Quick connect a custom domain

In addition to the Webflow staging subdomain (e.g., yoursite.webflow.io), you can publish your site to any custom domain (e.g., yourdomain.com) or subdomain (e.g., subdomain.yourdomain.com) you own. Using a custom domain or subdomain promotes your brand, increases SEO discoverability, and makes it easier for people to find and remember your site. 

Before you get started: Add a Site plan to your Webflow site, and make sure you own the domain you want to connect. If you want to buy a domain and connect it directly to your Webflow site, check out our lesson on buying a custom domain. 

Important: Setting the root domain (e.g., yourdomain.com) as the default domain requires a different setup for your DNS records. If you’d like to set the root domain as the default, you’ll need to manually connect your custom domain. Learn more about setting the root domain as the default on SSL hosting.

In this lesson, you’ll learn: 

1. How to find and connect your custom domain
2. How to verify and publish your site
3. FAQ and troubleshooting tips

How to find and connect your custom domain

Note: Webflow uses Entri to connect your custom domain quickly and seamlessly to your site. If you don’t want to authorize Entri to connect with your DNS provider, or if you require a specific setup for your DNS records, you can manually connect your custom domain to your site. 

‍Important: SSL is enabled by default on all Webflow sites created after November 14th, 2018. If you want to disable SSL on your site, you’ll need to manually connect your custom domain, since the DNS records needed to point your domain to your site differ depending on whether SSL is enabled or disabled. We strongly advise against disabling SSL. Learn more about enabling and disabling SSL. 

To find and connect your custom domain: 

1. Go to Site settings > Publishing tab > Production 
2. Click Add a custom domain
3. Choose Quick connect domain
4. Click Continue
5. Enter the domain you want to connect with Webflow (e.g., yourdomain.com)
6. Click Continue
7. Search for and choose your DNS provider (i.e., the provider from which you purchased your domain) 
8. Follow the steps to sign in with your DNS provider and authorize the connection to Entri 
9. Click Close window to complete the connection and return to Site settings
10. Click Done

Note: If you’re moving your domain to Webflow from another hosting service, you may need to confirm that you’d like to update/replace your DNS records.

These steps connect both the root domain (e.g., yourdomain.com) and the www subdomain (e.g., www.yourdomain.com) to your site. If you can’t find your DNS provider in the above steps, you’ll need to manually connect your custom domain. 

Important: It’s best practice to set a default domain to avoid SEO penalties due to duplicate content. When you connect a custom domain using the Quick connect domain option, your default domain is automatically set to the www subdomain (e.g., www.yourdomain.com). If you’d like to use the root domain (e.g., yourdomain.com) as the default, you’ll need to manually connect your custom domain, as this requires a different setup for your DNS records. Learn more about setting the root domain as the default domain on SSL hosting. 

Note: DNS changes may take up to 48 hours to propagate in all geolocations as the DNS cache expires, although this typically occurs within a few hours.

How to verify and publish your site

Before you can publish your site to your custom domain, you’ll need to verify ownership of any custom domains you’ve connected to Webflow. When you connect a custom domain using the Quick connect domain option, Webflow automatically adds a TXT record to your DNS settings that contains a one-time verification code to confirm that you own the connected domain. 

To complete the verification process and publish your site from Site settings: 

1. Click Verify domain
2. Wait for the “Custom domain verified” confirmation message
3. Click Publish to open the publish menu
4. Check the domain(s) to which you want to publish your site
5. Click Publish to selected domains

Note: If your custom domain was transferred between sites in your Workspace during a hosting transfer, you don’t need to re-verify the domain before publishing.

Important: If you add a new domain or subdomain after you’ve already set a default domain, the new domain or subdomain won’t appear within the publish menu. To resolve this, go to Site settings > Publishing tab > Production and click Make default next to the default domain. Then, publish your site to the new domain or subdomain, and set the default domain again. 

‍Learn more about publishing your site.

FAQ and troubleshooting tips

Does Webflow have any top-level domain (TLD) restrictions? 

Webflow doesn’t have any top-level domain (TLD) restrictions as long as the domain is visible in public DNS and you can connect the domain to domain nameservers (NS records) and create A and CNAME records. 

I connected my custom domain to Webflow but my site isn’t live yet. What’s going on? 

