Connect a Custom Domain to Shopify: Steps and Fixes

To connect a custom domain to Shopify, go to Settings > Domains > Connect existing domain, enter your domain and either let Shopify connect it automatically (Cloudflare, GoDaddy and IONOS) or add the DNS records at your provider by hand. The change usually takes effect within two hours, can take up to two days, and you keep paying your domain provider. Steps below follow Shopify’s Help Center pages on connecting domains and buying domains, read on October 23, 2026.

Connect or buy?

Shopify also has a separate flow for transferring a third-party domain to Shopify, which moves the registration into your admin; this guide covers connecting. Domains bought through Shopify are registered for one year, cannot be refunded, and the name cannot be changed after purchase. Shopify does not provide email hosting, so keep your email with its own service. When you only connect a domain, you still log in to your provider to manage settings, pay and renew.

Connect your domain

Before you touch DNS, export or screenshot the current records at your provider. The MX and TXT records that carry your email stay where they are; you only replace the A, AAAA and www records. A copy of the old zone also lets you undo a typo in a minute instead of guessing what was there. Check first whether your domain is already connected to another Shopify store. If it is, the same flow asks you to verify ownership with a TXT record or automatic verification before it moves.

Automatic, for Cloudflare, GoDaddy and IONOS:

1. In the admin, go to Settings > Domains and click Connect existing domain.
2. Enter the domain without www and click Next.
3. Click Connect automatically, sign in to your provider, click Connect, then Close.

Manual, for every other provider:

1. Open your provider’s DNS settings and add the records Shopify shows for your domain: an A record at @, an AAAA record at @, and a CNAME at www pointing to shops.myshopify.com. with the trailing period. Delete other A and AAAA records on the root. You can have one A record and one www CNAME.
2. Save, then in Shopify go to Settings > Domains, click Connect existing domain, enter the domain, click Next, then Connect domain.

Copy the values from the Help Center page for your provider or from the domain’s page in your admin rather than from a blog post; Shopify’s page says the A record can show a different final number by region and still be valid. Leave TTL at your provider’s default. Shopify has separate instructions for GoDaddy, IONOS, Cloudflare, Namecheap, Wix, Hover, Hostinger, Squarespace, Network Solutions and Alibaba Cloud, plus a page for connecting a subdomain.

Click the domain on the Domains page to see its status. A finished connection shows DNS pointing to Shopify, the domain live in all regions and a TLS certificate provisioned.

Make it the primary domain

On Settings > Domains, click the domain, find the Type row, click Change, choose Primary domain and confirm with Change domain type. Your previous primary domain becomes a redirect to the new one, and so does your myshopify.com address. Before you change the primary domain, check that both the root and www show Connected.

Changing the primary domain also changes the URLs of markets that use your primary domain or a subfolder of it; the choices for several countries are in Shopify international domains. If you are moving a live store to Shopify, do the domain switch as the last step of the migration, after the redirects are in place. The launch checklist puts it next to email authentication.

Domain not connecting?

Buying a domain through Shopify instead

If you have no domain yet, Settings > Domains > Buy new domain shows the extensions available for your name with their prices; the price depends on the extension, and not every extension is sold. Before you click Buy, check three things on the purchase summary:

1. Auto-renew this domain every year is on by default. Leave it on unless you track renewals yourself, because the registration lasts one year and renewals are charged separately from your plan.
2. The Contact information cannot contain special characters such as ß or ä. Replace them with their English equivalents for the purchase; the WHOIS record keeps those equivalents even if you change the address back later.
3. The summary says whether the extension includes WHOIS privacy. If it does not and you want your contact details hidden, cancel and pick another extension.

Some extensions also have residency or business-registration rules, and a domain whose owner cannot meet them can be suspended. A Shopify-bought domain needs a paid plan, so transfer it to another provider or store before you deactivate the store if you want to keep it. In return you manage everything in one admin: subdomains, forwarding email addresses, payment and renewal.

When you need help

Shopify Support cannot open your provider’s settings, so DNS fixes happen at the provider. Sidekick can check the connection status and DNS errors of a domain you name, but it cannot sign in to your provider.

More running-a-store guides are in the running a store hub.

Frequently asked questions

How long does it take to connect a domain to Shopify? A connection usually takes effect within two hours after you update the DNS records, and up to two days. Shopify’s connect page says full activation can take up to 48 hours.

Do I need to buy SSL for a connected domain? You do not. Shopify provisions a TLS certificate for the connection, and for domains bought through Shopify it creates one automatically.

Can I keep my email when I connect a domain? Shopify does not host email, and the records you add for the connection are the A, AAAA and www CNAME records. Leave your MX and email TXT records as they are, and send yourself a test message after the DNS change settles. A domain bought through Shopify can have forwarding addresses that pass mail on to an inbox you already use, but a mailbox you send from still needs an email host.