Connecting a Custom Domain

By creavio Team April 10, 2026 1 views

Connecting a Custom Domain

Your creavio site starts at creav.io/yourname. That works fine for getting started. But if you want clients to find you at yourname.com, you need to connect a custom domain.

This takes about 10 minutes and does not require any technical background.

What You Need

  • A domain you own (purchased from Namecheap, GoDaddy, Google Domains, Cloudflare, or any registrar)
  • Access to your domain registrar's DNS settings
  • A creavio Pro plan or higher — custom domains are not available on the Free plan

Step 1: Add Your Domain in creavio

  1. Go to Settings > Domains
  2. Click + Add Domain
  3. Enter your domain name (e.g., janedoephoto.com)
  4. Click Verify

creavio will display two DNS records you need to add at your registrar. Keep this page open — you will need these values in the next step.

Step 2: Add DNS Records at Your Registrar

Log into your domain registrar and find the DNS settings or DNS management page for your domain. Add the following records:

Record 1 — CNAME

  • Type: CNAME
  • Name/Host: www
  • Value/Target: the value shown in your creavio Domains settings (looks like custom.creav.io)
  • TTL: Auto or 300

Record 2 — A Record (for root domain)

  • Type: A
  • Name/Host: @ (or leave blank, depending on registrar)
  • Value: the IP address shown in your creavio Domains settings
  • TTL: Auto or 300

If your registrar supports CNAME flattening (Cloudflare does), you can use a CNAME for the root domain instead of an A record.

Step 3: Verify and Activate

Go back to Settings > Domains in creavio and click Verify. DNS changes can take anywhere from 5 minutes to 48 hours to propagate, though most complete within 30 minutes.

Once verified, creavio automatically provisions a free SSL certificate for your domain. Your site will be accessible at both https://yourname.com and https://www.yourname.com.

Registrar-Specific Tips

Namecheap: Go to Domain List > Manage > Advanced DNS. Add records under Host Records. Use @ for the root domain.

GoDaddy: My Products > DNS > Manage. Delete any existing A records for @ before adding the creavio one. GoDaddy sometimes adds default parking records that conflict.

Cloudflare: DNS > Records. Set the proxy status to DNS only (gray cloud) for the creavio CNAME. Orange cloud proxying can cause SSL conflicts.

Google Domains: DNS > Custom Records. Straightforward — just add both records.

Troubleshooting

Domain still showing "Pending" after an hour? Double-check that you did not add extra spaces in the CNAME value. Some registrars add a trailing dot — that is usually fine, but check anyway.

SSL certificate not loading? This can take up to 24 hours after DNS verification. If it has been longer, check that no other CDN or proxy (like Cloudflare with orange cloud enabled) is interfering.

Old website still showing? Your browser may be caching the old DNS. Try an incognito window or clear your DNS cache. On Mac: sudo dscacheutil -flushcache. On Windows: ipconfig /flushdns.

Can I connect a subdomain instead? Yes. Enter something like gallery.yourname.com and add a CNAME record for gallery pointing to the creavio target. Useful if you want your main site elsewhere but galleries on creavio.

Next Steps

With your domain connected, set up your SEO settings to make sure search engines index your new domain correctly. Then build out your website pages and portfolio.