Domains

Apex vs www

Which domain should you connect — yourbrand.com or www.yourbrand.com?

yourbrand.com and www.yourbrand.com are technically different domains, set up differently in DNS. When you connect a custom domain you pick which one is the primary — and whether the other should also reach your site.

The short answer

Use both. Connect www.yourbrand.com and choose Include apex so yourbrand.com redirects to www. Whichever one a visitor types, they end up on your site.

Why it matters

  • Apex is the root domain: yourbrand.com. In standard DNS, an apex can’t be a CNAME — it has to be an A record (or a provider-specific ALIAS / CNAME flattening record).
  • Subdomain (including www) is anything in front: www.yourbrand.com, launch.yourbrand.com. Subdomains can be CNAMEs freely.

PageFork’s edge accepts traffic via a CNAME to sites.pagefork.ai. An apex without CNAME flattening can’t do that — so when your registrar doesn’t support flattening, PageFork uses a small redirect service at the apex to bridge the gap.

The three scenarios

1. Subdomain only (e.g. launch.yourbrand.com)

One CNAME to sites.pagefork.ai at the subdomain. See DNS records reference → Case A.

2. www + apex, and your DNS provider supports ALIAS / flattening

Providers like Cloudflare, DNSimple, Netlify DNS, Route 53, and a few registrars. One record at the apex (ALIAS or flattened CNAME) is enough. See DNS records reference → Case C.

3. www + apex, and your DNS provider doesn’t support flattening / ALIAS

Most traditional registrars (GoDaddy, Namecheap, most others). You’ll add two records:

  • A CNAME on www → sites.pagefork.ai. This is where your site is actually served.
  • An A record on the apex → PageFork’s redirect-service IP (shown in-app). This IP runs a tiny HTTP service that 301-redirects every request from yourbrand.com to www.yourbrand.com.

Visitors who type the apex hit the redirect service and are bounced to www, where your site lives. See DNS records reference → Case D.

There is no “A record direct to PageFork”

If you’ve set up other hosts before, you might expect to point the apex at a PageFork edge IP via an A record. PageFork doesn’t support that. The only valid A record is for the redirect service, and it’s only valid alongside a CNAME on www pointing at sites.pagefork.ai.

If you put an A record at the apex without a matching www CNAME, verification will fail.

Apex-only, no www

You can have a site reachable only at the apex (yourbrand.com, no www) — but it requires ALIAS / CNAME flattening support at your registrar. Without that, you can’t have apex-only on PageFork; use the www + redirect pattern from scenario 3 instead.

Which should I pick?

  • Both www and apex, registrar supports flattening → one ALIAS/CNAME at apex.
  • Both www and apex, registrar doesn’t support flattening → CNAME on www + A record at apex (redirect service).
  • Only www.yourbrand.com → one CNAME on www; say No, www only when PageFork asks about apex.
  • Only a sub-brand subdomain (like launch.yourbrand.com) → one CNAME at that subdomain; nothing at the apex is touched.

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