Advice on migrating from Google Apps GMail to Zoho and best process to take before I go ahead please!

Advice on migrating from Google Apps GMail to Zoho and best process to take before I go ahead please!

Hi guys

I have a domain I use for email and my emails are sat on Gmail via Google Apps (from before the made it paid only). I have around 2gb of data (according to the Gmail manager) but am getting fed up with my email account being directly linked to all Google stuff, or constantly being pestered to activate other services like +, etc.

I'm looking at moving my emails from Gmail to another service and like the look of Zoho - presumably I can move my calendar and address book easily as well?

I can see there is a migration tool, but before proceeding what would be the best process to take to avoid any emails getting lost in the ether? Create my new account with Zoho first I imagine, but do I leave all the MX records pointing to GMail until I have completed the migration? Or will GMail still allow me access to the mailbox once I stop directing to them and change it to Zoho?

Also, Gmail doesn't have folders but instead 'labels' - does the migration tools automatically change all labels to folders to structure them in the same way?

I'm thinking an alternative method for me might be this; I have a second normal gmail account that has always been linked to my Android phone, so in Thunderbird could I drag all the emails and their folders from my normal email account to the second Gmail account, then set Thunderbird up for Zoho with IMAP and drag them in to that account and they should sync back to the new Zoho server?

One last question; what benefits are there for my situaion in using the paid Zoho service instead of the free one? I only really use one email address (ie mailbox account) but lots of aliases for registering on different sites. Well, not true aliases, but say for BBC I may use bbc@mydomain.com and ITV itv@mydomain.com. Presumably the catch all will still pick them all up and forward them on to the mail account in the free version? And can I upgrade to the paid one from the free one at a later time without any problems?

Thank you!