Migrate from GoHighLevel without losing a lead: the move-off checklist

If you have decided to leave GoHighLevel, the risk is not the new system. The risk is the gap: a week where calls go nowhere, a text thread that disappears, a contact list you meant to export. This checklist closes the gap. It is built from HighLevel's own help page, and every rule in it comes down to one idea: cancel last.

A fair word first. GoHighLevel (the company calls itself HighLevel) is a capable platform, and for many agencies it is the right tool. This guide is for owners who want a system they own instead. If you are still deciding, start with our plain comparison of renting and owning.

Why the order matters

HighLevel's help page is clear about what happens at cancellation (HighLevel: what happens to your data when you cancel, modified 2026-08-18, checked 2026-10-12):

• Access to contacts, conversations, calendars, automations and funnels stops when you cancel.
• HighLevel keeps canceled account data for 90 days, then deletes it permanently.
• Phone numbers and texting (A2P) registrations are deleted 14 days after cancellation.

That last line is the one that loses leads. A number customers have saved, printed on a truck or listed on Google is worth more than any export.

Step 1: List what you actually use

Before you build anything, write down what the business runs on today. Write down only what you use:

• Which phone numbers, and where each one is published.
• Which forms and calendars take bookings.
• Which automations send texts or emails, and what they say.
• Who logs in, and what each person does there.

This list becomes the plan for the new system, and it stops you from rebuilding tools nobody opens.

Step 2: Build the new system next to the old one

Both systems run at the same time. The new CRM, website forms and follow-up are set up and tested while HighLevel still answers the phone. Nothing switches until the new path has handled real test leads from start to finish.

Step 3: Export everything on HighLevel's own list

HighLevel's help page tells you to "export or download any important data you want to keep" before cancelling, and lists what that covers. Tick each one off:

• Contacts
• Conversations
• Calendars and appointments
• Funnels and websites
• Automations (also write down what each one does, so you can rebuild it on the new system)
• Financial records
• Products
• Memberships and courses
• Reports

Keep the exports somewhere you control, and open each file once to check it is complete.

Step 4: Move your phone numbers before you cancel

Start the number move while the HighLevel account is still active, because the numbers are deleted 14 days after you cancel. Ask your new phone provider to port each number, and keep the old account running until every number rings on the new system. The HighLevel page we cite does not describe porting a number out, so ask HighLevel support and your new provider for the steps and the timing before you start. That is one more reason to cancel last.

Texting needs its own step. HighLevel deletes your texting (A2P) registration along with the numbers. Ask your new provider what texting registration it needs and start it early, so texts keep going out on the day you switch.

Step 5: Check your website and domain are in your name

• The domain (yourbusiness.com) should be registered to you, with a login you hold.
• If your site runs on HighLevel funnels, the new site goes live first, then the domain points to it.
• Forms on the new site send leads to the new CRM. Submit one yourself to prove it.

Step 6: Switch over, then watch for a week

• Point the forms, calendar links and phone numbers at the new system.
• Update the booking link on your Google Business Profile and social pages.
• For one week, check both inboxes every day. Anything that still lands in the old one shows you a link you missed.

Step 7: Cancel last

Only now cancel the subscription. If you are not sure you are finished, HighLevel offers a pause instead: its help page suggests the Pause Account feature "for $27/month to keep your data active" (HighLevel help, checked 2026-10-12). Either way, the 90-day window is a safety net, not a plan.

The checklist on one screen

1. List the numbers, forms, calendars, automations and users you use.
2. Build and test the new system next to the old one.
3. Export everything on HighLevel's list, and open each file.
4. Port every phone number and register texting on the new provider, before you cancel.
5. Make sure the domain is yours; put the new site live.
6. Switch forms, links and numbers; watch both inboxes for a week.
7. Cancel last, or pause while you check.

Facts about HighLevel come from its own help page, linked above with the dates checked. Check it again before you cancel; policies change. Custom Tailored Agents is not affiliated with HighLevel. GoHighLevel and HighLevel are names of their owner, used here only to describe the product.