Blog
Articles, updates, and stories.
How to Add Custom Domains to a Rails Multi-Tenant SaaS (with Code)
A Rails custom-domain setup for multi-tenant SaaS: a custom_domains table, Host-header tenant resolution with CurrentAttributes, the config.hosts trap, and the three TLS options compared (DIY Caddy, platform certs, Domainee).
Daniel Sternlicht·How to Add Custom Domains to a Next.js Multi-Tenant SaaS (with Code)
A Next.js middleware-driven custom-domain setup for multi-tenant SaaS. Wildcard preview domains, X-Forwarded-Host tenant lookup, edge KV caching, and the three edge providers worth comparing (Vercel for Platforms, Cloudflare for SaaS, Domainee).
Daniel Sternlicht·Vercel Platforms Starter Kit in 2026: what it ships and what you still build
The starter kit is free and Vercel charges $0 per custom domain, which beats every provider including us. The catch: it ships subdomain tenancy, not customer-owned domains. Here is the itemized ledger of what you still build: verification, cert edge cases, monitoring, webhooks, and an API.
Daniel Sternlicht·How SSL Provisioning Works for Custom Domains
When a customer points their own domain at your SaaS, something has to issue and renew a valid TLS certificate for it automatically. Here is the whole pipeline: the ACME challenge, DNS-01 vs HTTP-01, SNI, and wildcard vs SAN certificates.
Daniel Sternlicht·How to Sell Domains in Your App (Without Becoming a Registrar)
Affiliate links, reseller platforms, or a buy-domain API: the three routes to selling domains inside your product, with the actual margin math for each and an honest look at Entri Sell.
Daniel Sternlicht·SaaSKevin alternatives in 2026: where $0.15 a domain actually wins
SaaSKevin's $0.15/domain undercuts Domainee's $0.20, and it's the only competitor that does. The catch: 3 free domains vs 50, fair-use bandwidth, and no public API. We computed the exact crossover: 191 domains, and where it flips back.
Daniel Sternlicht·5 Best Custom Domain APIs (Compared by Real Cost to Ship)
We compared every custom-domain API a SaaS team can self-serve right now, then priced the same three scenarios through each one. Free tiers, per-domain rates, bandwidth, MCP support, and the monthly bill at 25, 100, and 500 domains.
Daniel Sternlicht·SaaS Custom Domains alternatives in 2026: the line item you can't model
SaaS Custom Domains publishes its domain pricing ($20/mo minimum, $0.20 per domain) but not its bandwidth allowance. For a storefront product that's the half of the bill you can't forecast. Here's the arithmetic, and what a published meter looks like.
Daniel Sternlicht·Approximated alternative in 2026: same per-domain math, different starting line
Approximated's per-domain rates match Domainee's almost exactly. The whole comparison comes down to the floor: a $20/mo minimum and 7-day trial vs 50 domains and 100 GB free forever. Here's the break-even table.
Daniel Sternlicht·CoAlias alternatives in 2026: do the request math before you pick a plan
CoAlias caps every plan by monthly requests: 4,000 free, 40,000 at $30. Here's the math on what that actually buys, and the alternative that bills bandwidth instead.
Daniel Sternlicht·Entri alternative in 2026: why you don't need to spend $3,000 a year before you ship
Entri's entry plan is $249 a month. The custom-domain infrastructure is a $500/mo upsell on top. Most teams searching for an alternative have already done the math. This post is the full walkthrough of Domainee, the $0-to-start alternative. What it is, who it's for, how it works, and a 5-minute tutorial.
Daniel Sternlicht·Cloudflare for SaaS alternative in 2026: meet Domainee (what it does, how it works, who it's for)
If you searched for a Cloudflare for SaaS alternative in 2026, you already know why. Opaque pricing, partner-gated onboarding, multi-quarter contracts, no MCP. This is the full walkthrough of Domainee, the self-serve alternative you can ship today. What it is, who it's for, how it works under the hood, and a 5-minute tutorial.
