Launching Without Buying a Domain First

When you'd use this

You want to share your new website with a friend, a potential customer, or a stakeholder right now — but you haven't bought your business's domain yet. Or you're still deciding whether you want smithbakery.com or smithbakery.shop. Or you're A/B testing a business idea and don't want to spend $15 on a domain you might not keep.

Free option: pick a name like smithbakery.siteglowup.ai and your site is live immediately. No paperwork, no wait, no card on file.

You can use it as your permanent address forever, or switch to your real domain whenever you're ready.

How to set one up (30 seconds)

1. In your dashboard, click DNS in the left menu
2. Click Use a siteglowup.ai address
3. Type the name you want — anything you like, as long as it uses only letters, numbers, and hyphens. We'll show you immediately whether it's available
4. Click Use this name

That's it. Your site is live at yourname.siteglowup.ai within a few seconds.

Open the URL in your browser to confirm — it should show your website with a green padlock (secure connection) in the address bar.

How much does it cost?

$0. Free. Always free.

There's no separate registration fee because there's nothing to register. We own siteglowup.ai and hand you a slice of it as part of your account.

Switching to a "real" domain later

You can switch to a real domain (like smithbakery.com) any time:

1. Buy your domain — either through us (Buying Your Web Address) or anywhere else
2. Follow our setup guide — for domains bought through us it's automatic, for domains bought elsewhere see Pointing an Existing Domain Here
3. Both addresses (the free one AND your new real one) work at the same time for a while, so there's no downtime during the switch
4. Once you're sure the new domain is working, you can keep the free address as a backup or release it (your call)

When this is a good fit

✅ You're showing the site to a small handful of people (clients, family, friends)
✅ You want to test a business idea before committing to a domain
✅ You need a working URL by end-of-day
✅ The free address is short and memorable enough for your purposes
✅ You're using it as a staging/preview link while polishing the real site

When this is NOT a good fit

❌ Customers will find you by Googling your business name — they'll trust a real domain more than a subdomain
❌ You're putting the URL on business cards, signs, or printed marketing
❌ You're being interviewed or mentioned in press — they'll want a "real" domain to link to
❌ Your business name is on a billboard or vehicle wrap — the free address looks unprofessional there

For anything serious or public-facing, get a real domain. They're $15 a year for a .com. Cheap insurance against looking amateur.