How to Migrate Clients Between Coaching Platforms Safely

If you are working out how to migrate clients between coaching platforms, the safe order is this: export everything first, build and test the new home, tell clients before anything changes for them, move each recurring payment one renewal at a time, and cancel the old platform last. The costliest mistakes come from doing those steps out of order, especially cancelling before subscriptions have moved.

This guide works from any source platform to any destination. It covers what vendors document about exports, where each record should land, a six-week timeline, emails you can paste, how to handle Stripe subscriptions precisely, and a cutover checklist. We make Coachful, so we use it as the worked destination and explain our import and build service near the end; the export, client and billing steps apply wherever you go.

Moving from a specific tool? We have dedicated guides for Kajabi, Practice Better, Stan Store, Simply.Coach and GoHighLevel, and one for tools that have shut down or been discontinued. If your main worry is the client experience rather than the data, read how to switch coaching platforms without disrupting clients alongside this one.

Why do coaches leave a coaching platform?

Coaches usually leave for one of five reasons: cost that grows with the client list, fees on their own sales, missing delivery features, too many tools stitched together, or a product being discontinued. The reason matters, because it decides what the new platform has to do on day one. Write yours down before you compare anything, and you will be less tempted to rebuild the same problem somewhere else.

One honest counterpoint: if you only dislike one missing feature, ask your current vendor first. A migration costs real hours and some client attention. It pays off when the reason is structural, such as pricing, delivery model or a shutdown, and it rarely pays off for a single annoyance.

What can you actually export from your current platform?

Almost every platform lets you export a contact list, but few export everything, and full client history often comes out one client at a time. Read your vendor's help center, search for "export", and run a real test export before you commit to a date. The table below summarizes what we found in vendor help pages and public pages in October 2026, so confirm it against your own account.

Whatever your vendor documents, sort what you need into three piles.

• Structured data that exports cleanly: contacts, purchases, subscriptions, form answers. Take the CSV, then open it and check that the row count matches what the app shows.
• Records that export badly or one at a time: session notes, check-in history, goals, message threads, signed agreements. Prioritize active clients, then anyone you may need to answer to later.
• Content you have to save yourself: video originals, PDFs, worksheets, page copy, email sequences. Copy these into one folder, organized by offer, outside the old platform. Kajabi's "Back up site content" article recommends exactly this kind of outside folder, and the habit applies everywhere.

Assume three things will not come across unless your vendor documents otherwise: client passwords, course progress and direct-message history. Clients will set a new login, you will tell them which lesson to resume, and anything important in a DM thread should be copied into the client's notes before you leave. Also export your session log with paid and pro bono hours if you hold or are working toward an ICF credential, because those hours are hard to reconstruct later.

Where does each record go on the new platform?

Make a data map before you import anything: one row per object, naming where it lives today, where it will live, and how it gets there. Anything without a destination is a decision you still have to make, and it is much cheaper to make it now. Here is a vendor-neutral map using Coachful as the destination; swap the middle column if you are going elsewhere.

A good map also tells you what to leave behind. Lapsed leads from years ago, one-off webinar registrations and abandoned drafts do not need a seat on the new platform. Archive those exports in your folder and import only what you will use. A smaller migration finishes sooner and starts cleaner.

Which platform should you move to before you start?

Choose the destination that covers your actual delivery model, then confirm it in a trial using real data for one or two clients. We recommend Coachful for coaches who deliver programs and want one login and one client app, because the import and build help cuts the hours a move usually takes. A simpler tool can still be the right call if all you do is book and bill sessions. Prices below are as listed in October 2026.

If you want a broader comparison, see our coaching software overview or the comparison pages. Whichever you pick, read its cancellation terms too. Your next migration, if there ever is one, will be much easier if you know what comes out before anything goes in.

What is the step-by-step migration timeline?

A six-week plan suits most solo coaches with a client list in the dozens: two weeks to export and build, one to test, two to move clients and payments, and one to close down. Keep paying for the old platform throughout. As an example of what the overlap might cost, two extra months on Kajabi Basic at its listed $179/month comes to $358, a small cost against the risk of losing a paying client.