Daniel Sternlicht·Why Iframe Domain Masking Is Broken in 2026 (and How Modern SaaS Actually Handles White-Label URLs)
Every "domain masking" tutorial on Google still tells you to wrap your destination in an iframe. It breaks SEO, breaks your JS app, and breaks on mobile. Here's why, what to do instead, the use cases that need this, and how to ship it in one API call.
Daniel Sternlicht·Runbook: Debugging 'My Custom Domain Isn't Working' as a SaaS Support Engineer
The 8 most common reasons a customer's custom domain isn't loading, in the order you should check them. With the dig and openssl commands to verify each, and message templates to copy-paste back to the customer.
Daniel Sternlicht·How to Ship Apex Domain Support for Your SaaS Customers (Without the CNAME-at-Root Mess)
The exact mechanics of letting your customers use acme.com (not just www.acme.com). CNAME-at-root vs ALIAS / ANAME / CNAME-flattening, when to use A records, the registrar matrix to show in your UI, and the practical traps that wreck cert issuance.
Daniel Sternlicht·Domain Masking Without the Iframe: How Modern SaaS Does White-Label URLs
Iframe masking is broken — bad for SEO, breaks JS apps, blocked on mobile. Here's how reverse-proxy masking gives you the same UX (visitor stays on your customer's domain) without any of the iframe baggage. With code.
Daniel Sternlicht·Domain Forwarding in 2026: 301s, 302s, and an API to Do It at Scale
What domain forwarding actually is (vs masking, vs DNS pointing), when to use 301 vs 302, why registrar-level forwarding falls over on HTTPS, and how to add programmatic per-customer forwarding to your SaaS in one API call.
Daniel Sternlicht·How to Monitor 10,000 Customer SSL Certificates Without Your On-Call Crying at 2am
A practical playbook for tracking SSL + DNS health across multi-tenant SaaS. The five failure modes worth instrumenting, the 30/7/1-day expiry ladder, DNS drift detection, sampling vs per-domain probes, and a page-vs-ticket matrix.
Daniel Sternlicht·Custom Domains for Stripe-Powered Storefronts: From Checkout to CNAME
How to give your sellers their own domain (shop.acme.com) when they use Stripe Checkout for collect and Connect for payouts. Apex CNAME, Stripe success_url, Connect account branding, and edge routing per seller, with code.
Daniel Sternlicht·How to set up custom domains for your SaaS with Cloudflare SSL for SaaS (and a simpler way)
Cloudflare SSL for SaaS works, but you'll wire up eight setup steps, three validation methods, and a 100-hostname quota. Full Cloudflare tutorial below, plus a 5-minute Domainee setup with 50 free domains, no card.
Daniel Sternlicht·How to add custom domains for your users in an AI-built SaaS (Lovable, Base44, Bolt, v0)
Shipped a SaaS on Lovable, Base44, Bolt, or v0? Here's how to let YOUR users connect their OWN domain to it. White-label SaaS, branded URLs, set up in 10 lines of code.
Daniel Sternlicht·How to host your Lovable app on a custom domain (free, 10 minutes)
Take your Lovable app live on your own domain without paying Lovable's hosting fee. Export to GitHub, deploy on Vercel, point your domain. Auto-deploys on every Lovable change. $0/month.
Daniel Sternlicht·Custom Domains API for AI agents: announcing the Domainee MCP server
The Domainee Custom Domains API is now drivable from your AI agent. Claude, Cursor, Claude Code — same Bearer key your code uses, one config block to install.
Daniel Sternlicht·The Best Buy-a-Domain API for SaaS in 2026
Most domain reseller APIs were built for hosting resellers, not modern SaaS. Here's what to actually look for, and a 60-second integration guide for the one we built.
Daniel Sternlicht·How to Let Your Users Buy Domains Inside Your SaaS (2026 Guide)
Stop sending your users to GoDaddy and praying they figure out the CNAME. Here's how to ship a 'Buy a Domain' button inside your product with one API call.
Daniel Sternlicht·How to Let Users Connect a Custom Domain to Your SaaS (with Code)
A complete tutorial: register customer hostnames via the Domainee API, show them their CNAME, verify with webhooks, and ship the whole feature in about 80 lines of code.
Daniel Sternlicht·