365 Tenant

Purchase appropriate Microsoft 365 licenses (Business Basic/Standard/E3/E5 depending on your needs).
Create user accounts/mailboxes for each user.
If migrating public folders or archive mailboxes, ensure the target tenant has the required setup (public folder mailbox, archive enabled, etc.).

Perform Migration

If using IMAP—follow Microsoft 365 Admin Center’s “Data Migration → Add Migration → IMAP” workflow, supply GoDaddy IMAP credentials for each mailbox, and start migration.
If using CodeTwo (or a similar tool)—connect to GoDaddy as the source, connect to the new Microsoft 365 tenant as the target, match mailboxes (or auto-create), then run the migration job. CodeTwo supports migrating mail, contacts, calendars, tasks, public folders, archive mailboxes, etc.

Change DNS/MX Records and Finalize Cutover

Once migration completes and you’ve tested that target mailboxes are working, remove the domain from the GoDaddy-managed tenant (if applicable).
Add and verify the domain in the new Microsoft 365 tenant, and then update DNS records (MX, CNAME/autodiscover, SPF, DKIM, and DMARC as needed).
Wait for DNS propagation (can take a few hours)—ensure new incoming emails land in Microsoft 365 mailboxes.

Post-Migration Checks

Verify mail flow for all users (incoming and outgoing)
Check contacts, calendars, and folder structure integrity
Reapply any forwarding, aliases, shared mailbox permissions, mailbox rules
Reconfigure Outlook (desktop/mobile) profiles—many admins find it easier to create a fresh profile after migration.
Enable MFA, conditional access, and security policies, and do a final audit of permissions

Migrate GoDaddy Email to Microsoft

Move your GoDaddy email to Microsoft 365 fast and secure. Start your migration now!

What You Gain (and What to Watch Out For)

Benefits

Full admin control over your Microsoft 365 environment
Access to the full Microsoft 365 suite (Exchange, Outlook, Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive, etc.)
Better security, compliance, and privacy control
Clear licensing, billing, and flexibility
Independence from GoDaddy’s limited Microsoft 365 offering

Possible Challenges

Migration takes time and planning—mailbox size, number of users, and DNS propagation time vary results.
Shared mailboxes, calendar sharing, permissions, or public folders may require extra configuration.
Users may need to reconfigure email clients (Outlook, mobile) after migration.
Subscriptions/licenses purchased via GoDaddy will not carry over—you’ll need new Microsoft 365 licenses for your new tenant.

Many of these challenges are manageable with proper planning and a well-executed migration strategy—as “TechStart Solutions” (see example above) discovered.

FAQs

1. Can I migrate my GoDaddy Microsoft 365 account to a full Microsoft 365 tenant?

Yes, absolutely. Thousands of businesses move from a GoDaddy-managed Microsoft 365 tenant to a full Microsoft 365 tenant every year.
The process usually involves:

Creating a new Microsoft 365 tenant
Migrating mailbox data (email, calendars, contacts)
Removing your domain from the GoDaddy tenant
Adding it to your new Microsoft 365 tenant
Updating DNS / MX records

Once your domain is fully moved, your new Microsoft tenant becomes your main environment—with full admin access and zero restrictions.

2. How do I switch my domain and email from GoDaddy to Microsoft 365?

The domain transfer is a 3-step process:

Prepare your new Microsoft 365 tenant (create users and buy licenses).
Remove the domain from GoDaddy’s Microsoft 365 environment—this means deleting aliases, unassigning licenses, and clearing domain dependencies.
Add the domain to your new Microsoft 365 tenant, then update DNS records (MX, TXT, CNAME, SPF, DKIM, DMARC).

Once DNS propagates, your email will start landing in Microsoft automatically.

3. What is GoDaddy federation in Microsoft 365?

“GoDaddy Defederation” is the process of removing GoDaddy’s federation settings from your domain so it can work normally inside a standard Microsoft 365 tenant.

When your email is hosted under GoDaddy’s Microsoft setup:

Login authentication flows through GoDaddy
Admin features are restricted

Defederation removes that link, allowing:

Direct Microsoft 365 authentication
Full admin control
Unrestricted use of Microsoft services

It’s a required step when moving your domain out of GoDaddy’s Microsoft ecosystem.

4. How do I migrate from GoDaddy Office 365 to Microsoft 365?

The migration process includes:

Create a new Microsoft 365 tenant
Set up matching user accounts
Choose a migration method (IMAP, tenant-to-tenant, or a third-party tool like BitTitan or CodeTwo).
Migrate mailbox data (emails, calendars, contacts)
Defederate and remove the domain from GoDaddy
Verify the domain in Microsoft 365
Update DNS/MX records
Reconnect Outlook and mobile devices

Most businesses complete the full migration over a weekend to minimize downtime.

Final Thoughts

Migrating from GoDaddy Microsoft 365 to a full Microsoft 365 tenant gives your business more control, better security, and enterprise-grade features. Whether you’re a small business or a growing organization, planning the migration correctly ensures zero email downtime and a smooth transition.

If you need expert guidance, Star Knowledge specializes in Microsoft 365 migrations, tenant-to-tenant transitions, and GoDaddy-to-Microsoft 365 defederation.