Point your own domain at your site, with HTTPS
Swap your free github.io or pages.dev address for yourname.co.uk, padlock and all. Buy the name at a fair price, add the few records your host asks for, and check every step with the included checker, without breaking anyone's email.
- The exact records GitHub Pages, Cloudflare Pages and Vercel ask for, and a clear rule for when to move your nameservers to Cloudflare
- A starter kit: a read-only domain checker for Windows and Mac, a records cheat sheet and a DNS backup worksheet
- A site already online at a free address. Do Put your website online free first. This mission uses its
my-first-siterepository on GitHub Pages and itsmy-first-site.pages.devproject on Cloudflare Pages. A Vercel project works too. - Money for one domain, about £5 to £10 a year. Prices before any VAT (they change, so check the links): Porkbun ↗ .co.uk $5.66 and .com $11.08, both the same to renew, with free WHOIS privacy. Cloudflare Registrar ↗ sells at cost with no markup, but only to domains that use Cloudflare's nameservers. IONOS UK ↗ .co.uk £1 plus VAT for the first year, shown against £10. Step 1 explains why the renewal price is the one that matters.
- A free Cloudflare account only if you want your bare domain (no www) on Cloudflare Pages, or want Cloudflare to run your DNS. The Free plan costs nothing.
- The terminal. You'll run a few lookup commands. New to it? The Terminal survival kit covers what's used here.
- Your email inbox. Your registrar sends a verification email you must click, and you'll send yourself a test email at the end.
- About 75 minutes, plus 15 more if you move your DNS to Cloudflare (optional). Some of it is waiting for DNS: changes are often live in minutes, but can take up to a day.
Buy the name without the renewal trap
You rent a domain one year at a time. Choosing a registrar on its renewal price, not its first-year offer, saves money every year you keep the site.
The finish line: you type
yourname.co.ukinto any browser, your site loads with a padlock, and the kit's checker ends with No problems found. Six steps get you there, and the first is buying the name.A registrar is the shop you rent the name from (Porkbun, Cloudflare, GoDaddy, IONOS and many others). The registry runs the ending itself: Nominet for
.ukand.co.uk, Verisign for.com. The name is yours for as long as you keep paying, and you can move it to another registrar later.Which ending?
- .co.uk is what UK customers expect from a UK business or person. It's cheap: $5.66 a year at Porkbun.
- .uk is the shorter version, run by the same registry and usually the same price. Fine if the short form is free.
- .com is the worldwide default. Pick it if you'll sell outside the UK, or if the .co.uk is taken. $11.08 a year at Porkbun.
- Novelty endings (.xyz, .io, .dev) look cheap on the first year and often aren't after. Check the renewal column before you fall for one.
The renewal trap, in real numbers, from the registrars' own price pages:
- Porkbun .xyz: $2.04 for the first year, then $14.21 a year.
- Porkbun .io: $28.12 for the first year, then $51.80 a year.
- IONOS .co.uk: £1 plus VAT for the first year, shown against a £10 price. The renewal figure appears once you add it to the basket, after the words renews for. Read it before you pay.
Compare on three years, not one: first year + 2 × renewal. A Porkbun .xyz costs $2.04 + $28.42 = $30.46 over three years. A Porkbun .co.uk costs 3 × $5.66 = $16.98. The "cheap" one costs nearly twice as much.
TipCloudflare Registrar charges what the registry charges, every year, with no markup. The catch: every domain registered there must use Cloudflare's nameservers, and you can't point them elsewhere without moving the domain to another registrar. Fine if you're happy with Cloudflare running your DNS (step 3).WHOIS privacyEvery domain has a public lookup record. For
.com, it could show your name, home address and phone unless the registrar hides them. Porkbun includes free WHOIS privacy, and Cloudflare redacts contact details for free. For.ukand.co.uk, Nominet only shows the registrant's details if they've opted in, so don't opt in for a personal site. Don't pay extra for privacy at a registrar that charges for it: pick one that doesn't.CarefulGive your real details anyway. Registrars and Nominet require accurate contact details, a domain with fake ones can be suspended, and you'd struggle to prove it's yours in a dispute. Then click the verification email the registrar sends: for .com, ICANN's rules let the registrar suspend the domain if you don't confirm your email (within 15 days).Lock down the account before you payWhoever controls your registrar account controls your website and your email. Use a long, unique password from a password manager, turn on two-factor authentication, and switch on auto-renew with a card that won't expire soon.
At the checkout, untick the extrasYou don't need the registrar's hosting, website builder, email bundle or "SSL certificate". Your host gives you a certificate free in step 6.
TipBuilding for a client? Register the domain in the client's name, on an account they own, with you added as a helper. Build a fast website for a local business explains why: if you fall out, they still own their name.UK law, brieflyDon't register a name built on someone else's brand or business name. Nominet's dispute service can transfer a .uk domain to the rightful owner, and trade mark law applies to every ending.
After buying, check what the world can see. For a .com, look it up at lookup.icann.org ↗. For a .co.uk or .uk, use Nominet's lookup at rdap.nominet.uk ↗.
If it breaksThe name I want is taken + 3 more
The name I want is taken
samsbikes.co.uk might be gone but samsbikesleeds.co.uk free. Names marked premium cost more, and some renew at the premium price too, so check the renewal line.