Custom Domain

By default, a location's menu site lives on the platform's subdomain (your-domain.cenaly.ru). If your venue already has its own domain (say, restaurant.com), you can connect it — the site will then open at an address like menu.restaurant.com.

This page covers connecting a domain. For styling the site itself — templates, colors, layout — see Website Builder. For plans and add-ons, see Subscription.

What you get#

• Your public menu site opens on your own domain instead of the platform subdomain.
• A free HTTPS certificate: the platform issues and automatically renews it for you — nothing to buy, download, or install. In the Russian contour (cenaly.ru) the certificate is issued by Yandex Certificate Manager (Let's Encrypt) with DNS validation, so there the _acme-challenge record is required for a subdomain too.
• Page addresses (SEO, canonical links) point to your domain — that's the address search engines will see, and the one worth using in ads and on signage.

What you need beforehand#

• A domain you already own (registered with any registrar).
• Access to that domain's DNS management panel — usually with the registrar or wherever the domain's DNS is hosted.
• A plan with the custom domain option available. How many domains are included per plan:

Beyond what's included in your plan, you can add a domain as a paid "Own site" add-on — $10/month or $100/year per domain. Domains paid for with this add-on do not consume the plan's included limit, and after the payment period ends there is a 7-day grace window during which the domain still counts as paid and stays online. See Subscription for details.

Subdomain or root domain?#

Both work: a subdomain (menu.yourdomain.com, shop.yourdomain.com) and the root domain itself (yourdomain.com, no subdomain at all). The only difference is how many DNS records you create:

Why a root domain needs two:

• The DNS standard doesn't allow a plain CNAME at the root of a domain, so it takes an ALIAS / ANAME / CNAME-flattening record instead. AWS Route 53, Cloudflare, DNSimple, Gandi and many others support it — though not every provider does.
• Such a record hands out IP addresses directly and hides the name the platform normally uses to confirm the domain points at it. That's why a root domain also needs a TXT record on _cf-challenge.yourdomain.com — it proves the domain is yours. The admin shows both records ready to copy.

If your provider supports neither ALIAS nor ANAME —

1. either move the domain's DNS to a provider that does (Cloudflare, for example, is free and only requires switching name servers, not transferring the domain itself);
2. or connect a subdomain and set up a redirect at your registrar from the root domain to it (e.g. yourdomain.com → menu.yourdomain.com).

Everything below is written for the subdomain as the simplest case; a root domain works the same way, just with two records — see “Root domain: two records”.

Step-by-step instructions#

1. Open Locations → pick the location → the "WEB Menu" tab. The same block is also available from the Websites section (the "Marketing" group): a site card opens the full web settings right on the page.
2. Find the "Custom Domain" block.
3. Enter the full domain name you want to use: a subdomain like menu.restaurant.com, or the root domain restaurant.com itself.
4. Click "Connect".
5. The system will show the records to add to your domain's DNS (one for a subdomain, two for a root domain), each with:
   • Host (record name) — usually matches the domain you entered, or the part before your domain;
   • Value (what it points to) — a technical target issued by the platform.
6. Go to your domain's DNS management panel (at your registrar or hosting provider).
7. Create the records shown: one CNAME for a subdomain, or an ALIAS/ANAME plus a TXT for a root domain (see "Root domain: two records"). TTL can be left at the default, or set to 300–3600 seconds.
8. Go back to the admin panel — the connection status updates on its own once the system sees your DNS record: the page polls the status every 10 seconds, and in parallel your browser checks DNS every 30 seconds and prints a live hint right under the field ("Record found ✓" or "Record points to …, expected …") even before the server confirms. You can also click "Check now" to speed things up.

Filling in the CNAME record at popular providers#

The most common confusion is in the "Name" field: some providers want the full subdomain, others want only the left-hand part (without your domain). Use this table as a guide:

General rules regardless of provider:

• For a subdomain, don't create an A record and don't enter any IP address — only a CNAME with the value shown by the admin panel. (A root domain works differently — see the next section.)
• If there's an old A or AAAA record already on the same name (menu), delete it — it will conflict with the new CNAME record.
• Usually only one record can point to a given name — remove old records for the same subdomain before adding the new one.

