Connecting a custom domain

Connecting a custom domain is one way to build your practice’s online presence. A custom domain serves as your website’s address and can reflect your practice name or brand.

In this guide, we'll cover:

• Purchasing a custom domain
• Connecting a custom domain
• Completing setup
• Troubleshooting your custom domain

Note: The custom domain feature is only intended for use with the Professional Website. To learn more about the default domain, see Setting a default domain.

Purchasing a custom domain

If you already have an active custom domain, you can skip ahead to connecting your domain.

There are many domain providers available. The steps below outline purchasing a domain from GoDaddy.

Important: You don’t need to purchase an SSL certificate. SSL is automatically provided when your domain is connected to SimplePractice.

Purchasing a custom domain from GoDaddy

1. Navigate to GoDaddy.com
2. Click Find Your Domain
3. Use the search bar to find an available domain
4. Add the domain to your cart and follow the prompts to complete your purchase

You can choose the basic package without additional add-on features.

Connecting a custom domain

After purchasing a custom domain, you can connect it to your SimplePractice Professional Website.

Note: After completing these steps, it can take 24–72 hours for the connection to process. This timeframe depends on your domain provider.

Connecting a custom domain hosted by GoDaddy

To get started with connecting your GoDaddy domain:

1. Sign in to your GoDaddy account
   • Need help signing in? See I can't sign in to my GoDaddy account
2. Click your name in the top right > My Products

3. Under All Products and Services, locate the Domains section
4. Next to the domain you want to connect to your SimplePractice Professional Website, click DNS

Note: Your options may look slightly different depending on your GoDaddy account settings.

5. Review the table under DNS Records to check for an existing record with:
   • Type: A
   • Name: @
6. If present, select Edit next to that listing

7. Edit the A record to match the following information:

8. If you don’t have an A record with name @, click Add and create one using the information above

Note: If you can’t edit an existing A record, it may be due to domain forwarding. Scroll to Forwarding, select the Edit pencil icon, and delete the existing forwarding. If you removed forwarding or don’t have it enabled, contact GoDaddy support.

9. Review the DNS Records table for a record with:
   • Type: CNAME
   • Name: www
10. If present, click Edit
11. Edit the CNAME record to match the following information:

Connecting a custom domain hosted by other domain providers

There are many different domain providers you can choose from. While we don’t endorse GoDaddy, it is the most commonly used domain provider for connecting to the SimplePractice Professional Website.

If your domain is hosted by another provider, follow the general steps below. For help beyond these steps, contact your domain provider’s support team. SimplePractice can’t assist with adjusting third-party DNS settings.

1. Log in to your domain provider’s account and locate your domain
2. Find the section where you can manage DNS
3. Review the DNS records table
   • There may be separate tables for A or CNAME records

4. Look for records matching:
   • Type: CNAME, Host: www
   • Type: A, Host: @
5. Edit existing records or add new ones using the information below

Note: Enter website.simplepractice.com exactly as written. If 1H isn’t available for TTL, choose the next shortest option.

Completing setup

To complete the domain connection process, return to your SimplePractice account:

1. Navigate to Marketing > Website and domain
2. Select Turn on custom domain

3. Choose your domain provider
4. Click Watch Video or Read Guide
   • You must complete this step to proceed
5. Enter your full custom domain, including www. and .com
6. Select Connect Domain

While the connection is processing, the status will show as Pending. You’ll receive an email once the connection is successful or if additional steps are required.

Important: If you make changes to your domain settings after clicking Connect Domain, you’ll need to disconnect and reconnect the custom domain. Changes aren’t automatically sent to SimplePractice and are only received during the 72-hour connection window.

Troubleshooting your custom domain

If you’re experiencing issues after following these steps, see Custom domain FAQs.