Configure your domain name for hosted Discourse

Documentation Hosted Customers
1

:bookmark: This guide explains how to change the domain name of your Discourse-hosted site, whether you want to switch to a different discourse.group address or configure a custom domain you own.

:person_raising_hand: Required user level: Administrator

Every site hosted by Discourse receives an address in the discourse.group domain when it’s created (for example, mycommunity.discourse.group). You can change the domain name of your site at any time from the Manage account page in the admin dashboard, using the Change Domain Name button.

What Change Domain Name can do

What the Change Domain Name button lets you do depends on your plan:

Plan You can
Free Switch your site to another available discourse.group address
Pro / Business Configure a custom domain you own, or switch between discourse.group addresses

Switch to a different discourse.group address

On the Free, Pro, and Business plans, you can change your site’s address to any available subdomain of discourse.group at no extra cost. You don’t need to edit any DNS records — Discourse manages this domain — and the change takes effect immediately. Custom domains aren’t available on the Free plan; on that plan the button is limited to switching between discourse.group addresses.

  1. Open the admin dashboard at https://your-site.discourse.group/admin, replacing your-site with your site’s current address.
  2. Click Manage account in the sidebar.
  3. Click Change Domain Name in the Site Domain section.
  4. Enter the new address (for example, acme.discourse.group).

:warning: Changing your domain takes effect immediately. The site stops loading on the old address, users need to reload their browser to be redirected to the new address, and everyone is logged out because sessions can’t be transferred between domains.

Configure a custom domain name (Pro and Business)

On the Pro and Business plans you can point a domain you own, such as forum.example.com, at your hosted site. If you don’t already own a domain, you can purchase one from any domain registrar.

  1. Edit the DNS records for your domain. In most cases, you do this in the control panel of the company where you purchased the domain.
  2. Add a CNAME record that points the subdomain where you want your community (for example, forum) at <something>.hosted-by-discourse.com. The exact value is specific to your site and is shared with you in the modal that opens when you click the Change Domain Name button.
  3. Open the admin dashboard at https://your-site.discourse.group/admin.
  4. Click Manage account, then click Change Domain Name.
  5. Enter your domain (for example, forum.example.com).

The wizard verifies that your domain resolves to the correct CNAME record and completes the change. Once it’s done, your site is available at the new domain.

:information_source: The site doesn’t load if you visit *.hosted-by-discourse.com directly in a browser. That’s only the CNAME target for your DNS provider. Use the domain you configured instead.

If the wizard reports that your domain doesn’t resolve to a CNAME, double-check that you created a new CNAME record (rather than replacing an existing record) and that it points at the exact *.hosted-by-discourse.com address for your site. DNS changes can take a short while to propagate.

Enterprise plans

On Enterprise plans, custom domain configuration is completed by the Discourse team, and the Change Domain Name button isn’t available. You’ll still create a CNAME record pointing your subdomain at your site’s *.hosted-by-discourse.com address, but once that’s in place, coordinate with the Discourse team so they can complete the final configuration.

Root or apex domains

:warning: If you would like your site at the root or apex domain (for example, example.com instead of www.example.com or forum.example.com), follow the guide for configuring a hosted site at a root domain. You may need to switch DNS providers first.

Select your DNS provider

Each site hosted by Discourse has a unique CNAME target in the hosted-by-discourse.com domain. The Change Domain Name modal in your admin dashboard shows the exact target for your site: wherever you see <something>.hosted-by-discourse.com in the instructions below, use the value from the modal.

The steps below describe how to create a CNAME record in the control panels of the major domain name providers. In all cases, the record you create has the same shape:

Field Value
Type CNAME
Host / Name the prefix where you want your community, for example forum
Target / Value / Points to <something>.hosted-by-discourse.com

Be sure to create a new record — do not replace an existing record, or you could lose access to your site.

If you can’t find your provider below, or you’re still having trouble configuring your CNAME record, contact the Discourse team at team@discourse.org.

:information_source: The control panels shown below change over time. If a menu doesn’t match what you see in your account, look for the same options in your provider’s own documentation.

Cloudflare

  1. Log in to your Cloudflare account.
  2. Select your domain.
  3. Select the DNS tab in the navigation menu.
  4. Select Add Record.
  5. Under Type, choose CNAME.
  6. Under Name, enter the prefix for your community, for example forum.
  7. Under Target, enter <something>.hosted-by-discourse.com.
  8. Under TTL, select Auto.
  9. Under Proxy status, select the Cloudflare cloud icon (orange) to turn off the Cloudflare CDN. The icon must be gray. Sites hosted by Discourse already use their own CDN; leaving the Cloudflare proxy active interferes with the site.
  10. Select Save.

eNom

  1. Log in to your account at enom.com.
  2. From the Domains menu, select My Domain, then click Manage Domains.
  3. Click the domain you’d like to use with Discourse.
  4. Click Host Settings.
  5. To add a CNAME record, click NEW ROW. To edit an existing record, update the CNAME row.
  6. Enter the prefix for your community, for example forum.
  7. Enter <something>.hosted-by-discourse.com as the host name.
  8. Click Save.

