Short answer: choose a custom-domain API by how well it runs the feature in production: DNS and TLS, safe tenant routing, protection against abusive traffic, useful monitoring, and help when something goes wrong. We built Approximated for SaaS teams that want those capabilities together, with a dedicated cluster, straightforward apex support, public pricing with automatic volume discounts, and a self-hosting path as your app grows.
We're the team behind Approximated, and this is our view of what makes a custom-domain provider a good long-term fit. We link to each provider's published material so you can check its current scope. Pricing and plan limits below were reviewed September 28, 2026 and can change.
Five questions to ask before comparing prices
- Which hostnames? List subdomains, apex domains, redirects, and any wildcard requirement. Test what your customers' DNS providers permit.
- Which origin model? Decide whether tenants share one origin or need distinct targets, and what Host and TLS server name the origin expects.
- How much production work is covered? Look for DNS onboarding, WAF and DDoS protection, bot controls, domain monitoring, and webhooks alongside certificate automation.
- Where can traffic run? Start with the managed network you need today and ask what happens if traffic or certificates later need to stay on your infrastructure.
- What happens as you grow? Check the full bill, volume discounts, feature scope, and whether real engineers are available to help with integration and incidents.
Keep DNS, certificate, origin, and tenant readiness visible as separate observations. Our production guide explains that lifecycle.
Three APIs worth evaluating
| Service | Strong fit | Check before choosing |
|---|---|---|
| Approximated | Our cloud clusters each include a dedicated anycast IPv4 address for your customer domains, along with automated TLS, apex A-record support, WAF and DDoS protection, Edge Verify, monitoring, webhooks, DNS onboarding, and engineering support. Start in our cloud and move toward hybrid or full self-hosting as your app grows. | Use our public cloud pricing to model domains and bandwidth. Compare the published self-hosted plan scope if you need your own infrastructure. |
| Cloudflare for SaaS | Teams already using a Cloudflare zone that can configure a fallback origin and are willing to move to Enterprise pricing for features such as IP-based apex proxying. | Plan the zone setup and certificate validation. IP-based Apex Proxying requires an Enterprise plan plus a paid add-on. Budget both; other apex routes depend on the customer's DNS provider. |
| Entri (Power) | Teams that want domain connection, purchasing, and monitoring alongside Entri Power's reverse proxy, automated SSL, and DDoS protection. | Separate Activate connection and monitoring allowances from the Power add-on quote. Confirm apex DNS instructions, traffic pricing, and support scope. |
Entri: proxying alongside a wider domain product suite
Entri Power is a reverse proxy with SSL termination, root-domain hosting, and DDoS protection. It sits alongside Entri's domain connection, purchasing, and DNS monitoring products. That suite can make sense when domain purchases and DNS-provider automation are product requirements. Compare its connection allowances and Power add-on quote with our published domain-and-bandwidth pricing, dedicated clusters, and engineering support.
Why we built Approximated for production SaaS
A growing SaaS serves many customer domains through the same product. We designed our edge around that operating model, so your team can connect domains and keep them healthy with one platform.
- Protection built for many tenant domains. Our WAF and DDoS protection combines request inspection, client fingerprints, and traffic analysis in your dedicated cluster. Shared threat intelligence helps inform a response tailored to your app.
- Form protection at the edge. Edge Verify uses a script served from your own domain and validates form submissions before they reach your origin. Monitor and enforce modes let you introduce it deliberately.
- Signals your product can use. Our domain monitoring and webhooks expose DNS, SSL, and proxy-hit observations, so your onboarding UI and support tools can react to changes.
- A self-hosting path as your app grows. Launch in our managed cloud, then move traffic and certificates onto your servers with hybrid self-hosting while keeping our API and dashboard. Full self-hosting provides a separate local installation when you also need an independent control plane. The plan details explain each scope.
- Real humans who can help. Our developer support answers technical questions and provides on-call emergency help. You can discuss a DNS, TLS, origin, or deployment problem with engineers who work on the service.
