What a custom domain does in beehiiv
Every beehiiv publication starts on a built-in beehiiv subdomain. beehiiv says one custom domain can do up to four jobs: a web domain where your site lives, an optional website redirect from your root domain, an email domain your newsletters are sent from, and a branded link domain for tracked links in your emails. [1]
beehiiv's setup offers three paths: Host my website, Send my newsletters, or Set up both, which it recommends for most publications. [1] This guide follows Set up both.
Which plan you need
beehiiv's two custom domain help articles state that custom domains are available on paid plans and label the plan requirement All Paid Plans. [1] [2] Its pricing page, captured on October 29, 2026, lists three published tiers plus Enterprise: Free up to 2,500 subscribers, Lite for lists up to 100,000 subscribers, and Pro for lists up to 250,000. Paid prices rise with list size: at the smallest tier shown, up to 1,000 subscribers, Lite was $49 a month billed yearly ($59 month to month) and Pro was $95 a month billed yearly ($109 month to month). [4] The pricing page is itself inconsistent: Custom Domains appears in the Free plan's feature list, while the page's feature comparison tables mark custom domains as not included on Free. [4]
Because the help center and pricing page disagree, do not upgrade or stay on Free on our word. Open Settings, then Domains, in your account. If Set up custom domain is available, you can proceed; if not, beehiiv's help says to check your plan. [1]
Choose your names before touching DNS
beehiiv recommends subdomains. It says a subdomain such as www.yoursite.com or newsletter.yoursite.com is simpler to verify and secure than a root domain, and that if your root domain already runs another website you should always use a subdomain so that site keeps working. For email, it recommends sending from a subdomain such as email.yoursite.com, which it says protects your main domain's reputation. [1]
If you are moving from another email platform, beehiiv's advice is the opposite: keep the same email domain or subdomain you send from today, to protect your sender reputation. [1]
| Setup field in beehiiv | Example entry | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Web domain or subdomain | www.yoursite.com | Use a subdomain if yoursite.com runs another site [1] |
| Website redirect | Off, or on if yoursite.com should land on beehiiv | Leave off if the root serves another website [1] |
| Email domain or subdomain | email.yoursite.com | Or your current sending domain if migrating [1] |
| Sending address | hello | Produces [email protected]; the sender name is set separately under Settings, Email [1] |
The records beehiiv asks for
If you choose I'll add the records myself, beehiiv shows each record with a Type, Name and Value. The first is a TXT record that verifies you own the domain. The rest are grouped by what they connect. [2] beehiiv's DMARC article says SPF and DKIM are handled through CNAME records it creates during setup, and that its automatic DMARC applies only to beehiiv subdomains, so a custom sending domain needs a DMARC record you add yourself. [3]
Copy each value from beehiiv using its copy icons; the values are unique to your publication and are not reproduced here.
| Group | Records | When it verifies |
|---|---|---|
| Ownership | 1 TXT record [2] | Click Verify ownership; DNS changes can take an hour or more [2] |
| Web domain | 1 CNAME record [2] | Often goes Live before the email records [1] |
| Email domain | 3 CNAME records: one for SPF, two for DKIM [3] | Wait for Live before sending [2] |
| Branded link | 2 CNAME records; one value is replaced partway through [2] | Shows Needs attention until the replacement is made [2] |
| DMARC | 1 TXT record named _dmarc [3] | Required for every publication sending from a custom domain [1] |
Namecheap walkthrough
Namecheap's Advanced DNS Host Records section is only available when the domain uses Namecheap BasicDNS, FreeDNS or PremiumDNS. If your domain points to third-party nameservers or Namecheap hosting nameservers, add the records wherever that DNS is managed instead. [5] Check this under Domain List, Manage, Nameservers.