While most DNS providers try to update your DNS records as fast as possible, many factors impact how long it takes for your site to appear on your custom domain, including TTL (time to live) and internet service providers. DNS changes can take up to 48 hours to fully propagate in all geolocations, although this typically occurs within a few hours, so it may be a matter of waiting a bit longer for the site to “come online.” 

You can double-check that your DNS records are correct and view the propagation status using a tool like whatsmydns. It may also help to clear your browser cache to ensure you’re loading the latest version of your domain.

If your site isn’t appearing on your custom domain after 48 hours, please troubleshoot your DNS settings or contact your domain provider’s help desk. If your DNS settings are correct, but you’re still experiencing issues with your published site, please contact Webflow’s customer support team.

Why is my new domain not showing up in the publishing menu? 

If you add a new domain or subdomain after you’ve already set a default domain, the new domain or subdomain won’t appear in the publishing menu. To resolve this, open Site settings > Publishing tab > Production and click the “Make default” button next to the domain previously set as the default. Then, publish your site to the new domain or subdomain and set the default domain again. 

Why is there a “too many redirects” error on my site? 

Double-check that the default domain is set to the www subdomain (e.g., www.yourdomain.com). Setting the root domain as the default without adjusting your DNS settings can cause unexpected behavior, including redirect loops that cause the “too many redirects” error and prevent people and site crawlers from reaching your site. Learn more about setting the root domain as the default domain on SSL hosting. 

Can I connect more than one domain to my site? 

You can add up to 50 custom domains to a site at a time. If you wish to use more than 50 domains, we recommend using a domain forwarding system. 

Using multiple domains can also help redirect old domains to a new domain. To do this, connect all of the domains (old and new!) to your site and set the new domain as the default. This ensures that all domains connected to your site are redirected to the new domain. Learn more about setting a default domain. 

Why do I need to set a default domain? 

Setting a default domain helps to avoid penalties from Google for having duplicate content on the web. Additionally, not setting a default domain or setting the root domain as the default can cause unexpected behavior such as loading issues in some geolocations and problems with site crawling due to excessive redirects.

Is my site published to all domains I connect to my site? 

When you publish your site, the site is published to all connected domains and subdomains that are checked in the publishing menu. If you’ve set a default domain, the site will be published to that domain and all other domains will redirect to that default URL. If you don’t want to publish your site to all of your connected domains, you can open the publish menu and uncheck any domains you don’t want to publish. 

Can I publish different pages to different domains or subdomains? 

It’s not possible to publish specific pages to specific domains or subdomains. If you need to publish different pages to different domains or subdomains, you’ll need to set up separate sites for each page. You’ll also need to add a separate Site plan to each site and add the specific custom domain(s) or subdomain(s) to each site.

Is SSL enabled for my site? 

SSL is enabled by default for sites created after November 14th, 2018. If your site was created before that date, you can enable SSL by opening Site settings > Publishing tab > Advanced publishing options, toggling Enable SSL to “on,” and clicking Save changes.

Important: Each time you disable or enable SSL on a Webflow-hosted site, you’ll need to update your DNS records. After you update your SSL setting, you’ll need to either (re)connect your custom domain by following the steps above (when SSL is enabled) or update your DNS records manually to ensure your published site behaves correctly. Learn more about DNS records for SSL and non-SSL hosting. 

Can I turn SSL off? 

You can switch SSL off, but we strongly advise against doing so. Sites that don’t use SSL may be labeled “not secure” by some browsers, discouraging people from visiting your site. Learn more about enabling and disabling SSL. 

For security, you cannot disable SSL on sites with Users, Ecommerce, or Logic enabled. 

Important: Each time you disable or enable SSL on a Webflow-hosted site, you’ll need to update your DNS records. If you disable SSL on your site, you’ll need to update your DNS records manually. Learn more about DNS records for SSL and non-SSL hosting. 

Does Webflow support Internationalized Domain Names (IDN) with special characters?

When manually connecting a custom domain, Webflow supports internationalized domain names with special characters in Punycode format. You can use a tool like Verisign to convert your domain to Punycode, but keep in mind this doesn’t always work.

Webflow does support internationalized domain names with special characters when Quick connecting a custom domain or Buying a new custom domain.