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Use your custom domain

Learn how to bring your own custom domain to Stripe Checkout, Payment Links, and customer portal.

If you’re using the Stripe-hosted page for Checkout, you can add your own custom domain to Stripe. Adding custom domains is a paid feature. For information about cost, see Checkout’s Pricing.

Add your custom domain to the Stripe Dashboard

Decide which subdomain to use with your Checkout Sessions, Payment Links, and customer portal.

Note

If your domain is example.com, we recommend using payments.example.com as your custom subdomain. You can replace payments with anything you like, as long it’s a valid subdomain. You can’t use a path like example.com/checkout and must specify a subdomain of your existing domain.

After you decide on a subdomain, visit the Custom domains settings page to start the domain connection process.

On the settings page click Add your domain.

In the pop-up, enter your desired subdomain. Click Add when you’re done. You’ll see the pop-up update with instructions for setting up your DNS records.

Your custom domain is activated automatically when your DNS records are verified. To disable this behaviour, untick the Switch to this domain once added tickbox.

When will my domain be added?

When your domain is in the Adding... state, we wait to verify your DNS records that you set up in the next step. After Stripe verifies the DNS records, we create TLS certificates for your subdomain, set up the correct CDN routing, and then your domain is ready to enable and use.

Identify your DNS Provider

To start, figure out what service is managing your DNS records, so you know exactly where to login and create the new records.

If you already know your DNS provider, you can move on to the next section.

Often, it’s the same place you registered your domain, but sometimes the DNS provider is different from your domain registrar.

If you’re not certain who your DNS provider is, try looking up your domain’s nameservers, replacing stripe.com with your own domain in this command:

Command Line
nslookup -querytype=NS stripe.com

You’ll see a list of nameservers for your domain in the output. Here’s some example output for stripe.com:

nslookup output
# Looks like AWS is providing our DNS here:
stripe.com	nameserver = ns-423.awsdns-52.com.
stripe.com	nameserver = ns-705.awsdns-24.net.
stripe.com	nameserver = ns-1087.awsdns-07.org.
stripe.com	nameserver = ns-1882.awsdns-43.co.uk.

If you’re more comfortable using a browser-based tool, go to MXLookup’s DNS Lookup tool and enter your domain. It might be able to tell you who your DNS provider is (but not always).

Create required DNS records

In this section, you’ll create the DNS records you need to connect your domain. As you go through each step, check each checkbox to keep track of where you are in the process.

Select the tab that matches your DNS provider from the tabs below—this gives you specific, guided instructions for creating the required DNS records. If your DNS provider isn’t an option, follow the Standard instructions:

These are standard instructions for creating your DNS records. If you have issues with any of the steps, please contact your DNS provider for more assistance.

Note

To track your progress, go through each step and check it off when you’ve completed it.

  • Most DNS providers have a control panel you can sign into to manage your DNS. Find your provider’s control panel page and sign in.

  • Now that you’re logged in, find where you can manage the DNS records for your domain in your provider’s control panel.

    If you’re having issues finding the right page, you can:

    • See if your DNS provider has a help article for adding new DNS records that can point you in the right direction.
    • Contact your DNS provider for additional support.

  • From your DNS control panel, add a new record that maps your desired subdomain to Checkout. Most DNS providers ask you for the record type, name, value, and TTL or expiration when creating a new record.

    Note

    This record is what connects your subdomain to Stripe Checkout.

    Enter these values and save the new DNS record:

    FieldInstructionsDescription
    TypeSelect CNAME from the dropdownWhat kind of DNS record this is.
    Name

    If your custom subdomain is checkout.powdur.me, enter checkout

    		For CNAME records, this field is the first part of your subdomain (the part leading up to the first period).

    Value

    Enter hosted-checkout.stripecdn.com

    This is what the new subdomain record points to–in this case, Stripe.

    Some providers may expect a trailing period (.) after the CNAME value. Make sure to verify that your CNAME value matches the format your provider expects.

