WordPress and DNSimple

WordPress is a popular blogging platform. This article explains how to use WordPress with DNSimple.

Can I use WordPress with DNSimple?

Yes, of course you can! However, it depends on which kind of WordPress version you want to use.

There are two versions of WordPress:

WordPress.com - the WordPress hosting service
WordPress.org - the downloadable, self-hosted version of the software written in PHP

Hosted WordPress

This is the recommended way to use WordPress with DNSimple, as you will not need any web hosting service. Your WordPress instance will be hosted and managed by WordPress.com.

WordPress.com is the popular version of the WordPress platform hosted by Automattic, the creators of WordPress.

To use WordPress.com with DNSimple simply signup at wordpress.com and configure your blog.

Once configured, follow the WordPress instructions to map a domain to WordPress.

To map your domain to WordPress.com

Create and configure the WordPress.com blog. You will be assigned a unique URL at wordpress.com, such as awesome-blog.wordpress.com.
Go to the DNS record editor for the domain and create a DNS record to point your domain (e.g. awesome-blog.com) to the WordPress blog.
- If you want to point the root domain awesome-blog.com
  
  Add an ALIAS record to point awesome-blog.com to WordPress. Leave the Name of the record empty and set the Content field to the WordPress endpoint (e.g. awesome-blog.wordpress.com)
- If you want to point a subdomain (e.g. www.awesome-blog.com)
  
  Add a CNAME record to point www.awesome-blog.com to WordPress. The Name of the record is the subdomain (e.g. www) and the Content field is the WordPress endpoint (e.g. awesome-blog.wordpress.com)
Follow the WordPress.com instructions to add a custom domain to your blog. Specifically, go to Domains and add the domain or subdomain to your blog.
Make the domain the default domain for the blog at WordPress.com.

It’s not required to purchase or transfer the domain to WordPress. Likewise, it’s not required to change the name servers to WordPress.

WordPress.com also provides instruction to use a domain you own with WordPress. We suggest to not follow this approach as it will require to delegate your entire domain to WordPress and you will not be able to use any other service provided by DNSimple. Instead, follow the instructions above to create the necessary records.

Self-hosted WordPress

DNSimple doesn’t offer any web hosting service, therefore if you want to download and install your own instance of WordPress, you will need to use a web hosting service.

The web hosting service will provide you the specific instructions or server access to upload the WordPress files to the server, configure the database and install the platform.

You can use DNSimple to point your own domain to the IP address provided you by the web hosting service. You will likely need to create an A or CNAME DNS record using your domain DNS record editor to point the domain to your web hosting space and make your WordPress instance available to your users.