How to connect a custom domain to Netlify

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The two ways to connect a domain

DNS is essentially the internet's phone book: it's what translates a domain name like yourbusiness.com into the actual server address that should answer when someone visits. There are two ways to point your domain at Netlify, and most people should pick the first.

Option 1: Netlify DNS (the simpler route)

1. Sign in to Netlify and open your site, then go to Domain management.
2. Click "Add a domain" and choose the option for a domain you already own. Enter your domain name.
3. Update your domain's nameservers at wherever you registered it (GoDaddy, Namecheap, Google Domains, or similar) to point at Netlify's nameservers, shown in your Netlify dashboard once you add the domain.
4. Wait for it to take effect. Netlify then handles everything else automatically, including SSL.

This option gets you automatic SSL certificate provisioning, support for wildcard certificates, and simplified management all from one dashboard, which is why Netlify recommends it for most people.

Option 2: keep your current DNS provider, add specific records

If you'd rather not move your domain's nameservers to Netlify, you can add individual DNS records at your current provider instead.

• For your root domain (yourbusiness.com, with nothing in front of it): if your DNS provider supports ALIAS or ANAME records, point it at apex-loadbalancer.netlify.com. If it doesn't support that record type, add an A record pointing instead at Netlify's address, 75.2.60.5.
• For "www" (www.yourbusiness.com): add a CNAME record pointing at your site's own netlify.app address, with no "https://" in front of it.
• For any other subdomain (like shop.yourbusiness.com): the same CNAME approach works, pointing it at your site's netlify.app address.

Root domains specifically require an A record or ALIAS/ANAME record rather than a CNAME, because that's a limitation of the DNS standard itself, not something specific to Netlify.

How SSL gets set up

Once your DNS is pointing at Netlify correctly, Netlify automatically provisions a free SSL certificate for your domain, no separate purchase or configuration step needed. With Netlify DNS, this happens with no further verification required on your part. With an external DNS provider, it can occasionally need an extra verification step, which Netlify's dashboard will prompt you for if so.

Common errors and how to fix them

"DNS not propagating" or the domain still shows the old site. DNS changes typically take effect within 24 to 48 hours, and can take up to 72 hours to reach every corner of the internet. Check your actual DNS records with a tool like a DNS checker, or run dig yourbusiness.com from a terminal, to confirm the records you set are the ones actually showing up before assuming something's broken.

A subdomain isn't working. Double check your CNAME record points exactly at yoursite.netlify.app, with no "https://" or trailing slash typed into the record itself, since that's a common copy-paste mistake.

SSL certificate isn't provisioning. This almost always traces back to a DNS record that isn't correctly configured yet. Confirm your records are set up exactly as above and give it time to propagate before troubleshooting further.

The root domain loads slowly or inconsistently with an external DNS provider. Some external DNS providers don't support ALIAS/ANAME records well, which can cause performance issues on the root domain specifically. Switching to Netlify DNS resolves this cleanly, or check whether your provider supports CNAME flattening as an alternative.

Should you move your domain to Netlify, or keep it where it is?

If you're not attached to your current registrar's specific tools, moving to Netlify DNS is genuinely the smoother path: automatic SSL with no extra verification step, wildcard certificate support, and one dashboard for both your site and your domain settings. If you have other services tied to your domain's current DNS (custom email records, a separate subdomain pointing elsewhere), keeping your current provider and adding the specific records above avoids disturbing anything else that depends on that DNS setup.

After you connect it

Give it a day before assuming something's wrong, check your site over both http:// and https:// to confirm the SSL certificate is active, and test the domain on your phone's mobile data rather than just your home WiFi, since DNS propagation can genuinely vary by network and location in the first day or two.

What happens to your email if you move your nameservers?

This is the single most common worry when switching to Netlify DNS, and it's a fair one. If your domain's email (through Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, or any other provider) is set up using MX records at your current DNS provider, moving your nameservers to Netlify means those MX records need to be recreated inside Netlify's own DNS settings, since Netlify DNS becomes the new authority for every record on that domain, not just the ones pointing at your website. Before switching nameservers, write down your current MX records, any SPF or DKIM records used for email authentication, and any other records unrelated to your website, then add each of them back inside Netlify's DNS panel once the switch is made. If this feels risky, using Option 2 (keeping your current DNS provider and adding specific records for Netlify) avoids this entirely, since your email records never move.

Buying a new domain directly through Netlify

If you don't have a domain yet, Netlify's domain management also lets you register a brand new domain directly, rather than buying one elsewhere and pointing it over. This skips the DNS-pointing process covered above entirely, since a domain registered directly through Netlify is already set up on Netlify DNS with SSL provisioning handled automatically from the start. This is worth considering if you're starting completely fresh and don't have a specific reason to use a different registrar.

Connecting a subdomain to a different site

A common setup for a growing small business is running the main site on one Netlify project and a specific section, like a blog or a shop, as its own separate project on a subdomain. This works the same way as the subdomain steps above: add a CNAME record for that specific subdomain (for example, shop.yourbusiness.com) pointing at the second project's own netlify.app address, entirely independent of how your root domain and "www" are configured. Each subdomain can point at a completely different Netlify project this way, which is a genuinely useful pattern once a business's web presence outgrows a single site.

What if you're moving a live site from a different host?

If your domain is already live and serving real visitors on a different host, the safest order of operations is to get your new site fully working on its Netlify-provided address first, test it thoroughly, and only then switch the domain over. This way, if something goes wrong with the domain switch itself, your site content is already confirmed working and the problem is isolated to DNS, not a mix of two unknowns at once. It's also worth lowering your DNS record's TTL (time to live, essentially how long other servers are allowed to cache your old DNS answer) a day or two before the planned switch if your current provider allows it, since a shorter TTL means the switch itself propagates faster once you make it.

Checking your work without guessing

Rather than refreshing your site repeatedly and wondering if it's working yet, use a DNS lookup tool to check the actual records your domain is currently returning, from outside your own network. This tells you definitively whether your change has taken effect on the wider internet, rather than relying on what your own computer's cached DNS happens to show you, which can look correct or incorrect independently of what everyone else is actually seeing.