When launching a brand guideline, you can choose to use our domain (brandpad.io) or your own domain. We support both root domains (domain.com) and sub-domains (sub.domain.com). All custom domains come with a free SSL certificate.
​

First, make sure you have access to the registrar dashboard for the domain you want to use. If you own this domain, you should probably have access to this dashboard where you bought (or host) the domain itself. If it’s your client's domain, you might need them to help you set this up.
​
When you have access to the domain, you will need to choose the domain route for your guideline. First, you do this in Brandpad. Go to Brand Settings for the brand guideline you want to set up the domain for. Under Custom Domain, you should find an input field labeled “Your custom domain URL”. Here, you add your domain. If you want to use the root, you add “yourdomain.com” (obviously changed out with your actual domain). If you want to use a sub-domain, you input “sub.yourdomain.com”, i.e.: brand.companyname.com. Choose which registrar you are using from the list (if it’s not there, you can choose ‘other’) and click the update button. After that, look for the On / Off links on the tab above and click “On”.
​

Now that Brandpad is set up to route your domain properly, it’s time to point your domain to Brandpad. Go to your registrar's dashboard and find the tab that allows you to set up DNS (this is sometimes called Advanced DNS). Here, you should be able to add a new pointer and choose three things; the type of record, the host (which is your domain) and the value or address (which will be where the domain is pointed.
​
The record you want to choose is CNAME, virtual CNAME, ALIAS or ANAME - they are the same, pick whichever option is available from your DNS provider. The host you want to use is the domain you landed on (sub.yourdomain.com or yourdomain.com). The value you want to input is ‘brandpad.io’. On top of this, you will probably have the choice of TTL. TTL means time to live and you can choose the lowest value if you want this to go through at once. Save your changes, and you’re good.
​
​NOTE: If your DNS provider neither allows you to point a CNAME to our root domain brandpad.io, nor has ALIAS / ANAME options, you should make an “A” record type. The host you want to use is the domain you landed on (sub.yourdomain.com or yourdomain.com). Value is: “75.2.48.235". Please note that IP addresses sometimes change, so this method is less desirable than the one cited in the previous paragraph.

Now you wait. Depending on the registrar, this change can take up to 24 hours but normally takes less. Your guideline should be available on the domain you picked within the hour. The SSL certificate that we provide will automatically attach itself to your domain and is updated hourly, so wait an hour or two and everything should be in perfect order.

Note on CDNs and proxies: Brandpad doesn’t support CDNs or any type of proxied setups. While some of them might initially work, they require specialist troubleshooting if something goes wrong and your brand will become inaccessible for long periods of time. If you already have a CDN or a proxy set up, you should switch to our supported setup and turn the request proxying off to avoid any future issues.
​

If you have questions or need help regarding setting up a custom domain, contact us through the in-app chat in the system or by email.
​