The Complete GoHighLevel Migration Checklist (2026)

The 6 Phases

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Phase 1: Pre-Migration Audit (Before You Touch Anything)

This is the phase most agencies skip or rush. It takes a few hours and prevents the majority of avoidable rework later.

Document everything in your current platform

☐List every active automation name, trigger, purpose, last time it fired

☐List every pipeline and its stages

☐Export a full contact list and note total contact count

☐List every custom field currently in use

☐List every integration (Stripe, Zapier, Google, Facebook, calendar apps)

☐List every form and landing page currently live

☐Document your current email sending domain and authentication status (DKIM, SPF)

☐Take screenshots or export configuration of any complex automation logic

Identify what is dead weight

☐Flag any automation that has not fired in 90+ days

☐Flag any pipeline stage that is no longer in active use

☐Flag any contact segment for a product or campaign that no longer exists

☐Decide which of the above will NOT be migrated

Map your tool stack

☐List every tool currently paid for that touches marketing, CRM, or client communication

☐Cross-reference against what GHL replaces natively

☐Decide which tools will be cancelled and on what timeline

Estimate your realistic timeline

☐Count total active automations to be rebuilt

☐Add data cleaning time based on contact list size and quality

☐Add domain warmup time if sending volume is significant

A NOTE ON SCOPE REDUCTION

many businesses that have been on a platform for 2+ years find that a meaningful share of their existing automations no longer fire or serve a purpose. There's no fixed percentage this applies to universally it depends entirely on how long you've been on your current platform and how disciplined your team has been about retiring old automations. The point of this audit step is to find your own number, not assume a benchmark.

For a full overview of what migration involves, see What Is GoHighLevel Migration?. For realistic timeline benchmarks by platform and complexity, see the GHL migration timeline guide.

Phase 2: GHL Infrastructure Setup (Before Any Data Moves)

Build the receiving environment before a single contact is imported.

Account and access setup

☐Confirm you are on the correct GHL plan for your needs (Starter, Unlimited, or Agency Pro)

☐Set up team member access and permission levels

☐Configure agency branding if using white-label

Custom fields and pipelines

☐Create every custom field identified in Phase 1 before importing contacts

☐Build pipeline stages matching your documented sales process

☐Set up tags matching your current segmentation structure

Email infrastructure

☐Configure your sending domain in GHL Settings → Email Services

☐Set up DKIM, SPF, and DMARC records and verify they pass

☐Confirm sending domain is different from any domain still active on your old platform

☐Plan your domain warmup schedule before any bulk sends

Phone and SMS setup

☐Purchase or port your business phone number into GHL

☐Complete A2P 10DLC registration if sending SMS in the US

☐Test inbound and outbound calling before going further

Integrations: Keep, Replace, Rebuild, or Retire

For every integration identified in Phase 1, make an explicit decision rather than assuming it all needs rebuilding as-is:

Decision	When It Applies
Keep	The tool stays and simply needs to be reconnected to point at GHL instead of the old platform
Replace	GHL has a native feature that does the same job retire the external tool entirely
Rebuild	The integration logic needs to be recreated using GHL's own automation/API tools rather than a direct reconnect
Retire	The tool served a purpose that no longer exists and doesn't need any equivalent in GHL

GoHighLevel Migration Checklist: Six phases from pre-migration audit to go-live, with readiness gates and integration decisions

Phase 3: Data Export, Cleaning, and Import

Export from your old platform

☐Export full contact list as CSV

☐Export deal/opportunity records if applicable

☐Export any notes or activity history that needs to be preserved

Clean the data before import

☐Remove all hard bounces and unsubscribes

☐Deduplicate records with the same email or phone number

☐Standardize phone numbers to E.164 format (+1XXXXXXXXXX)

☐Fill in missing fields where possible

Import and validate

☐Map every field correctly during import double check custom field mapping

☐Import in a test batch first (50 to 100 contacts) before full import

☐Validate the test batch

☐Run the full import once the test batch is validated

☐Spot-check 20 to 30 random contacts post-import for accuracy

Done when: sample records match the source data exactly, custom fields contain the expected values (not blank or mismatched types), tags applied during import match what was mapped, no unexpected duplicate contacts appear, and at least 20-30 spot-checked records behave correctly when opened in GHL.

Phase 4: Automation Rebuild

This phase takes the longest and is the one most often underestimated. Automations do not transfer they must be rebuilt from scratch in GHL's workflow builder.

For each automation kept from Phase 1

☐Document the trigger, conditions, and every action step from the old platform

☐Rebuild the automation in GHL using GHL's native trigger and action types

☐Set correct timing and delays for each step

☐Test with one real contact before activating for all contacts

☐Confirm the automation appears correctly in GHL's reporting

Done when: a real test contact moves through the entire workflow exactly as designed every wait step times correctly, every conditional branch routes to the right path, every message sends with correct merge fields, and the workflow's exit condition fires as expected. Don't consider a rebuilt automation complete until you've watched one real contact go through it start to finish.

