How to Transfer a Domain from Squarespace to Static.app

To transfer a domain from Squarespace to Static.app, switch off its Domain Lock and choose Request transfer code. Squarespace emails the code to the domain's owner address within 24 hours. Then start the transfer at Static.app with that code. Depending on which company Squarespace registered the domain through, you either confirm it from an email to start it right away, or it goes through after five days. The one thing to do first is remove DNSSEC and save a copy of your DNS records, because neither can be changed once the transfer is under way.

Before you start

• Check the dates. A domain cannot move within 60 days of being bought, or within 60 days of being transferred to Squarespace. Changing the owner's contact details also puts a lock on it. Squarespace offers no way to skip these locks: you wait them out.
• Check the expiry. A domain that expired within the past 30 days can still move, as long as no lock is on it. If you would rather reactivate it at Squarespace first, do that before you start.
• Check the owner's email address. Squarespace sends the code to the domain's registrant contact email, not necessarily the email you sign in with. Check it under Registration Information and fix it now if nobody reads that inbox.
• Save your DNS records and remove DNSSEC. While the domain is transferring, Squarespace does not let you change its DNS settings, nameservers or DNSSEC. Squarespace does not say whether its DNS keeps answering once the domain has left, so plan as if it will not. Take a screenshot of every record, as Squarespace suggests, and remove DNSSEC in the domain's advanced settings first.
• Check what else is tied to the domain. The transfer does not cancel your Squarespace website subscription: if you are leaving Squarespace altogether, cancel it separately afterwards. Google Workspace on the domain can stay managed through Squarespace, but its MX records have to be in the new DNS, so keep them on your copy.

Step 1: Switch off the Domain Lock

1. Open your domains dashboard at account.squarespace.com/domains.
2. Choose the domain.
3. Switch off the Domain Lock toggle.

If Squarespace shows Can't unlock domain, one of the locks above is still running and has to expire first.

Step 2: Request the transfer code

1. Choose Request transfer code.
2. Enter your password, or confirm with two-factor authentication if it is on.
3. Choose Continue, then Ok.

The code arrives by email within 24 hours, from [email protected] with the subject "Auth code for" and your domain. Each new request can create a new code and make the older ones invalid, so use only the most recent one.

You do not need to switch off WHOIS privacy: Squarespace says the transfer works with it on.

Step 3: Start the transfer at Static.app

Sign in to Static.app, open Domains, and choose Transfer Domain. The form has three parts:

1. Which domain are you moving? Type the whole name, such as yourbusiness.com. Static.app checks at once whether it can move, what the transfer costs, and which company holds it now.
2. Authorization code: paste the code from Squarespace. Copy it exactly, with no space before or after.
3. Owner contact: the registry records these details against the domain, so use an email address you read.

Tick the terms box and choose Continue to Payment. A transfer is charged like a registration and adds a year to the domain (two years on a .ai name, which is sold two years at a time). The transfer is sent to the registry once the payment goes through.

Static.app keeps the domain on the nameservers it uses today, so the transfer changes who you pay for the name and nothing else. Your website and email keep working, as long as the DNS behind those nameservers keeps answering.

Not every ending can move here yet. Country endings such as .uk, .de and .eu are not supported, and the form tells you as soon as you type the name.

Step 4: Confirm or wait at Squarespace

What happens next depends on which company Squarespace registered the domain through. The email you get tells you which:

• An email from [email protected] or an @registrarmail.net address (Tucows) has a confirmation link. Clicking it starts the transfer right away. If you do not, it goes through after five business days.
• An email from [email protected] titled "New domain transfer request" (Squarespace Domains) has a Review request button, which is there to cancel. Do nothing and the transfer is accepted after five days.

Once the code is with Static.app, the transfer cannot be cancelled from Squarespace.

Step 5: Finish setting up the domain at Static.app

When the domain shows as Active in your Domains list, it is registered with Static.app. If the transfer does not go through, the domain stays where it was, the payment is refunded, and the domain page says why and offers Try the Transfer Again. The usual causes are a lock that is still on, a wrong or expired code, or a domain that changed hands in the last 60 days.

What is left depends on where your DNS lives:

• Your DNS is with a company you are keeping, such as Cloudflare or your hosting company: nothing changes. To open a Static.app website on the domain, add its records there, or move DNS here as below.
• Your DNS was at Squarespace: move it to Static.app the moment the domain shows Active, since that DNS may stop answering once the domain has left. The steps are in the next point.
• You want Static.app to run the DNS: open the domain, choose Edit beside Nameservers, then Reset to Default and Update Nameservers. Static.app writes the records for any website connected to the domain. Add everything else, such as your email records, in Manage DNS or Email & Forwarding right away, using the copy you made before the transfer.

To open one of your websites on the domain, choose Assign beside Website on the domain page and pick the website. With the DNS here, the records and the SSL certificate are set up for you. A paid plan is needed to publish a website on your own domain.

Moving a domain from another company? See every transfer guide.

Frequently asked questions

How long does a transfer from Squarespace take?

Usually about five days, or less if you confirm it from the Tucows email. Squarespace says a transfer can take up to 15 days, and to contact the new provider if nothing has happened after seven business days.

Do I lose the time I already paid Squarespace for?

No. For .com and the other common endings, the time left on the domain comes with it and the transfer adds a year on top. If the domain came free with a Squarespace plan, that offer does not carry over. Squarespace's refund policy covers cancelling within five days of registration and says nothing about a refund for a transfer away.

Will my website or email stop working?

Not because of the transfer itself: Static.app keeps your nameservers as they are. The risk is DNS that lived at Squarespace. If it stops answering after the move, your website and email stop with it until the records are set up again, which is why the copy you saved matters. Moving DNS to Static.app as soon as the domain arrives takes a few minutes.

Static.app says the domain is locked, but I switched the lock off. Why?

Squarespace's own advice is to switch the Domain Lock toggle on, then off again, and retry. If it still fails, check the dates above: a lock after a purchase, a transfer in or a contact change cannot be lifted early.