Leaving GoHighLevel: a checklist for small businesses

To leave GoHighLevel without losing anything, export your data, move your phone number and set up the new system before you cancel, not after. HighLevel keeps cancelled account data for 90 days, but it deletes phone numbers and texting registrations 14 days after cancellation, and your automations stop the day you cancel. The safe order is: set up the new system, port the number, switch your forms, then cancel.

This checklist is for a small business running its customers, bookings and texting in a GoHighLevel sub-account. The steps are the same whether you do the move yourself or have someone do it for you.

What happens to your data when you cancel GoHighLevel?

HighLevel explains this in its own help center (What happens to your data when you cancel your HighLevel subscription?). As of September 2026:

• cancelled account data is kept for 90 days, then deleted, and it "cannot be recovered";
• phone numbers and A2P registrations are deleted 14 days after cancellation;
• workflows and automations stop working when you cancel.

The article advises exporting before you cancel: contacts, conversations, calendars and appointments, funnels and websites, automations, invoices and payments, products, memberships and courses, and reports.

The checklist

1. List what you actually use

Before exporting anything, write down what your business depends on:

• contacts, companies and custom fields;
• pipelines and their stages;
• calendars, booking pages and reminders;
• forms, surveys and the website pages they sit on;
• workflows, especially reminders and follow-ups;
• phone numbers and your texting registration;
• domains and email sending;
• payment links, invoices and products;
• anything else, such as courses or memberships.

This list becomes your plan. It also shows what you don’t need to move, which is often more than you think.

2. Decide what to leave behind

Old test contacts, abandoned pipelines and tags nobody uses don’t need to come with you. Sensitive fields need a decision too. Card numbers and Social Security numbers stored in custom fields are a risk wherever they sit, so decide whether they need to move at all.

3. Export your contacts properly

HighLevel exports contacts to a CSV file from the Contacts screen, and the finished file appears under Bulk Actions (How to export contacts to a CSV). Two details matter:

• the file only contains the columns that are visible in your Contacts table, so show every custom field you need before you export;
• export files stay available for 30 days, then the download is disabled, so save a copy somewhere safe.

4. Export everything else

Contacts are only part of your history. Work through the list from step 1: conversations, appointments, notes, tasks, form submissions, invoices and payments. Check how each one exports before you rely on it, and keep every file together, named by date.

5. Keep your phone number: port it before you cancel

Your customers know your number, so keep it. Because HighLevel deletes phone numbers 14 days after cancellation, start the port before you cancel.

HighLevel’s own porting guide gives useful rules of thumb (Porting your phone number), written for numbers moving in:

• keep the old account active until the port completes and calls and texts work on the new system;
• ports take weeks, not days: it quotes two to four weeks for fewer than 50 numbers;
• common rejections are an invalid address, a mismatched account number, an incorrect PIN, a suspended account, or a billing statement older than 90 days.

Ask the receiving provider exactly what it needs, and match the details on file exactly.

6. Plan to re-register your texting

Your A2P 10DLC registration, the carriers’ approval for your business to text customers from a 10-digit number, doesn’t move with you. HighLevel deletes it 14 days after cancellation. Your new system registers your business and campaign again, and the campaign has to pass vetting before texts go through.

Our guide to A2P 10DLC registration explains the steps, the fees and the wait. Allow for it in your timeline, or your reminders will stop.

7. Move your website, forms and domain

If your website or funnels are in GoHighLevel, they need a new home. List every page that has a form, and rebuild each form so it sends to the new system. If you ask for a phone number, include texting consent that meets carrier rules. Then point your domain at the new site and check that your email sending still works.

8. Rebuild reminders and follow-ups, and test them

Workflows stop when you cancel, so rebuild the ones that matter first: appointment reminders, confirmations and follow-ups. Test them with your own phone and email before any customer relies on them.

9. Switch over in the right order

1. New system set up, with your data imported and checked.
2. Reminders and forms tested.
3. Phone number ported and working.
4. Texting registration approved.
5. Website forms and domain switched.
6. Then cancel GoHighLevel.

10. After you cancel

Keep your exports safe, and check that the new system has everything well within HighLevel’s 90-day window.

Doing it yourself, or having it done

• A small business with one location can do the move itself with care. The hard parts are usually the phone number and the texting registration, not the contacts.
• A growing business with several calendars, pipelines and staff should map each workflow before moving it, and move one team at a time.
• A larger organization with several locations or sub-accounts should treat it as a project, with a test run on one location first.

How Ceety moves you off GoHighLevel

If you move to the Ceety Platform, the move is done for you. Our migration toolkit brings over contacts, companies, conversations, appointments, notes, tasks and form submissions. Card numbers and Social Security numbers are never imported. The move is included on the Growth, Pro and Custom plans, and we register your texting for you.

If you’re still deciding, here is a fair comparison of Ceety and GoHighLevel, prices and all.

Frequently asked questions

How long does HighLevel keep my data after I cancel?

As of September 2026, HighLevel keeps cancelled account data for 90 days, then deletes it permanently. Phone numbers and A2P registrations are deleted sooner, 14 days after cancellation.

Can I keep my phone number when I leave GoHighLevel?

Usually, yes, by porting it to your new provider. Start the port before you cancel, because HighLevel deletes phone numbers 14 days after cancellation, and keep the old account until the port completes.

Does my A2P 10DLC registration transfer?

No. HighLevel deletes it 14 days after cancellation, and your new system registers your business and campaign again. Campaign vetting takes days, so plan for it.

What should I export before cancelling?

Contacts (with every custom field visible), companies, conversations, appointments, notes, tasks, form submissions, invoices and payments, and anything else your business relies on. Save the files yourself: HighLevel’s export files are only downloadable for 30 days.

Should I cancel GoHighLevel first, then move?

No. Cancel last. Workflows stop the day you cancel, and numbers and texting registrations are deleted 14 days later, so set up and test the new system, port the number and switch your forms first.