Compress this if a renewal or shutdown date forces you. The non-negotiable steps are exports, a working checkout, the client email and cancelling old subscriptions. Everything else, including the prettier website and the email sequences, can follow in the weeks after. If you have a large annual renewal coming, it is usually better to pay one more month than to rush subscriptions, and worth checking your plan's terms first: Simply.Coach, for one, lists no refunds for mid-period cancellations.

Move in renewal-date order, not alphabetically. It lets you ask each client to act just before their next charge, so you are not asking anyone to pay on two systems, and it spreads the support questions over a couple of weeks instead of one chaotic morning.

Here is a short walkthrough of how client records look in Coachful once they have moved.

What does a real migration plan look like? A worked example

Take an illustrative coach with 24 clients on the old platform. All names, amounts and counts here are examples, not data from a real customer. The list breaks down into four groups, and each needs different handling.

1. Nine clients on monthly subscriptions (example: $300/month). These go first in renewal order. A client renewing on the 14th gets the action email on the 7th, subscribes on the 12th, and you cancel the old subscription the same day. If someone subscribes much earlier, on the 1st for instance, they have prepaid through the 13th on the old plan, so you owe them 13 days of overlap: $300 × 13 ÷ 30 = $130 as a partial refund or a coupon.
2. Three clients on payment plans (example: 6 × $250, 2 paid). Each has 4 instalments left, $1,000 in total. Create a new plan for exactly the remaining 4, send its checkout on the next old due date, and cancel the old plan once the new one is active.
3. Seven clients with session packs (example: 10 sessions, 6 used). Nothing to charge. Record the 4 remaining sessions on the new platform and email the client the number so they can correct you if they disagree.
4. Five alumni with no active offer. Import them into your email list only if they have not opted out. They do not need the full move, only a note about where past material now lives, if anywhere.

Each client only has to act once. That is the test of a good plan: the client sees one short email and one link, while the complexity stays on your side.

What should you tell clients, and when?

Tell clients at least two weeks before anything changes for them, say plainly what stays the same, and ask for exactly one action at a time. Clients do not need the reasons in detail. They need to know that their coaching continues, what they have to do, by when, and who to contact. Send these personally rather than as a blast where you can. For a group of any size, merge in the client's name and renewal date.

Everything in brackets is yours to replace. Keep them short; each one should be readable on a phone.

Template 1: heads-up, two weeks or more before the move

Subject: A small change to how we work together

Hi [First name],

Over the next few weeks I'm moving our coaching to a new home, [new platform]. Our sessions, your program and what you've paid for all stay exactly as they are.

What's better for you: [one concrete benefit, such as "your sessions, tasks and check-ins in one app"].

You don't need to do anything today. I'll send you a short email with one link around [date], and I'll be here if anything looks odd.

[Your name]

Template 2: action email for clients on a subscription

Subject: One link to move your coaching by [date]

Hi [First name],

It's time to move you to [new platform]. It takes about five minutes:

1. Use this link to create your login: [invite link]
2. Set up your monthly payment here: [checkout link]

Your price stays at [amount]. You'll be charged when you complete step 2, then monthly from that date. As soon as you've done this, I'll cancel your old subscription myself, so you won't be charged twice. You'll get a confirmation from me when it's done.

Please complete this by [date, two or three days before renewal]. If anything is unclear, just reply here.

[Your name]

Template 3: for clients with a session balance or a prepaid program

Subject: Your sessions have moved with you

Hi [First name],

Your coaching is now on [new platform]: [invite link].

My records show you have [number] sessions remaining from your [package name], valid until [date]. There's nothing to pay. If that number looks wrong to you, tell me and we'll sort it out.

From now on, please book here: [new booking link]. Our next session is still on [date and time].

[Your name]

Template 4: reminder for anyone who has not acted

Subject: Quick one: your link for [new platform]

Hi [First name],

I don't see your new login yet, and your renewal is coming up on [date]. Here's the link again: [link]. It takes five minutes.

If now is a bad time, or you'd rather do it together, we can do it in the first few minutes of our session on [date].

