Your course platform is closing: a migration checklist (and the cheapest way to have it moved for you)

If your course platform has told you it’s shutting down, the clock that matters isn’t the closure date. It’s the last day you can still log in and export. This checklist puts the work in the order that protects you most: get your data out first, sort out money second, tell students third, and rebuild last.

The first four steps apply wherever you move. After that you have two routes on Systeme.io, an all-in-one platform (pages, checkout, course hosting and email in one account):

• Have it moved for you. You already run a course business, so your time is the scarce thing. The cheapest plan that includes Systeme.io’s free done-for-you migration is Startup paid yearly (US$170). Details below.
• Rebuild it yourself. Steps 5 and 6 walk through it. They work on any plan, and with one course you can test the rebuild on the free plan before you pay.

How this guide was put together: the Systeme.io steps, features and limits come from Systeme.io’s own pricing page, free-migration page and help centre, checked on 23 October 2026 (the step-by-step help articles were first checked on 17 October), and each one links to its source. The export and communication checklist is general good practice, not a description of any particular platform’s tools. We haven’t migrated a course for this guide, so there are no invented timelines or results here.

1. Lock in the deadline and what still works

Open the shutdown notice and write down four things:

• The closure date, and the time zone if it’s given.
• Whether new sales and sign-ups have already stopped. Platforms often close purchases before they close logins, so your sales may already be paused.
• The last day you can log in and export. If the notice doesn’t say, assume it’s earlier than the closure date and ask support in writing.
• What happens to your data afterwards, if the notice says.

Save a copy of the notice (PDF or screenshot) with the date. You may need it for your records or to explain the change to students.

2. Export everything you own

Do this before anything else, even if you haven’t picked a new platform yet. A messy export you have is worth more than a tidy one you can’t get any more.

• Student list (CSV): email, name, which course or product they bought, enrolment date, purchase date, and whether they agreed to marketing emails. Consent status matters: only people who agreed to hear from you should go onto a marketing list.
• Course content: your original video files (not just links to the platform’s player), PDFs, worksheets, quiz questions and answers, and lesson text. If you only have the platform-hosted copies, download them now.
• Course structure: module and lesson order, drip timing, and which lessons each product unlocked. A simple spreadsheet is enough.
• Sales pages and emails: copy, images and testimonials (with the permission you had), plus every automated email sequence, in order, with its timing.
• Coupons and pricing: active discount codes, prices and payment plans.
• Payment, refund and invoice records for your tax records. Download these even if you think the processor has them.
• Every public URL you’ve shared: sales pages, checkout links, login page. You’ll need this list in Step 6.

3. Sort out recurring payments

This is the step people leave too late. If any students pay monthly or by instalments:

• List every active subscription and payment plan: who, how much, how often, and how many payments remain.
• Find out where the payment relationship lives. If payments run through your own processor account (for example your own Stripe account), the processor may hold the customer records. If they run through the platform’s account, they may stop when the platform does.
• Ask both your old platform and your payment processor, in writing, whether active subscriptions can be moved or must be cancelled and restarted.
• Plan for each customer: honour what they’ve paid for, avoid double-charging, and if they need to re-subscribe, give them a clear link and date.

One-off purchasers are simpler: they’ve already paid, so the job is to give them access in the new place.

4. Tell your students early

Tell students before you import them anywhere. On many platforms, adding someone to a course sends them an automatic login email, and an unexpected email from an unfamiliar sender is easy to mistake for spam. Systeme.io’s own import guidance makes the same point: an automatic email goes out as soon as a student is added to a course, so plan the import gradually (essential steps to import contacts).

A short email covers it:

• your current platform is closing on [date];
• your course is moving and they keep access to everything they paid for;
• they’ll get a new login email from [new sender] around [date], and what to do if it doesn’t arrive;
• for subscribers: what happens to their payments.

