A CNAME (Canonical Name) record declares that one name is an alias for another. For example, www.example.com CNAME example.netlify.app tells resolvers to look up the target name and use its addresses.
CNAMEs are convenient for pointing subdomains at hosted services, because when the provider changes its IP addresses, your record keeps working.
Rules to remember:
- A name with a CNAME cannot have any other records (no MX or TXT alongside it).
- So a CNAME generally cannot be used at the apex domain; use A/AAAA or a provider’s ALIAS/flattening feature instead.
- MX and NS records should not point to a CNAME.
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Related terms
- MX record
- An MX record tells the internet which mail servers accept email for your domain, with priority numbers deciding the order they are tried.
- TXT record
- A TXT record stores text in DNS, widely used for domain ownership verification and email authentication like SPF, DKIM and DMARC.
- DNSSEC
- DNSSEC adds cryptographic signatures to DNS records so resolvers can verify answers are authentic and have not been forged or tampered with.
- TTL (Time to Live)
- TTL is the number of seconds a DNS record may be cached by resolvers before they must look it up again, affecting how fast changes take effect.