Root domain: two records#

If you're connecting the root domain itself (yourdomain.com, no subdomain), the admin panel shows two records after you click "Connect" — create both, in any order:

Provider specifics:

• AWS Route 53 — record type A, Alias = Yes, alias target = the address from the admin panel, routing policy Simple. Plus a separate TXT record named _cf-challenge.yourdomain.com.
• Cloudflare — create an ordinary CNAME on the name @: Cloudflare turns it into a valid answer itself (CNAME flattening). The cloud on that record must be grey (DNS only). Add the _cf-challenge TXT record as usual.
• Providers with ANAME (DNSimple, Gandi and others) — type ANAME/ALIAS, value = the address from the admin panel.
• If your provider only offers "redirect/parking" instead of ALIAS, that won't work: it has to be a real ALIAS/ANAME record or CNAME flattening.

As with a subdomain, the HTTPS certificate is issued automatically, and www.yourdomain.com can be connected separately as an ordinary subdomain (a single CNAME).

How long it takes and what happens#

Connecting usually takes 5–15 minutes after the DNS record is created and has propagated (the certificate itself is typically issued in under a minute once the system sees your CNAME record — most of the time goes to DNS propagation and final activation). The admin panel shows a four-step progress:

1. Domain registered — the system accepted your connection request.
2. DNS record found — the system saw your record at your provider (all required records, if there are two).
3. Certificate issued — an HTTPS certificate for the domain was issued automatically (in the AWS contour by AWS, in the Russian one by Yandex Certificate Manager on top of Let's Encrypt).
4. Site active — the domain is fully connected, and the site opens at the new address.

You don't need to keep the admin tab open — checking and activation continue in the background; when you come back, you'll simply see the updated status. Click "Check now" if you want to speed up the check.

The certificate is issued and renewed automatically — no action, payment, or file download is ever required from you, now or later.

If something isn't working#

The record isn't visible to the system#

DNS changes don't propagate instantly — usually it's fast, but caching at some providers can take up to an hour. Check whether the record is visible with:

nslookup -type=CNAME menu.yourdomain.com

For a root domain, both records are checked:

nslookup -type=A yourdomain.com
nslookup -type=TXT _cf-challenge.yourdomain.com

or any online DNS lookup tool. If the record shows up there but the admin panel still says "not found," wait a bit longer and click "Check now."

The record points to the wrong place#

The admin panel will tell you this explicitly. Open your DNS settings and compare the record's value with what's shown in the "Custom Domain" block — most likely there's a typo in the Value, or the record was created with the wrong type.

Cloudflare proxy is enabled#

If the domain is on Cloudflare and the cloud icon next to the record is orange — turn it off (make it grey, DNS only mode). While the proxy is on, certificate issuance and domain verification won't complete.

A root domain stays stuck in "waiting"#

Make sure the TXT record on _cf-challenge.yourdomain.com exists — without it the platform can't confirm you own the domain, and activation never completes, even when the ALIAS/ANAME record is already correct. The TXT value must exactly match the platform address shown in the admin panel.

The domain is already connected to another account#

Each domain/subdomain can only be connected to one platform account at a time. If you're sure the domain is yours but the system says it's taken, contact support.

"The site opens, but it's the wrong menu"#

Check that the domain is connected to the correct location — with multiple locations, it's easy to mix up which one a domain is attached to.

Disconnecting a domain#

The same "Custom Domain" block has a "Disconnect" button. After disconnecting:

• the site becomes available again at the standard platform subdomain address;
• you can (but don't have to right away) remove the records you created at your registrar (the CNAME, or the ALIAS/ANAME and TXT) — they no longer affect anything.

Frequently asked questions#

Can I connect more than one domain?#

Yes, one domain per location. How many you can have connected at once depends on your plan (see the table above) and add-ons.

Do I need separate hosting for the domain?#

No. The site is fully hosted on the platform's infrastructure — you only need to point the domain's DNS at it.

Does connecting a domain affect email on that domain?#

No. We only add the records shown in the admin panel; your MX records (email) aren't touched and keep working exactly as before — that holds for a root domain too, where an ALIAS/ANAME record and MX records coexist happily.

Does it work with www?#

Yes — www.yourdomain.com is itself a subdomain (a third-level name in DNS terms), so it connects exactly the same way as any other subdomain.

Can I connect the root domain and www at the same time?#

One domain per location. The usual approach: connect the root yourdomain.com and set up a redirect from www.yourdomain.com to it at your DNS provider (or the other way round).

What if I made a mistake with the subdomain when connecting?#

Disconnect the current domain and reconnect with the right name — your plan's domain limit isn't wasted if the record never went live.

Related sections#

• Website Builder — styling the menu site: templates, colors, fonts
• Subscription — plans, domain limits and the "Own site" add-on
• QR Codes & Devices — printing QR codes for the connected site