5. Rebuild the course and import students

Here’s how a DIY rebuild looks on Systeme.io. Your course count and list size decide the plan. On the pricing table on 23 October 2026, Startup lists 5 courses, unlimited students, 5,000 contacts, 10 sales funnels, 10 automation rules and 10 tags; Free lists 1 course, 2,000 contacts, 3 sales funnels, 1 automation rule and 1 tag. Both include unlimited file storage and 0% transaction fees. With more than one course or more than 2,000 contacts, Startup is the smallest plan that holds your business. With one course and a small list, you can test the rebuild on Free first; Free caps lifetime sales at US$10,000 and keeps a Systeme.io badge on your pages (help article 1509, help article 286). Every account starts on Free and upgrades from the dashboard (open a Systeme.io account, affiliate link).

Create the course and upload your content using the structure spreadsheet from Step 2.

Import your contacts from CSV (how to import a contact list):

1. Save the student list as a CSV with column names in the first row.
2. Go to CRM > Contacts > Import contacts, choose the delimiter and upload the file.
3. Optionally pick a tag to add to everyone in the file, then click Next.
4. Match each column (Email, first name and so on), then click Import.

Systeme.io’s import page asks that the file contain only people who have explicitly agreed to receive your emails, and says imports may be paused for review while its team checks the file.

Enrol everyone in the course in one go (ways to give course access):

1. Create a tag (for example “migrated students”).
2. Create an automation rule with the trigger Tag added and that tag, and the action Enroll in a course, choosing your course.
3. Save the rule, then assign the tag to the imported contacts.

Each enrolled student gets an automatic email to log in and access the course. On the free plan this uses your one tag and one automation rule, so do the enrolment first and repurpose them afterwards (Startup has 10 of each). You can also add students one at a time from Assets > Courses > Add student, choosing full, partial or drip access (manually add students).

6. Reopen sales and update every link

Set up checkout: create a Sell funnel, connect Stripe or PayPal under Settings > Payment Gateways, and on the order form choose Digital product, add your course as the resource, choose the access type and add a price plan (one-time, subscription or payment plan). New buyers are enrolled automatically and get an email to set their password. (Sources: how to sell an online course, price plans.) Our step-by-step ebook selling guide walks through the same funnel, payment and test-purchase setup in more detail.

Update every link from your Step 2 list: bio links, email signatures, video descriptions, pinned posts, and the links inside your own email sequences. If your old sales page sat on your own domain, point that domain at the new page. Free includes 1 custom domain and Startup 3.

Keep the old platform open until you’ve checked: a test purchase works, a test student can log in, and the content plays on a phone.

Would you rather someone else did the move?

For a course business that’s already running, this is usually the better use of your hours. Systeme.io offers a done-for-you free migration, but not on the free plan. Its free-migration page and help article say it’s included with the Unlimited monthly plan (US$97/month) or any annual plan, and the pricing table’s annual view ticks “Free migration” on Startup, Webinar and Unlimited (checked 23 October 2026). The help article says content is migrated manually and, “depending on your plan’s limits”, covers contacts, sales funnel pages, blogs, courses, emails and campaigns, and automations. You subscribe, contact support, and the agent on your ticket gives you a time estimate once they’ve looked at your content. The help centre puts the average migration at 17 days. Check the current terms on that page before you pay, because offers change.

Cheapest way to get it: Startup paid yearly (US$170). That’s the price of 10 months of Startup monthly, and annual plans also include a free 1-hour kickstart coaching call (help article 319). Because the migration follows your plan’s limits, check your business fits Startup (5 courses, 5,000 contacts); if it’s bigger, Webinar yearly (US$470) is the next step. Imported contacts get a consent check before you can email them, and your old account isn’t changed (Systeme.io help centre, updated 18 Jun 2026).

Fewer than 3 weeks to your shutdown date? Do the exports in steps 1–3 yourself today, then request the migration straight away.

Not ready to pay? With one course and a small list, the steps above are manageable yourself, and you can test them on a free account first.

Which plan fits your course?

Prices from Systeme.io’s pricing page, checked 23 October 2026.

A timeline if you have about six weeks

If you have less time, do Steps 1 to 3 today and compress the rest.

Before you choose where to go

Moving is a chance to stop paying for tools you no longer need. Run your current subscriptions through the software cost calculator to see what an all-in-one setup would replace, and read our Systeme.io review for the weaknesses as well as the strengths. Whatever you pick, prefer a platform that lets you export your students and content easily, so the next move (if there is one) is less painful.