Connecting vs Transferring a Domain

If you already own a domain name with another provider, you can use that domain with your WordPress.com site. This guide will help you choose whether to connect or transfer the domain.

In this guide

1. Commonalities Between Connecting and Transferring
2. Difference Between Connecting and Transferring
3. Move a Website or Move a Domain?

Commonalities Between Connecting and Transferring

Certain things are the same when choosing to connect or transfer your domain:

• Your domain will display your WordPress.com website.
• Your site’s address will be your domain, without ‘WordPress’ in the address.
• Supports all major domain extensions, including .com, .net, and .org. See the full list.
• Included with any annual WordPress.com plan.

Difference Between Connecting and Transferring

Connecting a domain means:

• Your domain remains at your domain provider (where the domain is registered.)
• You change some settings so that the domain shows your WordPress.com site.
• You continue to renew the domain with the other company where your domain is registered.
• You continue to renew your website’s hosting plan here at WordPress.com.
• The process takes less than 15 minutes and takes effect within a few hours.

Step-by-Step Domain Connection Guide

Transferring a domain means:

• You move your domain’s registration from your current provider to WordPress.com.
• Your domain’s settings are managed in your WordPress.com account.
• You no longer pay any domain registration fees to your current domain provider.
• You renew your domain and website’s hosting plan here at WordPress.com.
• The process takes less than 30 minutes and takes effect within 7 days.

Step-by-Step Domain Transfer Guide

Move a Website or Move a Domain?

A common question that arises is whether to move a domain to where you created your website or to move your website to where your domain is registered.

While both are possible, it is much easier to move the domain to where your website is already hosted. By following the steps shared above, you can move your domain to your website in under 30 minutes, and your website will remain intact the entire time.

If you were to move your website to where your domain is registered, you would need to export it and create it again with a new host. This process is typically longer and carries the risk that your website will not look or work the same as it did when you originally created it.