Apex domain
The bare domain with no prefix, such as brand.com, which cannot carry a CNAME record and needs ALIAS or address records instead.
Updated August 14, 2026
The apex domain — also called the root, bare or naked domain — is the name without any prefix: brand.com rather than go.brand.com. It is the shortest possible base for a short link, which is why domains are often bought purely for that purpose.
It is also the one name in a zone that cannot be a CNAME. Every apex carries the records that make the zone work, its authority and nameserver entries, and usually mail records as well; since a name holding a CNAME may hold nothing else, the apex is excluded by the specification. Providers either refuse the record or accept it and break mail delivery.
Two routes remain. Some providers offer a non-standard record — ALIAS, ANAME or CNAME flattening — that resolves the target to addresses before answering, keeping the standard intact and the setup maintenance-free. Where that is unavailable, point the apex at the platform's ingress addresses with A and AAAA records. Remember that brand.com and www.brand.com are separate names: connecting one does nothing for the other.