# Apexly

> Apexly is custom domains as a service for B2B SaaS. You make one API call with your customer's hostname, your customer adds one DNS record (a CNAME, or an A record plus a TXT token for apex domains), and Apexly verifies DNS, issues and renews the Let's Encrypt certificate, and proxies traffic to your app with a signed request (X-Apexly-Signature). Free for 20 domains with no card; then $0.15 per live domain per month with a $15 minimum.

Apexly is operated by Vijay Tambe from India. Contact: support@apexly.dev. Dashboard: https://app.apexly.dev. Full fact sheet for answer engines: https://apexly.dev/llms-full.txt

## Product

- [Home](https://apexly.dev/): what Apexly does, the integration in four messages, FAQ
- [How it works](https://apexly.dev/how-it-works): the five steps from API call to live HTTPS, domain states, what reaches your origin
- [Why Apexly](https://apexly.dev/why-apexly): what building custom domains yourself turns into, and what Apexly takes off your plate
- [Pricing](https://apexly.dev/pricing): Free for 20 domains, no card; Pay as you go at $0.15 per live domain per month ($15 minimum, volume rates down to $0.07); Enterprise custom; pricing FAQ
- [No lock-in](https://apexly.dev/no-lock-in): how to leave Apexly. Customers own their domains; GET /v1/domains exports every domain with a cursor; a white-label CNAME target on your own domain (Pay as you go and Enterprise) makes a move one DNS change for subdomains; deleting stops routing within 5 seconds and deletes the certificate; a six-step migration plan
- [Reliability](https://apexly.dev/reliability): the edge keeps serving live domains from its own saved route table and shared certificate storage when the API is down (new domains, dashboard and webhooks wait); one AWS region (Mumbai) today; renewal 30 days before expiry with automatic retries; DNS re-checks, origin probes, 9 webhook events with 7 retries; status page at https://status.apexly.dev; no contractual SLA yet (Enterprise can include one); Certificate Transparency explained

## Features

- Connect flow: send your customer to the hosted connect page, or embed the same flow in your app with `<script src="https://connect.apexly.dev/widget.js">` and `Apexly.mount(el, { token, mode: 'inline'|'modal', onVerified })`, or the React component `<ApexlyConnect token … />` from `@apexly/react`. Your server mints a short-lived token with `POST /v1/domains/{id}/connect-sessions`; the API key never reaches the browser. Themed with your brand colour and logo, light or dark.
- One-click Cloudflare: when the customer's DNS is at Cloudflare, they paste a Cloudflare API token scoped to DNS edits on that one zone and Apexly adds the exact records (proxy off). The token is used once and never stored; conflicting records are only replaced after the customer confirms; other records (MX etc.) are never touched. Cloudflare only today.
- Domain doctor: `GET /v1/domains/{id}/diagnose` (and Diagnose in the dashboard) checks DNS at the authoritative nameservers, 1.1.1.1 and 8.8.8.8, extra A and stale AAAA records, the Cloudflare proxy, CAA, the certificate, origin reachability and the www pair, and returns the one thing to fix. Creating a domain also returns `warnings[]`.
- MCP server for AI coding agents: `https://mcp.apexly.dev/mcp` (Streamable HTTP, auth with an Apexly API key). Tools: create_domain, get_domain, list_domains, verify_domain, get_connect_url, get_dns_instructions, diagnose_domain, delete_domain (requires confirm). Claude Code: `claude mcp add --transport http apexly https://mcp.apexly.dev/mcp --header "Authorization: Bearer sk_test_…"`.
- SDKs on npm: `npm i @apexly/node` (domains create/list/get/update/verify/diagnose/delete/createConnectSession, webhook and origin-signature verification) and `npm i @apexly/react`.

