I have seen people having an assumption that to have a WordPress.com site with a custom domain, they have to purchase a plan and buy a domain from WordPress.com only. Well, this isn’t correct!

There are 4 plans offered by WordPress.com: Free, Personal, Premium, and Business plan. Therefore, you can avail any of these plans to have a WordPress.com website using your existing custom domain. How? Follow the below steps. It’s super easy. 🙂

WordPress.com Site on Your Existing Domain

If you already own a domain, you can either choose to transfer it to WordPress.com or simply map it with WordPress.com. Let’s take them one at a time.

Mapping Your Existing Domain To Your WordPress.com Site

Step 1: Visit My Sites

Step 2: Click Add button next to Domains

Step 3: Click ‘Use a domain I own’

Step 4: Skip the transfer part and look forward to Manually Connect option. Click on that!

Step 5: Add your existing domain.

Once you add your domain here, you will be directed to the checkout page. Complete the transaction and add the Name Servers of WordPress.com to your domain. To add the Name Servers, you have to contact your registrar (domain provider). You may ask them to add it for you. Refer this support document to get more details on this.

Once this is done, your domain is ready to rock & roll on WordPress.com.

Transferring Your Existing Domain To WordPress.com

WordPress.com now offers you an opportunity to transfer your domain purchased from another registrar. You can do that by following the below steps.

To transfer your domain, you have to follow Step 1, 2, and 3 mentioned above. After following the above three steps (My Sites -> Click Add button (next to Domain) -> Click ‘Use A Domain I Own’), you will land on the webpage asking for the domain to transfer. I have written all the steps (after step 3) below.

Step 4: Write your existing domain in the given field and click ‘Transfer to WordPress.com’ button.

Step 5: Once you click this, you will be directed to a page asking you to unlock the domain. Click on ‘I’ve unlocked my domain’ button.

Step 6: After unlocking the domain, you have to verify it. You will get an email that is added to your domain contact information. Also, you will see the below screen for this information. Click ‘I can access this email’ button.

Step 7: Once you click this button and verify the email, you will get the below screen asking for domain authorization code. You will get this code from your domain provider. Click ‘I have my authorization code’ button, once you get this code.

Step 8: After clicking this button, you will get the below screen. Click the ‘Continue’ button and you will be directed to the Checkout page.

Step 9: Once you complete the payment, you will get two emails informing about the transfer initiation. It will have a URL asking you to confirm the transfer process. Once you use this URL, you will be directed to a below page. Provide the information and click the ‘Submit Request’ button.

Once these steps are done, your domain will be transferred to WordPress.com. It may take 48 – 72 hours.

Isn’t it easy? So, don’t worry if you already own a domain. You can either map it or simply transfer it to WordPress.com. You may also prefer to visit the support documents given below.

1. Domain Mapping
2. Transferring Existing Domain To WordPress.com

If you have any more questions, please let me know through below comment section. I’ll be happy to help! 🙂