Most middle-high class WordPress hosting services such as Kinsta, Pressable, and Pressidium don’t offer domain registration service. To allow your visitors to access your website via your domain name, you need to connect your domain with the website you installed on your account. If you have just migrated to Kinsta, this post will show you how to connect your domain with a website on your Kinsta account.
In Kinsta, domain is divided into two types: Cloudflare domain and non-Cloudflare domain. A Cloudflare domain is a domain that has been connected to Cloudflare before, while a non-Cloudflare domain is a domain that hasn’t connected to Cloudflare yet. Simply put, if you have never used Cloudflare before, you can consider your domain a non-Cloudflare domain.
Cloudflare itself is a CDN service used by Kinsta. Each website added to Kinsta has this feature enabled by default. You don’t to make additional configuration to use Cloudflare CDN on your website.
How to Add and Connect Non-Cloudflare Domain in Kinsta
Step 1: Add Kinsta Name Servers to Your Domain
On the first step, you need to add the Kinsta name server to your domain. But before doing so, you need to add a domain first.
Login to the Kinsta dashboard — MyKinsta — using your account. Click the DNS menu on the left panel. To add a new domain, you can click the Add your first domain button.
Once the domain is added, copy the available name servers (you should see four name servers as captured below).
Login to the service where you bought the domain from (e.g., Namecheap). Select a domain you want to add to Kinsta and click the Manage menu (or a menu with a similar name). Find a menu item that has a label Nameserver Settings (or the similar name) and select it.
Replace the default name servers with the Kinsta name servers you have just copied above. You can replace all the default name servers. Make sure to click the Change nameserver button after making the changes.
Go back to the Kinsta dashboard and click the Check nameservers button. Wait a moment and you should see a green checklist next to your domain name.
Step 2: Add the DNS Record
Once your domain is added, the next step is to add the DNS record. On this step, you need to add the IP address of your website. To find it out (the IP address), click the WordPress Websites menu on the Kinsta dashboard. Select (click) the preferred domain.
You can find the IP address on the Environment details section. Copy the IP address.
Go back to the DNS menu and click your domain.
Before you add a new DNS record, check whether there are DNS records already exist. If you find existing DNS records, you can delete them first. Once done deleting, click the Add a DNS record button to add a new record.
On the appearing window, paste the IP address you have just copied above. You can paste it to the IPv4 address field under the A tab. Click the Add DNS record button.
Keep in mind that it can take up to 24 hours for your name server to propagate. So, be patient.
Step 3: Connect the Newly Added Domain with Your WordPress Site
Once the DNS is fully propagated, you can connect the domain you have just added above with your WordPress website.
On the Kinsta dashboard, click the WordPress Site menu and select your preferred website to access the site settings.
Click the Domains menu on the left panel and click the Add domain button.
On the appearing window, paste your domain name to the available field and click the Add domain button.
Wait a moment until domain addition is done. Next, you can set your domain as the primary domain. To do so, click the three-dot icon on your domain and select Make Primary Domain.
On the appearing dialog, you can check the Run search and replace option before clicking the Make primary button. It will make the transition from the temporary domain (temporarydomain.kinsta.cloud) completely successful.
That’s it. You can now access your website hosted on Kinsta via your own domain instead of temporary domain provided by Kinsta.
The Bottom Line
Kinsta is a cloud hosting service. The main infrastructure of the Kinsta hosting service is powered by Google Cloud, while the CDN feature is powered by Cloudflare. Kinsta is a perfect option if you want to have a website with a blazing fast speed. In Kinsta itself, you can add multiple domains. However, you can only connect the to your website according to the plan you subscribed to.
To allow your visitors to access your website via your domain name, you need to add and connect your domain manually since Kinsta doesn’t offer a domain registration service. If you are new to Kinsta and encounter an issue adding your domain, you can read our instructions above.