[Your name]

Template 5: final cutover note

Subject: We've moved: here's everything in one place

Hi [First name],

The move is finished. From today:

Log in: [link]
Book a session: [link]
Questions or billing: [email address]

Your old account on [old platform] closes on [date]. If you want a copy of anything you uploaded there, please download it before then. Any old payment has been cancelled; if you ever see a charge you don't expect, send me a note and I'll fix it the same day.

Thanks for making this easy.

[Your name]

Template 6: a short text or DM for the last few

Hi [First name], [your name] here. Your new coaching login is waiting and your renewal is on [date]. This link takes five minutes: [link]. Reply if you'd like me to walk you through it.

If you are moving to Coachful, tell clients they will download the Coachful app and find your branded space inside it, because that is how the client app ships: under the Coachful listing, with your branding. Saying this up front prevents a confused email when they search the app store for your business name.

Two rules apply to the emails themselves. Messages about an existing relationship are generally treated differently from marketing, and the FTC's CAN-SPAM compliance guide says purely transactional or relationship emails are exempt from most provisions. Once a message promotes something, the rest applies: accurate headers, honest subject lines, a physical postal address, and an opt-out that works for at least 30 days and is honored within 10 business days. Penalties reach $53,088 per violating email. So keep migration emails factual, keep offers out of them, and carry your unsubscribe list across so people who opted out do not get re-added to marketing. Rules outside the US differ; check with an attorney if you have clients in the EU or UK.

How do you move payments and subscriptions without double billing?

Subscriptions do not move automatically between coaching platforms. Each one keeps charging on the old system until someone cancels it, and a new one has to be created on the new system, so the safe method is to start the new subscription first and cancel the old one straight after. This is the riskiest part of a migration, because the failure is silent: a client keeps paying for a platform you no longer use, or they stop paying and neither of you notices.

Don't rely on cancelling your own account to stop client charges. Kajabi's help center, for example, states that customers' active subscriptions and payment plans "will NOT stop when you cancel your Kajabi account" and continue until each one is individually cancelled, although limited access remains to do that after cancellation. Other vendors may behave differently, so ask yours in writing.

First, find out where your subscriptions live

Your options depend on which of three situations you are in. Log in to your Stripe Dashboard, if you have one, and look for the subscriptions there.

• The vendor's own payments service. Kajabi Payments, Practice Better Payments, HoneyBook's processing and Skool Payments all fall in this group. You do not have your own record of the cards, so treat every client as re-entering their payment details. Stripe's docs, as read in October 2026, describe a route for moving saved payment data from a previous processor: you request a data export from that processor, and Stripe's Data Migrations team runs the import. Ask your vendor in writing whether they will release that data, and plan as if the answer is no.
• Your own Stripe account, connected to the old platform. Customers and subscriptions may well appear in your Dashboard. Connecting the same account to a new platform gives that platform a way to take new payments. It does not, by itself, hand over the existing subscriptions, which remain tied to the old platform's products and settings. Treat them as separate unless your destination's support confirms otherwise in writing.
• A different Stripe account on each side. Stripe documents a self-serve copy tool for moving payment data between two Stripe accounts, and a Billing migration toolkit or API for moving subscriptions. These act at the Stripe level, so they do not link the new subscription to a client's program access inside your coaching platform.

For most solo coaches, the practical answer in all three cases is the same: each recurring client completes a new checkout. It takes the client a few minutes, it creates a clear record of their consent to the new arrangement, and it means your new platform knows about the payment and can connect it to their access. The heavier Stripe tools make more sense with hundreds of subscribers, ideally with a developer on hand. When Stripe says "Cancel your previous subscriptions as soon as your Stripe subscriptions become active or you'll bill your customers twice", the warning applies to any route you take.

What to do in each billing situation

Keep a simple tracking sheet with one row per recurring client: old subscription ID, next charge date, new checkout sent, new subscription active, old subscription cancelled, confirmation sent. If a date passes with the row incomplete, you see it immediately. If a client is ever charged on both, refund the old charge the same day and apologize.

On Coachful, payments run through your own Stripe Connect or Razorpay account, with one-time payments, subscriptions, payment plans, coupons, refunds, Apple Pay, Google Pay and Stripe Tax. Coachful has charged a 0% platform fee since August 2026, so the only deduction is Stripe or Razorpay processing. Because the account is yours, the customer relationship stays in your own processor account if you ever leave. See how coaching payments work in Coachful.

