Custom domain use cases, by platform and job
For platforms whose customers bring their own domain: 44 categories in 5 groups, each linked to where it is covered.
Core
The job every other use case below specializes.
| Use case | What it covers | Also covered on |
|---|---|---|
| Custom domains for SaaS | Your customers connect a domain they already own to what your product gives them, from inside the product. | The custom domain API, White-label domains |
By platform type
The kinds of software whose customers connect a domain.
| Use case | What it covers | Also covered on |
|---|---|---|
| AI app and site builders | Prompt-to-app tools, AI site generators and AI publishers, where publishing on a real domain is the paid step. | Prompt-to-app builders, AI website generators |
| AI agents and MCP | Agents that connect domains for a person or a product's users, and MCP servers on a company's own domain. | Agents that connect domains, Domain and DNS MCP servers compared, A coding agent writes the integration |
| Website and page builders | Sites, portfolios, galleries and publications built by non-developers, where the domain is the publish moment. | Small-business site builders |
| Landing pages and funnels | Landing pages, funnels, forms and quizzes that run on the brand's own domain. | |
| No-code apps and portals | Apps and portals built on databases and visual builders, live on the brand's domain. | |
| E-commerce and checkout | Storefronts, checkout and billing portals, store apps and rental stores on the merchant's own domain. | Hosted storefront builders |
| Creator links and storefronts | Link-in-bio pages, creator storefronts and music smart links, where the creator's domain is the paid upgrade. | Link-in-bio pages |
| Courses and communities | Course schools, coaching, memberships and communities sold on the creator's or organization's name. | |
| Publishing and newsletters | Web publications, blogs, newsletters and podcast sites whose archive belongs on the writer's domain. | |
| The SaaS subdomain stack | Status, help, docs, changelog and careers subdomains that software companies run on vendors. | |
| Developer platforms | Hosts, backends, storage, tunnels and API portals, most of which terminate TLS themselves. | |
| Email sending platforms | Platforms that send mail as their customer, from receipts and campaigns to help desk replies. | |
| Outbound and cold email | Sequencers, inbox infrastructure and outreach tools where each customer runs many sending domains. | Custom tracking domains |
| Business email and inbound mail | Mailbox suites, forwarding and reply domains, where mail has to keep arriving. | |
| MSPs and IT service providers | Firms that onboard many client domains for mail and run security portals under their own brand. | |
| Links and tracking | Short links, QR codes, redirects and first-party tracking, mostly one CNAME on a subdomain. | |
| Agencies and white-label software | Agencies that connect many client domains, and white-label software sold under their brand. | Manage every client domain, Client domains for HighLevel agencies |
| Client portals | Portals where a firm's clients log in, upload documents and pay. | |
| Sales enablement | Proposals, data rooms and sales rooms sent from links that look first-party. | |
| Events and ticketing | Conference sites, ticketing and fundraising events, often many short-lived domains a year. | |
| Booking and scheduling | Scheduling pages and booking for salons, studios and tours on the brand's domain. | |
| Hospitality | Restaurant ordering, reservations, vacation rentals and hotels on the business's own domain. | |
| Real estate | Agent sites and single-property sites, often bought for one listing and dropped later. | |
| Local business websites | Vertical website vendors for advisors, dentists, lawyers, home services and franchises. | |
| Nonprofits, education and civic | Fundraising, churches, associations, schools and local government sites. | |
| Recruiting and HR | Job boards and employee intranets on the company's domain. |
By domain job
The DNS and HTTPS work behind a connection, one job at a time.
| Use case | What it covers | Also covered on |
|---|---|---|
| Email sending-domain records | SPF merges, DKIM by CNAME or long TXT, and DMARC for sending as a customer's domain. | |
| Identity and login domains | Branded login domains and SSO domain checks on the customer's own domain. | |
| Subdomains | The default job: a customer points app.acme.com or shop.acme.com at your platform. | |
| Root domains, www and redirects | The customer wants acme.com itself, www too, and old domains forwarding over HTTPS. | Apex domain vs CNAME, ALIAS-style root records |
| Routing and serving | How traffic for a customer domain reaches the right tenant once DNS points at you. | |
| HTTPS certificates | Getting and keeping a valid certificate for each customer hostname, CAA records included. | SSL for SaaS, Let's Encrypt rate limits |
| DNS hosting and migrations | Registrar versus DNS host, managed DNS, nameserver moves and migrating live domains. | Nameservers, glue records and delegation, Move customers' DNS to your nameservers |
| Domains bought inside other products | Domains bought inside a site builder or mail suite, edited on that product's own DNS screen. | |
| DNS edge cases | Protocol facts that break a working setup, such as IPv6, TTL and CNAME exclusivity. | TTL limits and propagation |
| International domains | Unicode names, registries with their own rules and DNS panels in other languages. |
By team goal
What product, support and engineering leads are trying to get done.
| Use case | What it covers | Also covered on |
|---|---|---|
| Evaluate and switch | Build versus buy, comparisons with other vendors, and moving existing customer domains over. | |
| Framework guides | Working code for adding customer domains to a multi-tenant app in a given framework. | |
| Support and activation | Fewer DNS tickets, a measurable connect step and handing DNS to whoever holds it. | Package custom domains in your plans, Test the flow without real domains, Tell customers when records must change |
| After go-live | Record drift and certificate state on a connected domain. | Certificate expiry alerts |
| Buying a domain | Buy a new domain in the console, and it arrives connected. |
For domain owners
Help for the person who owns the domain.
| Use case | What it covers | Also covered on |
|---|---|---|
| Help for your customers' DNS | Provider steps, error messages and why a custom domain is not working. | |
| Your own domain | Pointing a domain you own at something you run elsewhere, such as an app or a redirect. |
HighLevel and Let's Encrypt are trademarks of their owners. CustomDomain™ is not affiliated with or endorsed by them. Facts about other products were read from their public pages on October 30, 2026.
Put your customers on their own domains.
Your first ten domains connect free. No card needed to sign up.