Getting your own domain

Right now your site lives at something like your-app.vercel.app. That works — but if you want it to feel like yours, a custom domain like alexphoto.com makes all the difference.

Pick a domain name

Go to your registrar and search for a name. A .com is the default choice, but .dev, .io, .photo, or .me all work fine. Shorter is better. If the exact name you want is taken, try adding a word (alexphoto.com instead of alex.com).

Where to buy

We recommend Namecheap — straightforward pricing, no upsells, and a clean UI. But any registrar works:

RegistrarNotes
NamecheapSimple pricing, good UI, popular with developers
CloudflareAt-cost pricing (cheapest renewals), also handles DNS and CDN
PorkbunLow prices, clean interface, good for .dev and newer TLDs
VercelBuy directly from your dashboard — zero DNS config needed

If you buy from Vercel, you can skip the DNS step below entirely — it's connected automatically. The tradeoff is slightly higher prices and less flexibility if you ever move away from Vercel.

For everyone else, Namecheap or Cloudflare are solid defaults. Cloudflare has the cheapest renewals (they sell at cost), but requires you to use their DNS — which is fine, but it's one more thing to set up.

Connect it to Vercel

  1. In your Vercel dashboard, go to your project → Settings → Domains
  2. Type your domain name and click Add
  3. Vercel will show you DNS records to add — usually an A record and a CNAME
  4. Go to your registrar's DNS settings and add those records
  5. Wait a few minutes (sometimes up to an hour) for DNS to propagate
  6. Vercel will automatically set up HTTPS for you

That's it. Once DNS propagates, your site is live at your custom domain.

Don't stress about it

A custom domain is nice to have, not a requirement. Your .vercel.app URL works perfectly fine for sharing, and you can always add a domain later. If you're not ready to spend money on a domain right now, skip this and keep building.