Managing your domain’s DNS records is an important step in taking your website live. At Cloudways, we make this process simple by offering the DNS Made Easy add-on.
This tool helps you manage DNS records directly from the Cloudways Platform, even if your domain was purchased elsewhere.
In this article, we’ll guide you through how to activate and use the DNS Made Easy add-on, from adding your domain and setting up nameservers to managing your DNS records and tracking usage.
Table of Contents:
How to Activate the DNS Made Easy Add-on?
Cloudways doesn’t offer built-in DNS hosting, but with the DNS Made Easy add-on, you can easily manage your domain’s DNS records right from the Cloudways Platform.
In the steps below, we’ll show you how to activate the add-on and start managing your domains in just a few clicks.
Important:
After adding your domain in DNS Made Easy, make sure to update the nameservers at your domain registrar within 48 hours.
Domains with unchanged nameservers are automatically removed by the Cloudways Platform after this period.
Nameserver propagation will only start after the NS records are successfully added at your domain registrar.
DNS Made Easy Features: Why Use It?
The DNS Made Easy add-on makes it simple to manage DNS records for all your domains from one place—even if your domains are registered elsewhere. Here’s what it offers:
Easy DNS Management: Add and manage DNS records directly from the Cloudways Platform.
Failover Support: If your main server goes down, traffic is redirected to a backup to keep your site online.
TTL Control: Adjust how often DNS changes update to suit your needs.
Broad Compatibility: Works with different services and tools.
Global Coverage: Manage DNS across multiple locations for better speed and reliability.
DNS Made Easy Pricing
$0.50/month per domain
Includes 500,000 DNS queries per domain each month
Note: DNS Made Easy Query Usage Charges
If you see a “DNS Made Easy (Excessive DNS Query Usage)” line item on your invoice, it means your domain has exceeded the standard monthly limit of 500,000 DNS queries per domain.
Cloudways does not restrict or throttle DNS traffic to ensure your website remains fully accessible and performs reliably at all times. Any additional queries beyond the included limit are billed at:
$0.10 USD per 100,000 extra queries
This ensures uninterrupted DNS resolution with enterprise-grade performance and uptime, even during high-traffic spikes.
👉 For detailed pricing, refer to the DNS Made Easy pricing page.
All queries are counted at the account level. For example, if you manage 5 domains, you’ll get a total of 2.5 million queries per month.
If you go over the included limit, extra queries cost $0.01 per 100,000 queries—so you only pay for what you use.
How to Launch the DNS Made Easy Add-on
Log in to your Cloudways Platform using your credentials.
From the left menu bar, open Integrations. (You can also simply click on DNS Made Easy Addon from the instant bar when you hover the mouse on top on Integrations)
3. Next, click DNS Made Easy.
4. Finally, click Get Started to launch the add-on.
How to Manage the DNS Made Easy Add-on
You can manage your DNS Made Easy add-on and do various things right from your Cloudways Platform:
1. Add Domain(s)
Here's how you can add domain(s) to manage them using DNS Made Easy:
First, click Add Domain.
Next, enter your domain, e.g., example.com. If you want to add multiple domains, you can click Add Domain and bulk add up to 10 domains.
Finally, click Save Changes.
Once your domain is added, it will appear as 'Inactive'. Now, you need to add the DNS Made Easy nameservers in your DNS registrar panel. The DNS registrar is the company from where you purchased your domain, e.g., GoDaddy, Namecheap, etc,.
Next, click Configure Nameservers.
5. Here, you'll find the nameservers that need to be copied and added to your DNS registrar panel. While we recommend adding all the provided nameservers, if your DNS registrar limits the number you can add, we suggest incorporating the maximum allowable nameservers.
Note:
If you are adding a domain whose name servers are already pointing to DNS Made Easy, you will need to complete the authentication process to verify ownership of the name servers.
Instructions:
You can view the name servers by clicking the View Name Servers button on the DNS Made Easy addon page.
Add these name servers to your domain's DNS registrar.
After the name servers have been authenticated, your domain will be live
6. Our domain was purchased from Namecheap, so we are adding these nameservers on Namecheap.
7. After adding the nameservers, you may need to wait as it takes 24-48 hours for the nameservers to propagate across the network. Once nameservers are propagated, you will see an 'Active' status against your domain.
After nameservers propagation, the next step is to manage your domain from the Cloudways Platform and add DNS records to take your website(s) live.
