A yourbrand.manva.app URL is fine for testing, but for a real business you want yourbrand.com. This guide takes you from "I just bought a domain" to "the website is live on it" in under an hour.
What you need before starting
- A published Manva website (any Pulse or Beat pack)
- A domain you own — bought from any registrar (GoDaddy, Namecheap, BigRock, Google Domains, Hostinger, etc.)
- Login access to the registrar dashboard (the place you bought the domain)
Step 1: Open the domain settings in Manva
From the dashboard, open the website → click the gear icon → choose Domain. You will see two things:
- Your current Manva subdomain — keep this active as a fallback
- Add custom domain — paste the domain (e.g.
yourbrand.com) and click Continue
Manva shows you the exact DNS records you need to add. There are usually two: an A record (for the root domain) and a CNAME record (for the www version).
Step 2: Add the DNS records at your registrar
Log into your registrar dashboard and open the DNS or "Manage Nameservers" section. The exact menu name differs:
| Registrar | Menu path |
|---|---|
| GoDaddy | My Products → DNS → Manage zones |
| Namecheap | Domain List → Manage → Advanced DNS |
| BigRock | Manage Orders → Domain → DNS Management |
| Google Domains / Squarespace | DNS → Manage custom records |
| Hostinger | Domains → Manage → DNS Zone Editor |
Add the two records exactly as Manva shows them. Set TTL to 1 hour (or the lowest the registrar allows). Save.
Do not delete existing MX records (those route your email). Only add the A and CNAME records Manva specified — leave everything else alone unless you are sure you do not need it.
Step 3: Wait for DNS propagation
Propagation usually finishes in 15–60 minutes, occasionally up to a few hours. You can check progress in two ways:
- Open Manva → Settings → Domain. The status badge updates from Pending to Connected when DNS resolves.
- Use a free tool like dnschecker.org to confirm your records are visible from multiple locations.
You do not need to keep the Manva tab open. We re-check periodically and email you when the connection completes.
Step 4: Free SSL is auto-issued
Once Manva detects your DNS pointing at us, we issue a free SSL certificate automatically. Your site becomes available on https://yourbrand.com and https://www.yourbrand.com with the green padlock — no manual upload needed.
The first SSL issue can take 5–10 minutes after DNS resolves. After that, renewals happen on their own with no action needed from you.
Step 5: Test everything
Open the new URL in a fresh incognito window:
- Does the homepage load?
- Does the URL show the green padlock?
- Do all internal links stay on
yourbrand.com(not redirect tomanva.app)? - If you have a storefront, does checkout still work?
- Do contact form submissions still arrive in your dashboard?
If anything looks off, the Settings → Domain panel has a "Diagnose" button that runs the same checks and tells you what is missing.
Common issues and fixes
"DNS records not detected" — Wait an extra 30 minutes. If still failing, double-check the A record IP exactly matches what Manva showed (typos in IP digits are the #1 cause).
"Certificate not issuing" — Make sure you do not have an old AAAA (IPv6) record pointing somewhere else. Delete it.
"Site loads but old version is showing" — Browser cache. Hard-refresh (Ctrl+Shift+R / Cmd+Shift+R) or test in incognito.
"www works but root domain does not" — Some registrars do not allow A records on the root domain. Use ALIAS or ANAME instead of A — Manva supports both.
Email on the same domain
Adding the website does not affect your existing email. If you use Google Workspace, Zoho Mail, or any other provider, your MX records keep working as long as you only added the A and CNAME for the website and did not touch MX.
If you do not have email on this domain yet, the easiest setup is Zoho Mail (free for small teams) or Google Workspace (₹136/user/month). Both have one-click DNS setup guides at the registrar.
Frequently asked questions
Do I lose anything by switching from the Manva subdomain? No. The subdomain keeps working forever as a backup. We also add a 301 redirect so the old URL automatically forwards to the new one.
Can I use a subdomain like shop.yourbrand.com? Yes. Add a CNAME record for the subdomain pointing at the address Manva shows.
Does this cost extra? No. Custom domains and SSL are included in every Pulse and Beat pack at no additional charge.
A custom domain is the difference between "looks like a side project" and "looks like a real business". The whole setup takes 15 minutes of work plus the wait for DNS — and it is permanent.