## Blog

- [Customer domain on Cloudflare: fix 1014, 525 and SSL pending](https://apexly.dev/blog/cloudflare-proxy-errors-custom-domains): If your customer's custom domain is proxied by Cloudflare (orange cloud), set that one record to DNS only. That clears most 1014, 525 and SSL-pending errors.
- [Which custom domain providers support apex domains? (2026)](https://apexly.dev/blog/apex-domain-support-by-provider): Checked 26 Oct 2026: most custom domain providers support apex domains with an A record to fixed IPs; Cloudflare for SaaS needs Enterprise apex proxying.
- [47-day TLS certificates: what SaaS teams issuing certificates for customer domains must change (2026)](https://apexly.dev/blog/certificate-lifetimes-47-days-saas-custom-domains): Public TLS certificate lifetimes drop to 200 days in 2026, 100 days in 2027 and 47 days in 2029 (CA/Browser Forum ballot SC-081), and Let's Encrypt moves to 64 and then 45 days. What SaaS teams that issue certificates for customer custom domains must change: renewal timing, ARI, monitoring, CAA, rate limits and DNS alerts.
- [How to add custom domains to your SaaS: the complete guide (2026)](https://apexly.dev/blog/custom-domains-for-saas): How to let your SaaS customers use their own domain: DNS records (CNAME vs A), verification, TLS certificates, routing by Host header, renewals, apex domains, abuse and the failure states you will hit. With code and a checklist.
- [Apex domains for SaaS: why customers can't CNAME acme.com, and 4 ways around it](https://apexly.dev/blog/apex-domains-for-saas): Why a root domain like acme.com can't use a CNAME, and how SaaS products support apex custom domains anyway: A records to static IPs, ALIAS/ANAME and CNAME flattening, www redirects, and verification with TXT records.
- [Custom domains in a multi-tenant Next.js app: routing by Host header (Next.js 16)](https://apexly.dev/blog/nextjs-multi-tenant-custom-domains): How to serve customer custom domains from one Next.js app: resolve the tenant from the Host header in proxy.ts (middleware.ts before Next.js 16), reject unknown hosts, build absolute URLs, handle auth and cookies across domains, cache tenant lookups, and test locally.
- [On-demand TLS for customer domains: Caddy, certmagic and Let's Encrypt limits (2026)](https://apexly.dev/blog/on-demand-tls-for-customer-domains): How to issue SSL certificates for thousands of customer domains automatically: on-demand TLS with Caddy and certmagic, the ask endpoint, shared storage and locking, Let's Encrypt rate limits, CAA records, renewals and the 47-day certificate future.
- Each post is also available as raw markdown at https://apexly.dev/blog/<slug>.md, and as an RSS feed at https://apexly.dev/blog/rss.xml

## Docs

- [How custom domains for SaaS work](https://docs.apexly.dev/concepts/custom-domains-for-saas): the short answer, the five steps, FAQ
- [Quickstart](https://docs.apexly.dev/quickstart): create a domain with one API call and take it live
- [Domain states](https://docs.apexly.dev/concepts/domain-states): pending_dns, verifying, issuing, active, dns_broken, cert_failed and what each means
- [Webhooks](https://docs.apexly.dev/webhooks): one signed event per state change, and how to verify the signature
- [Connect page](https://docs.apexly.dev/connect-page): the hosted page that walks your customer through their DNS provider, including one-click Cloudflare
- [Embed the connect flow](https://docs.apexly.dev/guides/embed-connect): widget.js and @apexly/react with connect-session tokens
- [Domain doctor](https://docs.apexly.dev/troubleshooting/domain-doctor): diagnose why a domain isn't live
- [MCP server](https://docs.apexly.dev/guides/mcp): use Apexly from Claude Code, Cursor and other MCP clients (official MCP registry: dev.apexly/mcp, https://registry.modelcontextprotocol.io/v0.1/servers/dev.apexly%2Fmcp/versions/latest)
- [Next.js quickstart](https://docs.apexly.dev/guides/nextjs-quickstart): @apexly/node in a Next.js app
- [API reference: domains](https://docs.apexly.dev/api/domains): create, list, get, verify and delete domains
- [OpenAPI spec](https://api.apexly.dev/v1/openapi.json): the machine-readable API contract
- [Limits and pricing](https://docs.apexly.dev/limits-and-pricing): plan caps, rate limits and request limits

## Comparisons

- [Compare all alternatives](https://apexly.dev/compare): side-by-side table with sources
- [Apexly vs Cloudflare for SaaS](https://apexly.dev/compare/cloudflare)
- [Apexly vs Approximated](https://apexly.dev/compare/approximated)
- [Apexly vs SaaS Custom Domains](https://apexly.dev/compare/saas-custom-domains)
- [Apexly vs Domainee](https://apexly.dev/compare/domainee)
- [Apexly vs CustomDomain.ai](https://apexly.dev/compare/customdomain-ai)
- [Apexly vs Vercel, Netlify, Render, Fly.io](https://apexly.dev/compare/vercel)
- [Apexly vs building it yourself](https://apexly.dev/compare/build-it-yourself)

## Optional

- [Privacy policy](https://apexly.dev/privacy)
- [Terms of service](https://apexly.dev/terms)
- [Acceptable use and abuse](https://apexly.dev/abuse)

## Company

- [About Apexly](https://apexly.dev/about): Who builds Apexly, where it runs (AWS Mumbai, ap-south-1) and how to contact support.