What about contracts, records and tax documents?

Keep your own copy of every signed agreement, invoice and payment report before you lose access, because some of it may be needed long after the client relationship ends. A move of software does not end your obligations under an existing contract, so honor the terms clients signed, including any session balances and refund promises.

• Signed agreements. Download the signed PDFs and save them in a folder per client. For new or renewing clients, send your updated agreement through the new platform. Ask an attorney whether your existing contract names the old tool or refers to a process that has changed. See coaching contracts for how e-signature works before the first call.
• Tax and income records. Download sales and payout reports for the current and past years. Your year's income now sits on two systems, and it has to add up. If you are a US sole proprietor, it all goes on Schedule C. Your accountant can tell you how long to keep what; requirements vary.
• Privacy. You are moving personal data to a new provider. Update your privacy notice to name it, delete what you do not need, and ask your attorney what your jurisdiction requires. Coachful is GDPR-ready, but compliance for your own business remains yours to confirm.
• Testimonials. When you move reviews to a new website, keep them accurate. The FTC's Endorsement Guides require endorsements to be honest and not misleading, and a move is a good moment to remove any that you cannot stand behind.
• Clinical records. Coaching is not medical or mental health treatment, and clients with clinical needs should be referred to a licensed professional. If your old system holds clinical notes or you work under HIPAA, those records belong in a clinical system with a BAA. Coachful is not HIPAA-certified and offers no BAA, so do not import them there. Ask your compliance adviser how long to retain them and where.

What is on the cutover checklist?

Run this list in the final week, and do not cancel the old platform until every row is done. Assign each item a date, even if you are the only person doing the work.

After cancelling, check your card statement and your clients' feedback for one more billing cycle. Keep your backup folder for as long as your accountant and lawyer advise. If you just want a template for how often to check in once clients have settled, our guide to between-session check-in cadence is a good next read.

How does Coachful's white-glove import and build work?

Coachful imports your clients, programs and content for you during onboarding, and the team can build the pages and funnels you describe inside your own account. You start a free trial, connect Stripe or Razorpay, and send what you have. That covers the rebuilding work; the client conversations and subscription moves stay with you.

Why Coachful stands out: a free white-glove service. It is included on every plan. Open Create > We'll build it for you · FREE, or the "Want us to build it for you?" card on Website, Funnels, Programs and template galleries, and describe what you want: a website, funnel, offer or sales page, program, course (outline and written material), journey or coaching flow, form or worksheet, article, email sequence or newsletter, link in bio, lead quiz, event or webinar, automation, or something else. You can attach up to 8 reference links and up to 10 files, such as your exports, logos, photos, brand guides, copy and documents. Video files cannot be attached. The team builds it in your account, usually within about 24 hours, and you review it.

Two limits to know. Nothing gets invented: no fake credentials, testimonials or prices, and gaps are left for you to fill. It does not include recording videos, logo design, ad management or ongoing marketing. Recent anonymized builds include a somatic coach leaving Kajabi who had a homepage and About page rebuilt and the contact form connected, and a leadership coach with a Squarespace renewal days away who got one clean homepage with a repeated "talk with me" button. Read more in the full white-glove service guide.

A build request works best with concrete material. For a migration, send your old website links as references, your client export, your program outlines and your best sales page copy, and say what should change. If you do not have a website worth moving, the website builder has 30 designed homepage templates to start from, and you can use the Import website option if you do.

What is Coachful, and who is it not for?

Coachful is a coaching platform where one subscription covers booking, payments, contracts, program delivery with habits and check-ins, courses, a community, a website with funnels and email, and an AI assistant called Michelle, with one login for the coach and one branded app for the client. It is built for coaches who deliver programs rather than only sessions, solo coaches growing into a small team, and coaches replacing four to six tools. The company is based in Tallinn, Estonia, and has a Trustpilot rating of 4.5 from 21 reviews. Plans are flat and monthly (Lite: $29/month for up to 5 clients; Solo: $49/month for up to 20 clients; Pro: $99/month with unlimited clients; Studio: $199/month with unlimited clients), lower plans cap the number of clients, Pro is unlimited, and team plans add seats.

