Getting started

Signup to first live site takes about ten minutes once you can edit your DNS. This page walks the whole flow.

1. Sign up

Pick a plan on the pricing page. Starter covers one site; Business covers five and is the most-picked tier. Plans are switchable later, so don't agonize.

Stripe handles the payment. After checkout, you land in the dashboard.

2. Verify your email

You'll receive a verification email at the address you signed up with. Click the link inside to verify. You can use the dashboard before verification, but features that send mail (password reset, billing receipts) won't reach you until your address is verified.

If the email doesn't arrive within a few minutes, check spam. If still nothing, contact [email protected].

3. Add your first site

From the dashboard, click Add Site. The wizard has four steps:

  1. Domain. Type the domain you'll point at us. Just the bare name (example.com), no https:// or trailing slash.
  2. DNS. The wizard shows the A record to add. We'll come back to this in step 5.
  3. Application. Pick a framework. There are nine options; if your framework isn't listed, see the static or PHP guide for how to bring your own.
  4. Confirm. Review what you've picked. Click create.

4. Watch the provisioning page

The wizard hands off to the provisioning status page, which shows the state machine in real time:

  • Site created. The system user, vhost, and (for PHP/Python frameworks) the database are now provisioned.
  • Waiting for DNS. The platform is polling 1.1.1.1 and 8.8.8.8 to check whether your domain points at our IP.
  • DNS verified. Both resolvers agree. SSL issuance starts.
  • Issuing SSL certificate. Let's Encrypt issues your certificate. Usually takes under a minute.
  • SSL certificate installed. The cert is in place. The site is moments from live.
  • Live. You're done.

If anything fails, the page tells you which stage and why.

5. Point your DNS

Go to your domain registrar (Cloudflare, Namecheap, GoDaddy, whoever you bought the domain from). Find the DNS settings. Add an A record:

  • Type: A
  • Name: @ (some registrars want the bare domain or a literal @ sign)
  • Value: the IP address shown on the provisioning page (use the copy button there to avoid typos)
  • TTL: 300 (5 minutes), or whatever the lowest TTL your registrar allows

Add a second A record for www pointing at the same IP if you want www.example.com to work too.

Save. Now wait. The provisioning page polls every few seconds and shows you what each resolver currently sees.

Most DNS changes propagate in a few minutes. Some registrars and some ISPs take longer. The full DNS guide covers what to check if it's taking longer than expected.

6. Once you're live

The provisioning page flips to "Your site is live." From there:

  • For WordPress, Laravel, Django: visit your domain. The framework's installer or starter page is waiting.
  • For Next.js, Node.js, Python: the placeholder app is responding on the allocated port. Build your real app locally and upload via SFTP.
  • For React SPA, static: upload the contents of your dist/ or your HTML/CSS/JS via SFTP.

SFTP credentials are on your site's detail page in the dashboard. The SFTP guide walks you through connecting.

What if something goes wrong?

The dashboard surfaces every failure with a named reason. The troubleshooting guide maps each reason to its likely cause and fix. If you're stuck, [email protected] reaches the operator.