- Sign in to Namecheap, open Domain List, click Manage next to the domain, then select the Advanced DNS tab. [5]
- Before adding beehiiv's web record, remove any existing A or CNAME record with the same name, such as www. [2]
- Click Add New Record for each beehiiv record. In Host, enter only the part before your domain: www, not www.yoursite.com. Use @ only for the bare domain. [5] beehiiv gives the same instruction for providers that append the domain automatically. [2]
- Leave TTL on Automatic; Namecheap's default is 30 minutes, which is how long old values can linger in caches after a change. [5]
- Do not create a CNAME on the bare domain (@). Namecheap warns it can affect MX records and your email service. [5] beehiiv's design avoids this by using subdomains.
- For DMARC, add a TXT record with Host _dmarc and the value from beehiiv's DMARC wizard. beehiiv's example of a monitoring-only record is v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:[email protected]; [3]
- Back in beehiiv, click Verify ownership, then Verify record on each group. You can click Done for now; beehiiv keeps checking for up to 72 hours. [2]
Verifying, and three things that commonly go wrong
beehiiv says verification usually takes a few hours but can take up to 72 hours, and that the website often goes Live before the sending address and branded link. Wait until the sending address shows Live on the Domains page before you send from the new domain. [1] [2] Once the web domain is live, your beehiiv subdomain redirects to it and keeps the full URL path, so existing post links keep working. [1]
- Doubled domain names: entering www.yoursite.com in a Host field that appends the domain creates www.yoursite.com.yoursite.com, a record at the wrong name; beehiiv keeps showing a record as Not detected until it finds it at the expected name. [2] [5]
- Cloudflare proxying: beehiiv cannot detect records set to Proxied; set each beehiiv record to DNS only. [1]
- Older DMARC syntax: beehiiv's DMARC article includes an example using pct=50. RFC 9989, the 2026 DMARC standard that obsoletes RFC 7489, removed the pct tag and replaced it with a t tag for test mode. [3] [6] A monitoring-only p=none record is unaffected; if you later move to quarantine or reject, check which tags your DMARC tool generates.
Who should set up both domains now, and who should wait
- Set up both now: a new publication with no sending history, where the web and email names can be chosen cleanly.
- Website only first: a publication moving an established website, which needs redirects planned before switching; beehiiv notes old page addresses do not carry over on their own. [1]
- Email domain carefully: anyone migrating from another platform should reuse the existing sending domain rather than invent a new subdomain. [1]
- Wait: if someone else controls your DNS and you cannot get changes made within a day or two, use beehiiv's option to copy or email the setup instructions to them first. [2]
Questions before you decide
Do I need to change nameservers to use beehiiv?
No. beehiiv says it will never ask you to change your nameservers. You add records at whichever service currently runs your DNS.
Which beehiiv plan do I need for a custom domain?
beehiiv's custom domain help articles say the feature is available on all paid plans. Its pricing page, captured on October 29, 2026, lists Custom Domains in the Free plan's feature list but marks custom domains as not included for Free in its comparison tables. Because the sources conflict, open Settings, then Domains, in your account; if the setup option is missing, the help article says to check your plan.
Can I connect my root domain instead of www?
beehiiv recommends a subdomain, saying it is simpler to verify and secure, and says to always use a subdomain if the root domain already runs another website. Its optional Website redirect sends root-domain visitors to your beehiiv site.
Why does my branded link say Needs attention?
beehiiv says this is an expected second step, not an error. Replace the value of the one record it marks, leave the other branded link record alone, and click Verify updated record.
Sources & verification
Product details and prices can change. Check the linked provider before buying.
- beehiiv Support: How to use a custom domain for your publication Accessed 29 Oct 2026
- beehiiv Support: How to add your custom domain DNS records manually Accessed 29 Oct 2026
- beehiiv Support: Setting up DMARC for a custom domain Accessed 29 Oct 2026
- beehiiv pricing Accessed 29 Oct 2026
- Namecheap Knowledgebase: How do I set up host records for a domain? Accessed 29 Oct 2026
- RFC 9989: Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance (DMARC) Accessed 29 Oct 2026
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