Lesson 4 of 5
Buy your domain on Namecheap
Search, check out, and confirm your domain in about 5 minutes.
A domain is a human-readable address — yournotes.com, josephbuilds.com — that you rent annually. Namecheap is a registrar: a company that manages domain registrations on your behalf.
You should have a domain name in mind from Lesson 1. This lesson buys it.
1. Search for your domain
Go to namecheap.com and type your chosen domain name into the search bar.
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The Namecheap homepage with a domain search bar containing an example domain name, and a green search button.
Namecheap shows the availability and price. If your .com is available, great. If it's taken:
- Try adding a short word:
app,hq,co,studio,site - Don't switch to
.netor.ioas a consolation — own the.comor pick a different name - Avoid hyphens
2. Add to cart and check out
Click Add to Cart next to your chosen domain, then click Checkout.
During checkout you'll see several upsells — most of them optional:
| Upsell | Verdict |
|---|---|
| WhoisGuard (Privacy Protection) | Keep it — it hides your personal info from public WHOIS lookups. Often free for the first year. |
| Premium DNS | Skip — Namecheap's default BasicDNS is fine. |
| Email hosting | Skip — you're hosting a web app, not setting up email. |
| Auto-renew | Up to you — recommended to avoid accidentally losing your domain. |
Complete the checkout. A .com typically costs ~$10–15/year. (See current pricing)
3. Confirm in your dashboard
After checkout, go to Dashboard → Domain List. Your domain should appear with status Active.
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The Namecheap Domain List page showing a domain name with 'Active' status, expiry date, and buttons for Manage and Renew.
You'll know it worked when your domain appears in the Namecheap Domain List with Active status.
No changes to DNS yet. Leave everything at Namecheap's defaults for now. The next lesson walks through the exact changes to make — in the right order.
The next lesson connects this domain to your Vercel deployment.