Hosting on a custom domain

There's no security, performance, or product-level benefit from hosting your newsletter on a custom domain. But, I think we all have to admit it — it's a little bit cooler. this-week-in-poetry.com is simply a cooler and perhaps even more impressive domain than this-week-in-poetry.buttondown.email or buttondown.email/this-week-in-poetry.

And there's nothing wrong with that! if you want to establish your newsletter as an independent entity, not simply a "Buttondown newsletter", setting up a custom domain on which to host it makes a lot of sense.

Setting up your custom hosting domain

1. If you're not signed up for either the Standard or Professional plan, go ahead and upgrade your account!
2. Add the custom domain in your Domain page.

Note that the hosting domain should be a custom subdomain, such as newsletter.janedoe.com, and that the sending domain should be domain.com. The sending domain should match the custom email you have set.

Once you have changed the hosting domain, the text box will prompt you to change the CNAME record of the domain you'd like to use as your custom domain and provide you with a CNAME that ends with herokudns.com that you'll need to change with your DNS provider.

Using a subdomain of buttondown.email

This isn't possible to do in the UI, but there are no technical limitations. Email us and we'll get it wired up for you!

The difference between hosting domains and sending domains

Hosting on a custom domain means using a domain outside of buttondown.email to host your newsletter and archives — for example, newsletter.example.com or weeknotes.buttondown.email.

Sending from a custom domain means setting up your DNS records so that Buttondown sends outgoing emails from your domain, improving reputation and delivery metrics.

Hosting requires you sign up for either the Standard or Professional plan; sending does not. This is because, well, sending emails that actually get delivered is pretty dang important, and it's scummy to hide that behind a paywall.

Can I use the same domain for hosting and sending?

Unfortunately, some DNS providers will not let you set up the exact same domain or subdomain for both sending emails and as your custom archive.

For these DNSes, we recommend setting up completely separate subdomains — something along the lines of the following:

• newsletter.janedoe.com for your custom newsletter domain (where folks view archives and subscribe to your newsletter)
• mail.janedoe.com for your custom sending domain (where outgoing emails come from)

This is the best option to preserve the deliverability of your newsletter (and, frankly, most people are not particularly confused by this at all.)