Rebuild what existed, not an improved version. If something performs differently after go-live, you need to know whether it's a migration error or a deliberate change. Optimize after the migration is stable, not during it. Full guide: GoHighLevel workflow automation for beginners.

Phase 5: Testing and Parallel Running

End-to-end test before any real lead enters the system

☐Submit a real form on your live funnel or website

☐Confirm the contact appears in GHL CRM with correct tags and pipeline stage

☐Confirm the follow-up sequence fires as expected

☐Complete a real booking and confirm reminders send

☐Complete a test purchase and confirm the post-purchase sequence fires

☐Check the full flow on mobile, not just desktop

Parallel running

☐Route new leads into GHL while old platform remains active

☐Let contacts already in active sequences on the old platform finish naturally

☐Monitor GHL open rates, automation fire rates, and booking rates daily

☐Document any gaps discovered and fix before proceeding

For the most common errors found during this phase, see common GHL migration mistakes.

Phase 6: Go-Live and Post-Migration

Cutover

☐Redirect all lead sources (ads, website forms, landing pages) to GHL

☐Confirm GHL has performed at least as well as old platform for several consecutive business days

☐Take a final full data export from the old platform as backup

Cancellation

☐Cancel old platform subscription only after full cutover is confirmed stable

☐For HubSpot specifically: confirm cancellation before the 25-day data deletion window

☐Cancel any redundant tools identified in Phase 1's tool stack mapping

Post-launch monitoring

☐Monitor email deliverability and spam complaint rates weekly for the first month

☐Review automation performance reports weekly

☐Address any team questions or friction points as they arise

☐Document the final system for future reference and team onboarding

Pre-Migration Readiness Gate: Don't Start the Production Migration Until...

Use this as a final go/no-go check before moving any real data.

☐Data mapping is documented and approved

☐Critical workflows are fully documented (trigger, conditions, actions)

☐Required GHL custom fields exist and match your data structure

☐Pipeline stages are configured to match your sales process

☐Every integration has a Keep/Replace/Rebuild/Retire decision made

☐Sending domain is configured and authentication (DKIM/SPF/DMARC) passes

☐A test batch of data has been imported and validated

☐Stakeholders know and agree to the cutover plan and timeline

Ready-for-Cutover Gate: Don't Redirect Live Traffic Until...

Use this before pointing real leads and traffic at GHL.

☐Contacts and opportunities are imported and spot-checked

☐Pipelines are validated against your actual sales process

☐Critical workflows are tested end-to-end with a real contact

☐No automation is enrolling contacts unintentionally

☐Email, SMS, and phone have all been tested with real sends/calls

☐Forms and funnels are tested and routing correctly

☐Calendar bookings and reminder notifications are tested

☐Critical integrations are reconnected and tested

☐Analytics and conversion tracking are verified working

☐Someone is explicitly assigned to monitor the system post-cutover

Source Platform Differences

This checklist applies regardless of source platform, but the specific export format, what transfers automatically, and platform-specific gotchas differ. Use the dedicated guide for your platform alongside this checklist: HubSpot, ActiveCampaign, ClickFunnels, Kajabi, Salesforce, or Keap.

Frequently Asked Questions

What should be on a GoHighLevel migration checklist?

A complete checklist covers six phases: pre-migration audit, GHL infrastructure setup, data export and cleaning, automation rebuild, testing and parallel running, and go-live with post-launch monitoring. Two additional gates a pre-migration readiness check and a ready-for-cutover check help confirm you're actually prepared before committing to each risky step.

What is the most commonly skipped step in a GHL migration?

The pre-migration audit. Teams are eager to start importing data and rebuilding in GHL, so they skip documenting what currently exists which makes it much harder to catch a missing automation or integration before it becomes a problem mid-migration. The second most commonly skipped step is end-to-end testing before go-live.

How long should I run both platforms in parallel during migration?

A minimum of 2 weeks is a reasonable baseline. During this period, new leads route into GHL while contacts already in active sequences on your old platform finish naturally. Only proceed to full cutover once GHL has performed reliably for several consecutive business days.

How do I decide which integrations to migrate?

Use a Keep/Replace/Rebuild/Retire framework for every integration: Keep if it just needs reconnecting to GHL, Replace if GHL has a native equivalent, Rebuild if the logic needs recreating with GHL's own tools, or Retire if it no longer serves a purpose.

Can I use this checklist for any platform migration to GoHighLevel?

Yes. The six phases apply regardless of source platform. What differs by platform is the specific export format and which features need platform-specific handling covered in the dedicated platform-specific migration guides.

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