Clients get multi-week programs with weekly goals, daily tasks, habits and morning and evening check-ins, a step up if you are moving from a booking-only tool. If that is new for you, our guide to tracking client habits between calls shows how to use it. If you run group programs, cohort groups are created automatically on enrollment.

Here is what it does not do, so you can rule it out quickly. It does not offer PayPal or a permanent free plan. It is not HIPAA-certified and is not for clinical record-keeping or insurance billing. The client app ships under the Coachful listing with your branding, not from your own App Store account. It has no Garmin, Fitbit, Whoop or Oura sync, and no stock exercise videos. It has no Salesforce or HubSpot integration and no multi-stage sales deal board for large teams. If one of those is essential to your practice, choose a different destination before you start exporting.

To start: open a free trial, connect your payment account, and send one build request with your old site links and your exports. Monthly plans cancel in one click, and a full client data export as a ZIP is available if you ever need to leave. Established practices may want to read our page for established coaches first.

Frequently asked questions

How long does it take to migrate clients between coaching platforms?

Plan on about six weeks for a solo coach with a client list in the dozens, from first export to cancelling the old account. A small practice with no subscriptions can do it faster, and a deadline can force a compressed version. The timing is set mostly by your clients' renewal dates, since you want each person to act just before their next charge.

Will my clients have to re-enter their card details?

In most cases, yes. Plan on each recurring client completing a new checkout, unless your vendor and your destination confirm another route in writing. Stripe documents ways to import saved payment data from another processor and copy it between Stripe accounts, but those depend on your previous processor's cooperation and do not by themselves connect a subscription to your coaching platform.

Can I keep the same Stripe account when I switch platforms?

Often you can connect the same Stripe account to the new platform and use it for new payments, and your history stays in that account. Existing subscriptions created through the old platform do not automatically come under the new platform's control. Keep them separate, move each client through a new checkout, and cancel the old subscription straight after.

What happens to subscriptions if I cancel my old platform first?

It depends on the vendor, and it can go badly either way. Kajabi's help center says customer subscriptions keep charging until each is cancelled individually, so clients could keep paying after you have gone. Other vendors could stop billing and leave you with a revenue gap. Cancel your account last, once every client subscription has moved.

How much notice should clients get?

Give at least two weeks between the first heads-up and the first action you ask for. Then send the action email about a week before each client's renewal, with a reminder a few days later. A short personal note carries more weight than a long announcement, and clients mainly want to hear that their sessions and what they have paid for are unchanged.

Can I move my clients' course progress and message history?

Assume not, unless your vendor documents an export for them and your destination confirms it can use it. Tell clients which lesson or program week to resume from, and copy anything important from message threads into client notes before you leave. Your session notes, goals and form answers are more important to preserve, so spend your time there first.

What is the Coachful white-glove service, and is it really free?

Yes, the white-glove build service is free on every plan. You describe what you want from Create > We'll build it for you, attach up to 8 links and 10 files, and the Coachful team builds it inside your account, usually within about 24 hours. It does not include recording videos, logo design, ad management or ongoing marketing, and it leaves gaps rather than inventing credentials, testimonials or prices.

Can Coachful handle clients who pay by PayPal?

No. Coachful takes payments through your own Stripe Connect or Razorpay account, with cards, Apple Pay and Google Pay, and has no PayPal option. Clients currently paying by PayPal need to switch method at their new checkout. Give them notice in the first email so it does not come as a surprise.

What if my old platform has no bulk export?

Ask its support team in writing what they can provide, and give them time to answer. If the answer is nothing, export per client for active clients first, then copy the remaining notes by hand into one document per client. Do this while your account is still fully active, since access may be limited after you cancel.

Should I migrate everything at once or in stages?

Move in stages. Start with three to five trusted clients, fix what they trip on, then go through everyone else in renewal-date order, and leave the website and domain until the end. The exception is a shutdown date or a renewal you must avoid, in which case you cover exports, a working checkout, client emails and old subscription cancellations first.