Can I use a custom domain?

By default, we will host your content on your-publication.beehiiv.com and send your emails from your-publication@mail.beehiiv.com.

If you'd like to host your site on a custom domain or setup a custom domain for email sending, we have created a seamless process to make that possible.

Custom domain support is only available for users on the PRO plan.

Tech Note: In order to setup a custom domain for use with beehiiv, you must own the domain and you must have the ability to modify its DNS settings.

Setting up a custom domain for your website

Setting up a custom domain for your website means that readers will now visit www.yoursite.com instead of your-publication.beehiiv.com to subscribe to your newsletter and view your content.

Pro Tip: It is considered best practice for your website to live on a subdomain. You can use whatever subdomain you like but it is common practice to use "www". For example, your site would likely live at www.yoursite.com.

1) Verify Domain Ownership

1. Visit Settings > Domain Settings
2. Click Add Custom Domain
3. Enter your domain and click Add Domain

4. You will then be provided a TXT record that will need to be added in your DNS provider. (Please refer to the documentation for your specific DNS provider on how to add TXT records if needed.)

   
5. Click Verify

   Tech Note: With some DNS providers it can take up to 24 hours for the TXT record to propagate so please give it time.

2) Configure the domain to be used for web

1. Once your domain has been verified, under the Web settings, click Select Custom Domain
2. Select your domain and click Configure Domain
3. You will then be provided a CNAME record that will need to be added in your DNS provider. (Please refer to the documentation for your specific DNS provider on how to add CNAME records if needed.)
4. Click Verify Setup
5. Once verified, your domain should be listed as Live and your website should be reachable at your custom domain
6. If you setup your custom domain on the www subdomain, checkout this support article on how to better ensure traffic reaches your site.

Setting up a custom domain for email sending

Setting up a custom domain for email sending means that your newsletter will be delivered from  hi@mail.yoursite.com instead of your-publication@mail.beehiiv.com.

Pro Tip: Generally it is considered good practice to have your newsletter sends come from a subdomain (i.e. mail.yoursite.com) instead of the root domain (yoursite.com) especially if you send transactional mail from your root domain. You can use whatever subdomain you like but we generally recommend "mail" if you are unsure. For example, your newsletter would come from mail.yoursite.com.

1) Verify Domain Ownership

Follow the same steps as outlined above for verifying domain ownership using the domain that you want to use for email.

Tech Note: To avoid problems, please use a different domain/subdomain for email sending than what you used for your website. For example, if you use www.yoursite.com for your website, do not also use it for email.

2) Configure the domain to be used for email

1. Once your domain has been verified, under the Email settings, click Select Custom Domain
2. Select your domain and click Configure Domain
3. You will then be provided multiple CNAME records that will need to be added in your DNS provider. You will need to add all the records from both the For email sending section and the For link branding section. (Please refer to the documentation for your specific DNS provider on how to add CNAME records if needed.)
4. Click Verify Setup

5. Once verified, your domain should be listed as Live and your posts will start coming from this domain.

   

   Pro Tip: You can also edit what comes before the "@" in your newsletter's delivery address. For example you could set it to come from hi@mail.yoursite.com

Congratulations! Your custom domain is now setup and ready to use 🎉