EuroDNS

  1. Log in to your account at eurodns.com.
  2. Click My Domains in the My Domains menu on the left of the page.
  3. Click the DNS column on the row of the domain you wish to change.
  4. From the Add… menu of the HOST NAME table, choose Host Alias, and click Add.
  5. In the Alias field, enter the prefix for your community, for example forum.
  6. Enter <something>.hosted-by-discourse.com in the Host Name field.
  7. Click Save Settings.

Gandi.net

  1. Log in to your account at gandi.net.
  2. Click the Administration tab, then click the control panel link.
  3. Click the domain you want to manage, and go to Technical Settings.
  4. Click Manage DNS zone file.
  5. Click Add an entry, and fill in the fields:
    • Name: the prefix for your community, for example forum
    • Type: CNAME
    • Value: <something>.hosted-by-discourse.com., including the trailing dot
  6. Click Submit, then click Submit Changes.

GoDaddy.com

  1. Log in to your account at dns.godaddy.com.
  2. Select your domain to open the Domain Settings page.
  3. Under Additional Settings, select Manage DNS.
  4. Select Add below the records table.
  5. Under Type, select CNAME.
  6. Enter the details for the record:
    • Host: the prefix for your community, for example forum
    • Points to: <something>.hosted-by-discourse.com
    • TTL: select how long the server should cache the record
  7. Click Save.

IONOS

  1. Log in to your account at my.ionos.com.
  2. Click Domains & SSL in the navigation menu.
  3. Click the domain you want to manage. The Domain Overview page opens.
  4. Click DNS to manage your DNS settings.
  5. Click Add Record and select CNAME.
  6. Enter the prefix for your community, for example forum.
  7. Enter <something>.hosted-by-discourse.com as the value.
  8. Click Save.

iwantmyname

  1. Log in to your account at iwantmyname.com.
  2. Go to your Domains section.
  3. In the Nameservers section, click Manage DNS records.
  4. In the Hostname box, enter the prefix for your community, for example forum.
  5. Set the Type to CNAME.
  6. In the Value box, enter <something>.hosted-by-discourse.com.
  7. Click Add, then Save DNS Settings.

Namecheap

Source: Namecheap’s CNAME documentation

  1. Log in to your Namecheap account.
  2. Select Domain List from the left menu and click Manage next to your domain.
  3. Open the Advanced DNS tab.
  4. Click Add New Record.
  5. From the Type menu, select CNAME Record.
  6. Enter the prefix for your community (for example, forum) in the Host field and <something>.hosted-by-discourse.com in the Value field.
  7. Click Save All Changes.

Network Solutions

  1. Log in to your account at networksolutions.com.
  2. In the left navigation bar, open the nsWebAddress (Domains) menu.
  3. Click Manage Domain Names.
  4. On the Domain Details page for your domain, select the Designated DNS radio button next to Change domain to point to. If you’ve already configured advanced DNS settings, click Edit next to Advanced DNS Settings.
  5. Click Apply Changes.
  6. Under Advanced DNS Manager, click Manage Advanced DNS Records.
  7. Under Host Aliases (CNAME Records), click Add/Edit.
  8. In the Alias box, enter the prefix for your community, for example forum.
  9. Select the radio button next to the Other Host box.
  10. Enter <something>.hosted-by-discourse.com in the Other Host box.
  11. Click Continue.
  12. Review your changes and click Save Changes to create the CNAME record.

No-IP

  1. Log in to your account at No-IP.
  2. On the left, click Host/Redirects, then click Manage.
  3. Click Add for a new entry, or click Modify for an existing entry.
  4. Enter the prefix for your community as the host name, for example forum.
  5. Select DNS alias CNAME as the host type.
  6. Enter <something>.hosted-by-discourse.com as the Target Host and click Modify.

Register.com

  1. Log in to your account at register.com.
  2. Under the My Accounts tab, click the domain you’re using with Discourse.
  3. Scroll down to Advanced Technical Settings and click Edit Domain Aliases Records.
  4. In the box to the left of your domain name, enter the prefix for your community, for example forum.
  5. Enter <something>.hosted-by-discourse.com in the points to box.
  6. Click Continue, review your changes, and click Continue again to create the CNAME record.

Squarespace

Source: Squarespace’s custom DNS record documentation

  1. Log in to your account at account.squarespace.com.
  2. From your Home Menu, click Settings, then click Domains.
  3. Under Squarespace Domains, click the domain you’d like to configure, then click Advanced Settings.
  4. Scroll down to Custom Records.
  5. In a blank row, select CNAME from the Record menu.
  6. In the Host field, enter the prefix for your community, for example forum.
  7. In the Data field, enter <something>.hosted-by-discourse.com.
  8. Click Add to save the record.

Last Reviewed by @SaraDev on 2022-05-24T21:00:00Z

Last edited by @dax 2026-09-16T18:05:15Z

Check documentPerform check on document:
29 Likes
Hostname for your discourse ? (example.discourse.com)
Change the domain name or rename your Discourse
How to setup subdomain
If I switch to a custom domain, is it easy to set up a redirect?
:cn: How to change the domain name | 如何修改 Discourse 的域名
What will happen with my community web address if I upgrade, e.g. from Starter to Pro?
What will happen with my community web address if I upgrade, e.g. from Starter to Pro?
Unable to change a domain
Using Custom Domain
Hosted Customers Index
Proper DNS settings for subdomain
Proper DNS settings for subdomain