    TTL/ExpiryEnter 300An expiration of 5 minutes (300 seconds) is OK. Your DNS provider might not allow you to change the TTL value. If this field is missing or you can’t change it, it’s safe to ignore this part of the configuration.

  • From your DNS control panel, add a new TXT record.

    Note

    This TXT record lets us verify that you’re the owner of this domain. This is required to issue TLS certificates for your domain, so you can continue to accept payments securely.

    Enter these values and save the new DNS record:

    FieldInstructionsDescription
    TypeSelect TXT from the dropdownWhat kind of DNS record this is.
    Name

    If your custom domain is checkout.powdur.me, enter _acme-challenge.checkout

    		For TXT records, this field is the subdomain portion of your domain.
    Value

    Visit the Dashboard settings and click View instructions to copy the correct TXT value record.

    		This is a long, unique string used for domain verification.
    TTL/ExpiryEnter 300An expiration of 5 minutes (300 seconds) is OK. Your DNS provider might not allow you to change the TTL value. If this field is missing or you can’t change it, it’s safe to ignore this part of the configuration.

  • After you save your DNS record, verify that it has the correct values.

    1. Wait up to 10 minutes for your DNS provider to update its nameservers.
    2. Replace checkout.powdur.me with your custom domain in the following command and run it from your terminal:
    Command Line
    nslookup -querytype=CNAME checkout.powdur.me

    You should see output like:

    nslookup output
    <your subdomain> 	canonical name = hosted-checkout.stripecdn.com.

    When you see that output, move onto the next step.

  • After you save your DNS record, verify that it has the correct values.

    1. Wait up to 10 minutes for your DNS provider to update its nameservers.
    2. Replace checkout.powdur.me with your custom domain in the following command and run it from your terminal:
    Command Line
    nslookup -querytype=TXT _acme-challenge.checkout.powdur.me

    You should see output like this:

    nslookup output
    _acme-challenge.<your domain>   text = "<your unique TXT record value>"

    If you don’t see your unique TXT record value in the output, wait a bit longer and try running the command again.

    When you finish this step, your DNS records are configured.

Now that you’ve created your DNS records and verified them, Stripe verifies the connection and provisions your domain on our end. We’ll send you an email and a Dashboard notification when the domain is ready for you to enable it. You can also visit the Dashboard settings at any time to see the current status of your custom domain connection.

OptionalTest your custom domain

Create a test payment link

You receive a notification when your custom domain is added and enabled for testing.

  1. Go to the Dashboard settings.
  2. Verify you have an Added indicator above your custom domain name.
  3. Create a payment link in a sandbox.

You see your new custom domain in the details page of your newly created payment link.

OptionalRemoving your custom domain

If you need to remove your custom domain for any reason, you can. If you remove your custom domain, you’ll need to remove any DNS records you created for your custom subdomain and follow this guide again to add it back.

To remove your custom domain completely:

  1. Go to the Dashboard settings for custom domains.
  2. Click the Remove button.
  3. Read the pop-up confirmation, and click Remove to confirm the removal.
  4. Log in to your DNS provider and delete the two DNS records you previously created for your custom subdomain.

Note

After you cancel your subscription, payment links and the customer portal link that use your custom domain stop working. You can copy and share new buy.stripe.com or billing.stripe.com links for each of your existing links.

OptionalUsing custom domains with Connect

When combining custom domains with a Connect integration, we match the same rules as our other branding settings:

Connect integration typeDescriptionWhich account’s custom domain is used?
Destination chargeYour integration uses payment_intent_data[transfer_data][destination]. See docs to read more.The platform account’s domain.
on_behalf_ofSimilar to the destination charge, but the settlement merchant is different. See docs to read more.The connected account’s domain.
Direct chargeYour integration passes in the connected account ID in the Stripe-Account header. See docs to read more.The connected account’s domain.
Separate charges and transfersCharges and transfers are handled separately from the Checkout Session. See docs to read more.The platform account’s domain.

OptionalTroubleshooting your integration

If you’ve gone through this guide and activated your custom domain in live mode but still aren’t seeing it used for your Checkout Sessions, you might be using an unsupported Checkout integration type.

