Using your own domain
Every project is published on an address we give it, and that address keeps working for ever. When you want your own name on it instead, there are three ways to get there. All three end the same way: your hostname served over HTTPS, with certificates we renew for you.
A domain is the name you own, like example.com.
A hostname is a specific address inside it, like
www.example.com or shop.example.com. A registrar
is where you bought the domain. Your DNS provider is what answers questions
about where its hostnames point. Often they are the same company, but they do not have to
be.
The three ways
1. Register a domain with us
Pick a name, pay, and it works. Nothing to configure.
- Search for the name you want on the Domains page.
- Register it. The yearly price is shown before you buy and is billed with your usage.
- Bind any hostname in it to a project. There is nothing to set up by hand.
A yearly price per domain, shown before you buy.
Best when you do not have the domain yet, or want everything in one place.
2. Delegate a domain you already own
Keep your registrar, let us run the DNS. One change, then nothing.
- Add the domain under Hosted domains. We show you two nameservers.
- At your registrar, set the domain nameservers to those two.
- Once the change is visible the domain is ready, and any hostname in it binds with no records to create.
Free. You keep paying your registrar for the domain itself.
Best when you want your root domain to work, or do not want to manage records per project.
3. Keep your DNS exactly where it is
Change nothing about who runs your domain. Add two records per hostname.
- Add the hostname to a project under Domains.
- We show you two records. Create them at your current DNS provider.
- The hostname goes live once we see both. Everything else is automatic.
Free.
Best when your domain must stay with your current provider, or other services already use it.
Side by side
| Register with us | Delegate | Keep your DNS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who runs your DNS? | Us | Us | You, unchanged |
| What do you set up? | Nothing | Nameservers, once | Two records per hostname |
| Does the root domain work? | Yes | Yes | Only if your provider supports ALIAS or ANAME |
| Cost through us | Yearly price | Free | Free |
The root of your domain
www.example.com can always point at us. The bare example.com,
called the root or apex, is a special case: the standard record for pointing one name at
another is not allowed there.
- If you registered with us or delegated the domain, the root works and there is nothing to think about.
- If you kept your DNS elsewhere, the root works only when your provider offers ALIAS, ANAME, or CNAME flattening. Many do, including Cloudflare. We tell you which record to create when you add the hostname.
- If your provider offers none of those, use a subdomain such as
www, or delegate the domain to us instead.
Avoid pasting a raw IP address at your root. It may work today and break the next time our infrastructure moves. We watch for this and will tell you if we see it.
After you add a hostname
Your project shows a status while the hostname is being set up. It updates on its own, so there is no need to reload.
- Waiting for your DNS records
- We cannot see the records yet. DNS changes can take a few minutes to a few hours to spread. Check the values match exactly, including any trailing dot your provider adds.
- Issuing certificate
- We proved you control the name and are getting an HTTPS certificate for it. This is usually under a minute and needs nothing from you.
- Configuring gateway
- The certificate is being installed on the servers that will answer for your hostname.
- Waiting for your traffic record
- The certificate is ready and waiting, but your hostname still sends visitors somewhere else. The moment the record points at us, the site is live with no further delay.
- Serving
- Live over HTTPS. Certificates renew automatically for as long as the hostname stays bound.
Good to know
- You can add several hostnames to one project. One of them is the primary: the address your app uses when it refers to itself. Any hostname can be made primary once it is live.
- The address we gave you never goes away. It keeps working beside your own domain, so you always have a way in.
- Preview and live are separate. A hostname is bound to one of them, so you can put a real domain on live while preview stays on its own address.
- Nothing is billed for bringing your own domain. Only registering through us costs money, at the price shown before you buy.
- If the records never appear, we remind you, and eventually release the hostname so it is not held for ever. Adding it again later is fine.
- Removing a hostname takes it out of service and frees the name. Your DNS records stay yours to delete.
Ready to set one up?
Register or delegate a domain from the Domains page, or add a hostname straight to a project.