Point a GoDaddy domain at Hostinger without breaking mail
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The calm setup is three vendors on purpose: domain at a registrar (Shopfront Stack default: GoDaddy, covered on Start A Site), mail at Google or Microsoft, website at a host. Hostinger is this site’s default host. You do not transfer the domain to the host for sport. Transferring names is how mail breaks.
This guide assumes the domain already loads something at GoDaddy — a builder, a parked page, or nothing — and you want the website to answer at Hostinger instead.
Two ways to point a site (and one way to ruin Saturday)
A records (and often a CNAME for www). You keep GoDaddy’s nameservers. You change the A record for @ (the root) to the IP Hostinger shows you, and you point www where they say (A or CNAME). Mail MX records stay put. This is the adult default when you already have Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 on the domain.
Nameservers. You change the domain’s nameservers to Hostinger’s. Hostinger now answers all DNS, including mail, unless you recreate MX/TXT there. This is how people accidentally take down email for two days. Only do it if you are ready to copy every record, or if there is no mail yet.
Do not do both in a panic. Do not “set nameservers and A records at GoDaddy” as a stack of guesses.
Before you touch DNS
- Write down current nameservers
- Export or screenshot MX, TXT (SPF, DKIM, DMARC, Google verification), and CNAME records
- Confirm you can log in to Hostinger and that they have shown you an IP or nameserver pair
- Pick a window when a few hours of weirdness is allowed
- Tell nobody the new site is live until you have seen it on cellular
If mail already works at Workspace, treat MX as sacred. Prefer A records. Do not change nameservers unless you will re-paste every mail record the same hour.
A-record path (preferred)
- In Hostinger, add the domain to the hosting account as they document. Wait until they show an IP for the site.
- In GoDaddy DNS, find the A record for
@. Note the old value (often their parking or builder). - Replace it with Hostinger’s IP. TTL can stay default.
- Point
wwwas Hostinger specifies. If they want a CNAME to the root or to a host target, do that. If they want a second A record, do that. Do not leavewwwon the old builder. - Do not delete MX, SPF, DKIM, or DMARC.
- Wait. Then open the domain on your phone using cellular data.
If the old GoDaddy Website Builder still “owns” the domain in their UI, disconnect or pause it so two products are not fighting. Follow GoDaddy’s current article for disconnecting a builder. We will not screenshot a UI that moves.
Nameserver path (only if you mean it)
Hostinger will list nameservers. At GoDaddy, change nameservers to those values. Then immediately recreate mail records at Hostinger’s DNS if mail should keep working. If you skip that step, Gmail-on-your-domain dies while the website starts living.
Nameservers are a blunt instrument. They are fine for a brand-new domain with no mail. They are rude to a working Workspace tenant.
HTTPS after the pointer works
Once the domain answers at Hostinger, provision the certificate in their panel. Wait until the padlock is solid. Mixed content (images still on http) is a WordPress theme problem, not a reason to buy a seal.
www vs apex
Pick one canonical. Redirect the other. Hosts and builders all have a toggle. Search engines do not need both. Humans will type both. Make one win.
What not to do
- Do not transfer the domain to Hostinger this week unless you have a specific registrar reason. Transfers have waiting periods and auth codes. They are how Saturday becomes next Thursday.
- Do not point the domain at Hostinger and also leave it connected to a builder that still publishes.
- Do not edit DNS from a coffee-shop Wi-Fi you do not trust while also changing the registrar password. One job at a time.
- Do not pay a “concierge” on the host’s checkout to do this if you can paste an A record.
When the site still shows the old page
Cache. ISP cache. Your laptop’s DNS cache. The builder’s CDN. Wait, then try cellular, then try a friend’s phone. If MX were not touched and mail still works, you only broke vanity, not the shop. Keep waiting before you “fix” it by changing nameservers.
After it works
Put tap-to-call on the page. Matching NAP. Then leave DNS alone. The next Saturday is content, not records.
Sister paths: domain still at GoDaddy via Start A Site. Mail at Business Email. This page is only the pointer.