Stripe has three types of Checkout integrations, and we only support server-side redirects today. Use this table to figure out what kind of integration you’re using:

Integration typeYou’re using this type if…NotesWorks with custom domains?
Client-only integrationIf you’re not creating Checkout Sessions from your server and are only using client-side stripe.redirectToCheckout and providing items such as SKUs or Plans.This integration path is deprecated.✗ No
Server-side Checkout Session creation and client-side stripe.redirectToCheckoutIf you’re creating Checkout Sessions from your server and redirecting your customers client-side by using stripe.redirectToCheckout and providing the Checkout Session ID.This was the standard documented integration path before September 2021.✗ No
Server-side Checkout Session creation and redirectIf you’re creating Checkout Sessions and redirecting your customers to the returned URL all server-side. See the Accept a payment guide for an example.This is the standard documented integration path since September 2021.✓ Yes

If you’re using an unsupported integration type, use our Accept a payment guide to switch to using server-side redirects so you can start using custom domains.

OptionalTroubleshooting CAA DNS records

The following CAA DNS records issues can occur when you attempt to add a custom domain to Checkout:

  • Your CAA record doesn’t include letsencrypt.org as a valid CA issuer.
  • You have a CAA record at the same level as your custom domain name.

Your CAA record doesn’t include letsencrypt.org as a valid CA issuer

Stripe uses Let’s Encrypt to generate TLS certificates for your custom domain. This ensures that all requests to your custom domain are secure and encrypted.

As a result, if you have an existing CAA DNS record, you need to include letsencrypt.org as a valid issuer.

To add Let’s Encrypt as an issuer:

  1. Go to your DNS panel and find the existing CAA record for your domain, and make a note of its current values.
  2. Add a new record at the same level as your other CAA records, and enter these values:
    • Name: This should be the same as your other CAA records. There is usually a name of @ for CAA records on the root of the domain (for example, powdur.me).
    • Flags: 0
    • Tag: issue
    • Value: letsencrypt.org
    • TTL: 3600 seconds (1 hour) is a good default.
  3. Save the record.

Most DNS updates take effect within an hour, but could take up to 72 hours to update globally.

To read more about setting up Let’s Encrypt CAA records, see their CAA guide.

Your CAA record is at the same level as your custom domain name

If you received an error in the Dashboard about your CAA record being at the same level as your custom domain name, there’s already an existing CAA DNS record for the custom domain name that you’re trying to connect to Checkout. For example, if you’re trying to connect checkout.powdur.me to Checkout but there’s already a CAA DNS record at that domain, Stripe returns an error.

You have a few options for fixing this issue:

  1. You can move the CAA record down a level:
    • If you want a custom domain name of checkout.powdur.me, you can create a duplicate CAA record with the same values at powdur.me instead.
    • Once the new CAA record has propagated, you can safely remove the conflicting CAA record from your DNS provider.
    • Once the removal has propagated, you can try to add your custom domain to the Dashboard again.
  2. You can choose a custom domain name above your CAA record.
    • If your CAA record lives at checkout.powdur.me, you could choose a custom domain name like pay.checkout.powdur.me.

OptionalTroubleshooting a blocked domain

Cloudflare, our domain provider, occasionally blocks some domains from being automatically added to Cloudflare as part of an additional security check. If you’re seeing an error message in the Dashboard settings about Cloudflare blocking your domain, you can email abusereply@cloudflare.com to resolve the issue.

When emailing Cloudflare, copy and paste this email template and change any of the bold [placeholders] to your own information:

To: abusereply@cloudflare.com

Subject: Unblock request for [insert your domain name]

Cloudflare,

We’re in the process of adding a custom domain name to Stripe Checkout that leverages Cloudflare. It’s currently blocked by you. Can you please unblock this hostname for us?

Domain/Hostname we are attempting to add: [insert your domain name]

Association with the domain: [provide an explanation of your association with/ownership of the domain]

Please let us know if you have additional questions.

Thanks,[Your name]

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