Going Live Guide
Point your Namecheap domain at your site
Everything happens on the Advanced DNS tab, and the only real trap is the parking page Namecheap sets up for you.
🔑 Your Namecheap login
⏱ About five minutes
📍 Tab: Advanced DNS
← Back to the main guide
You do not transfer anything. Your domain stays with Namecheap, in your name, with nothing unlocked or moved. You are adding two settings, and your email is not affected by either of them.
Both records are type A, and both point to the same place:
| Type | Host | Points to |
|---|
| A | @ (Namecheap uses @ for the address itself) | 88.208.226.236 |
| A | www | 88.208.226.236 |
1Open your DNS screen
- Sign in to Namecheap and select Domain List in the left sidebar.
- Select Manage next to your domain.
- Open the Advanced DNS tab and find the Host records section.
2Clear the parking records
- A new Namecheap domain usually arrives with a parking page already set up. Look for a URL Redirect Record, or a CNAME on
www, or an existing A Record on @.
- Remove any of those. They point at Namecheap's parking page and will fight with the records you are about to add.
3Add the two records
- Select Add New Record, choose A Record, set Host to
@ and Value to 88.208.226.236.
- Select Add New Record again, choose A Record, set Host to
www and the same value.
- Save each one with the green tick, then check the Save changes control at the top of the section.
Things Namecheap does differently
If the Advanced DNS tab looks empty or greyed out
Your domain is probably set to Custom DNS, which means another company is answering for it and Namecheap's records are ignored. Check the Nameservers setting on the Domain tab. It needs to say Namecheap BasicDNS, PremiumDNS or FreeDNS for the steps above to have any effect. If it says Custom DNS, tell us who the nameservers belong to and we will point you at the right screen.
If you cannot find the parking record
It is sometimes listed as an Unmasked Redirect or Masked Redirect rather than a URL Redirect. Same thing, remove it.
If you already have a website at this address
Add the records at a quiet time of day. While the change spreads, some visitors reach your old site and some reach the new one, and both work. There is also a short window while your security certificate is issued when the address may not load properly, which is why the evening beats mid-morning. Your dashboard tells you when it is finished.
When you are done
That is your part finished. We watch for the change and handle the rest: the secure padlock, making sure search engines see the right address, and email from your own domain.
Your dashboard shows the progress and tells you the moment it is complete. You do not need to keep the page open, and you do not need to check anything at Namecheap again.