Ownership Transfer Process (Optional)
If you are adding a domain who is already associated with another Cloudways account. We show an informatory toaster regarding ownership verificaiton.
To proceed, you will need to verify your ownership by adding a TXT record to your DNS settings within 48 hours. Click on View TXT Records
Once the record is added, You will need to refresh the status of your domain to verify ownership from the Cloudways platform. If not verified within 48 hours, the domain will be removed from the account.
2. Manage DNS Record(s)
Here's how you can manage your DNS records using DNS Made Easy:
Add DNS Record(s)
First, click the ⋮ (ellipsis) icon to reveal more options and click Manage Records.
Next, click Add Record.
Next, you can start adding the DNS records you need. First of all, select the Record Type.
Now, add all the required information as per your chosen record type.
Finally, click Save Changes.
Tip:
To add multiple records at once, please click Add Record.
You can add Elastic Email and Rackspace DNS records at a single click by navigating to Template under Record Type.
You have learned how to add the DNS records. Please note that it may take 24-48 hours for the DNS records to propagate across the network.
Edit DNS Record(s)
First, click the ⋮ (ellipsis) icon to reveal more options and click Manage Records.
Next, click the ⋮ (ellipsis) icon of that particular DNS record and click Edit Record.
Next, edit the DNS records information and click Save Changes.
Delete DNS Record(s)
First, click the ⋮ (ellipsis) icon to reveal more options and click Manage Records.
Next, click the ⋮ (ellipsis) icon of that particular DNS record and click Delete Record.
3. Delete Domain(s)
Here's how you can delete your domain(s) using DNS Made Easy:
First, click the ⋮ (ellipsis) icon to reveal more options and click Delete Domain.
Next, you will be prompted to confirm the selection. You can click Unsubscribe to proceed further.
Once unsubscribed, DNS management for these domain(s) will no longer be handled through DNS Made Easy. You need to update your nameservers at your DNS registrar's end and add the new DNS records there.
Important:
Deleting and subsequently reactivating the add-on for the same domain will be treated as a new subscription, incurring additional costs.
DNS Made Easy Query Usage
DNS queries are requests made by your website to a Domain Name System (DNS) server to translate human-readable domain names (like www.example.com) into IP addresses that computers use to identify each other on the internet.
These queries are an essential part of how the internet functions, as they ensure your website visitors can access your site by finding the correct server.
How DNS Query Usage Increases
The number of DNS queries your website generates can increase for several reasons:
Website Traffic: As your website gains more visitors, the DNS queries naturally increase to serve those visitors.
Higher TTL: Setting a Time to Live (TTL) value higher than the default Auto setting, typically 1 or 2 minutes, can result in higher DNS query usage.
Content: If your website contains numerous resources like images, scripts, and stylesheets from different domains, it can trigger additional DNS queries.
Dynamic Content: Websites with dynamic content that change frequently may generate more DNS queries as visitors interact with various elements.
Additional Domains: Adding additional domains to your website, such as subdomains or third-party integrations, can increase DNS query usage.
Managing DNS Query Usage
To keep your DNS query usage within normal limits, consider the following best practices:
Server Caching/Application Caching: To check and optimize your application's caching settings, ensure you have enabled cache for your server.
Optimize Resources: Minimize the number of external resources on your site by combining files and reducing third-party integrations.
Content Delivery Networks (CDNs): Use CDNs to distribute content from servers geographically closer to your visitors, reducing the need for long DNS queries.
TTL Settings: Adjust the Time to Live (TTL) settings for your DNS records. Lower TTLs, e.g., 1 minute, can help if you switch IP addresses quickly, but be mindful of the increased DNS query volume. So, we recommend choosing a higher TTL.
Regular Monitoring: Keep an eye on your DNS query usage to detect unusual spikes and address them promptly.
How to Check DNS Query Usage
Here's how you can check the monthly DNS query usage of your subscription:
First, click the ⋮ (ellipsis) icon to reveal more options and click Manage Records.
Here, you will see the total queries on top, and for day-wise breakdown, you may navigate to the graph and review the information.
Important:
Please note that this DNS Query Usage graph updates on a weekly basis.
Discover how simple it is to activate the DNS Made Easy add-on and take advantage of Cloudways' competitive pricing. Get started today! Check Pricing.
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That’s it! We hope this article was helpful.
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