How to Cancel a Service or Close Your Account

To cancel a Cloudesta service, log in to the client area, open the service under Services > My Services, click Request Cancellation, and choose either Immediate or End of Billing Period. To close your whole account, settle any unpaid invoices and open a support ticket asking for closure. Domains are billed separately and are not cancelled with hosting. Download your backups and email before you submit anything, because data is deleted when the service is terminated.

This guide covers shared cPanel hosting, Cloud VPS, dedicated servers and n8n hosting. Use it when you are moving to another provider, no longer need a service, or want to close your account entirely.

Prerequisites

• Login details for the Cloudesta client area.
• cPanel access for shared hosting, or root SSH access for a VPS or dedicated server.
• Enough local storage to hold a full copy of your files, databases and mailboxes.
• A list of the domains you want to keep, plus a plan for where their DNS and email will point next.

1. What is deleted when I cancel a service, and when?

The cancellation type you pick decides when deletion happens:

• Immediate: the service is terminated once the request is processed. For shared hosting, this removes the cPanel account with all its files, databases, mailboxes and settings. For a VPS or dedicated server, the server and its disks are wiped.
• End of Billing Period: the service keeps running until its next due date and is terminated on that date. This is usually the better choice if you still need time to migrate.

2. How do I download my backups and email before cancelling?

Shared cPanel hosting

• Go to cPanel > Files > Backup and click Download a Full Account Backup. Set the destination to Home Directory, enter your email address for a completion notice, and click Generate Backup. When the backup finishes, download the backup-*.tar.gz file from the same page.
• You can also download partial backups from the same page: the home directory, each MySQL database, and your email forwarders and filters.
• To download existing snapshots, open cPanel > JetBackup 5. Use Full Account Backups, generate a download, and fetch it from Downloads.
• A full backup already includes your email. If you also want the mail locally in a usable format, add each mailbox to a desktop client such as Thunderbird over IMAP. Let it sync completely, then copy the folders to a local folder.

Cloud VPS or dedicated server

Connect over SSH as root. Then archive your web files and configuration, and dump all databases. Adjust the paths to match your setup.

mkdir -p /root/final-backup
tar -czf /root/final-backup/files.tar.gz /var/www /etc/nginx /etc/apache2 /etc/letsencrypt 2>/dev/null
mysqldump --all-databases --single-transaction --routines --events > /root/final-backup/all-databases.sql
ls -lh /root/final-backup

Next, run the following on your own computer (not on the server) to copy the backup down:

rsync -avz -e ssh root@203.0.113.10:/root/final-backup/ ./cloudesta-final-backup/

n8n hosting

First, find the container name. Then export your workflows and copy the file out of the container. In the commands below, replace n8n with your container name if it is different.

docker ps --format '{{.Names}}'
docker exec -u node n8n n8n export:workflow --all --output=/home/node/workflows.json
docker exec -u node n8n n8n export:credentials --all --decrypted --output=/home/node/credentials.json
docker cp n8n:/home/node/workflows.json /root/final-backup/
docker cp n8n:/home/node/credentials.json /root/final-backup/

The --decrypted option writes your credentials in plain text. Store that file securely, and delete it from the server after you download it with rsync as shown above.

3. How do I request cancellation in the client area?

• Log in to the client area and go to Services > My Services.
• Click the service you want to cancel to open its management page.
• Click Request Cancellation.
• Enter a short reason and choose Immediate or End of Billing Period.
• Submit the request. You should receive an email confirming it.

Paid add-ons attached to a service, such as an extra IP or an SSL certificate, may be billed as separate items. Check the service page and your invoices. If an add-on is still listed as active, open a ticket naming it.

4. Does cancelling hosting also cancel my domain?

No. Domains registered with Cloudesta are separate services. Each one renews or expires on its own date, whatever happens to your hosting.

• To keep the domain: before the hosting is terminated, update its nameservers or DNS records to point at your new host. If you use the domain for email, update the MX records too. Otherwise both the website and mail will stop working.
• To stop renewal: go to Domains > My Domains, open the domain, and disable Auto Renew if that option is shown. If you do not see it, open a ticket and ask for auto-renewal to be turned off.
• To move the domain to another registrar: request the transfer authorisation (EPP) code. Use the domain management page if the option is available there, or open a ticket.

If you want to keep your mailboxes on the domain without hosting a website, a standalone business email plan is one option.

5. Will I get a refund when I cancel?

Refunds, if any, are handled according to the Terms of Service. Read the refund and cancellation sections there before choosing Immediate cancellation. Do not assume that unused time will be credited or refunded. Domain registration fees are generally non-refundable once the registration has been made.

6. How do I close my whole Cloudesta account?

• Cancel every active service using the steps above, and disable auto-renewal on any domains you are letting expire. Transfer away any domains you want to keep.
• Go to Billing > My Invoices and pay any outstanding invoices. An account cannot be closed while it has an unpaid balance.
• Open a support ticket from the account email address asking for full account closure. Ask the team to remove any saved payment methods.

Verify it works

• Open Services > My Services. The service should show a pending cancellation request, or a status of Cancelled or Terminated once it has been processed.
• Check Billing > My Invoices for any new unpaid invoices linked to the cancelled service or its add-ons.
• Look up your domain's DNS from your own computer to confirm it now points to the new host:

dig +short NS example.com
dig +short MX example.com
dig +short A example.com

• Open your downloaded backup archives locally and check that they are not empty.

Common problems

I cancelled, but I still received an invoice. The invoice is usually for a separate add-on, a domain renewal, or a different service with a similar name. Check the line items on the invoice. If it belongs to a service you have already cancelled, open a ticket quoting the invoice number before you pay it.

I need data after the service was deleted. Open a ticket immediately with the service name and domain. Recovery is not guaranteed once a service has been terminated, which is why the backup step comes first.

My website or email stopped working on a domain I kept. The domain still points to the old, deleted hosting. Update the nameservers or the A and MX records to your new provider. Changes can take a few hours to propagate.

I chose Immediate by mistake. Open a ticket straight away. If the request has not been processed yet, it may still be possible to change it.

The full cPanel backup fails or never finishes. The account is probably near its disk quota. Delete old files or logs to free space, or download the home directory and databases separately using the partial backup links.

Frequently asked questions

Can I withdraw a cancellation request?

Usually yes, if the service has not been terminated yet. Open a support ticket as soon as possible and ask for the request to be removed.

Does closing my account delete my domains?

Domains are not deleted early. They simply expire at the end of their registration period if renewal is off. Transfer any domain you want to keep before closing the account.

Can I downgrade instead of cancelling?

Yes, plan changes are possible. Open a ticket describing the plan you want, and the team will explain the options and any billing effect.

Need help? If anything is unclear or a service will not cancel, open a support ticket from the client area and include the service or domain name.