GuideHow to migrate from DirectAdmin to MariHost

Last updated: 26 October 2026

Some web hosts use DirectAdmin as their control panel. If yours does, moving to MariHost is simple: you share your DirectAdmin login with us, and we move your websites, databases and email for you, free, as part of your plan. This guide shows you how to share your login safely, what we move, and how to switch without your site going offline. Your part takes about 10 minutes.

What we move when you migrate from DirectAdmin

We copy each website across to your MariHost account and set it up again here:

• your websites' files, including subdomains
• your databases
• your email accounts and the email in them, and your forwarders
• your scheduled tasks (cron jobs)

Your email accounts get new passwords: we send them to you in your ticket. Your websites get new free SSL certificates from us, so you don't need to bring yours. We move as many websites as your plan holds, free, in your first 30 days.

Ask for your free migration

Choose a plan and start your free trial or order it: Choosing a hosting plan helps. Then open a ticket in your client area at billing.marihost.com, under Support, and ask for your free migration. Tell us your domains, and that your current host uses DirectAdmin.

Not a customer yet, with questions first? Ask through our contact form, but don't put any passwords in it.

Share your DirectAdmin login safely

In your ticket, send us:

• the address you use to log in to DirectAdmin, often ending in :2222, such as yourhost.com:2222 (your current host's welcome email has it)
• your DirectAdmin username and password

Send them only in a ticket in your client area, never by WhatsApp, email or our contact form: tickets stay inside your account. If DirectAdmin asks for a two-factor code when you log in, tell us in the ticket, and we'll agree a time to log in together.

We log in and copy your account across. Your old sites stay live the whole time, so your visitors don't notice anything. We check each website works on our servers, then tell you it's ready for you to check too.

When the move is done, change your DirectAdmin password, or cancel the old hosting once you've switched (below).

If you used autoresponders, catch-all addresses or password-protected folders, set them up again in our control panel afterwards: see Forwarders and auto-replies.

Switch to MariHost

When we've checked the copy, and you've had a look too:

1. Point your domain to MariHost, by changing its nameservers to ns1.maridns.com and ns2.maridns.com, or its DNS records. Our guide to pointing your domain to MariHost shows each step.
2. Check everything: your site loads with the padlock, your forms send, you can log in to WordPress, and your email sends and arrives. In your mail apps, put in the new passwords from your ticket and update the server settings: see IMAP and SMTP settings.
3. Keep your old hosting for a week, then cancel it. Some networks take up to 48 hours to see the change, and it's a useful copy if anything was forgotten.

Don't add posts, products or orders on the old site after we've made the copy: they won't be on the new one. If you run a shop, agree the timing with us. Our guide to moving your site to MariHost has more on avoiding downtime and moving email.

Prefer to make the backup yourself?

If you'd rather not share your login, make a backup of your account in DirectAdmin and we'll move that instead. The menus differ a little between DirectAdmin versions and hosts:

1. In DirectAdmin, open Create/Restore Backups, under Advanced Features.
2. Tick everything (your websites, databases and email) and click Create Backup. DirectAdmin builds it in the background, and tells you when it's ready.
3. Open the File Manager and go to the backups folder. Download the newest file, ending in .tar.gz or .tar.zst.

Tell us in your ticket that you have the file, and we'll reply with how to send it to us.

If something's not right

We can't log in to your DirectAdmin. Check the address, username and password by logging in yourself. Some hosts block logins from other countries or new addresses: ask your host to allow ours, or make the backup yourself as above.

The backup failed or never finished. Your account may be near its storage limit. Delete old files or backups, or ask your host for more space.

Your email stays with Google Workspace or Microsoft 365. Tell us, and we'll keep your MX records as they are, so your email keeps flowing. See Use Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 email.

Next steps

Moving from another control panel? See Move from a cPanel host or Move from a Plesk host. Haven't chosen a plan yet? Choosing a hosting plan helps, and every plan starts with a free 3-day trial.