Published pricing, with no enterprise surprises
Approximated: 20 cents per domain, with automatic volume discounts
Our cloud pricing starts at $0.20 per domain per month, with automatic volume discounts up to 50%. The discount increases by five percentage points for each full 1,000 domains and applies to your domain charges automatically. At 1,000 domains, that's $190 per month; at 10,000, it's $1,000 per month, or $0.10 per domain, before any bandwidth overage.
There's a $20 monthly minimum, with 400 GB of bandwidth included and $0.05 per GB above that allowance. Apex A-record support, a dedicated anycast IPv4 address for your cloud cluster, WAF and DDoS protection, Edge Verify, monitoring, webhooks, and engineering support are part of our cloud offering. Our self-hosted plans have their own published prices and scope; custom SLA terms are agreed separately.
Cloudflare: Enterprise plus a paid add-on for IP-based apex proxying
Cloudflare for SaaS self-serve plans include 100 custom hostnames, then charge $0.10 per additional hostname, alongside your chosen zone plan and paid features. IP-based Apex Proxying requires an Enterprise plan plus the paid Apex Proxying add-on. Cloudflare documents a cost for the static IP prefixes used for that setup; confirm how it's included in the add-on quote. Enterprise hostname pricing is negotiated too.
For budgeting, public customer reports suggest roughly US$1,500–$5,000+ per month for some Enterprise contracts. That's an anecdotal estimate from different bundles and contract terms; Cloudflare doesn't publish a standard Enterprise price, and these reports don't establish the price of SaaS or Apex Proxying. Your quote can be lower or much higher. Ask for the Enterprise plan, Apex Proxying and static IP costs, hostname allowances, traffic commitments, and any other paid features in one complete quote.
Entri: reported starting prices around $249–$749 per month
Public pricing references put Entri's entry-level offerings at roughly $249–$749 per month, depending on the product bundle. Entri's current Activate Startup plan lists $249 per month for 600 automatic domain connections per year and 1,200 monitored domains. A third-party comparison quoting July 2026 pricing reports $749 per month for Connect plus Power, which adds proxy infrastructure and automated SSL.
The $749 figure is historical reported pricing. Entri's current site doesn't publish a Power add-on price, and larger Activate plans are quoted through sales. This range isn't a current quote for 1,000 active proxied domains. Annual domain connections and monitored-domain allowances are different billing units from monthly active proxied domains. Confirm connection allowances, proxying, traffic charges, and support in one complete quote for the workflow you need.
Use your expected domain count, traffic, support needs, and engineering work to compare the full cost. Our free seven-day trial includes the operational tools you'll need as customers start relying on their domains.
When we recommend starting with Approximated
- You're shipping custom domains as a production SaaS feature: start with our managed cluster, DNS onboarding, security controls, monitoring, and webhooks.
- You expect infrastructure requirements to change: review our cloud, hybrid, and full self-hosted paths early, with help from our engineers.
- You need straightforward apex onboarding: in our cloud, each customer cluster has its own dedicated anycast IPv4 address, shared by the tenant hostnames you configure in that cluster. Your customers can use standard A records at their existing DNS provider.
- You want costs you can plan: use our published rate, minimum, bandwidth charges, and automatic discounts to budget growth before launch.
If you already run a Cloudflare zone, its fallback-origin model is also worth testing against your requirements. Entri is worth evaluating when domain purchases and its DNS connection suite are central to your customer flow. For a SaaS your customers depend on, give the production tooling and support equal weight.
Start managed, keep a self-hosting path as your app grows
You don't need to operate an edge fleet to launch custom domains. Start with our managed cloud and let your team focus on the app. As traffic grows or requirements for certificate storage, network placement, or infrastructure control change, our hybrid and full self-hosted plans give you a path to run Approximated on your own servers.
Hybrid keeps our cloud API and dashboard while traffic and certificates run on your infrastructure. Full self-hosting provides an independent installation with a local API and dashboard, with a separate feature scope. Our engineers can help plan the deployment, including any address changes and customer DNS migration.
Cloudflare for SaaS and Entri Power document proxying through their managed networks. Neither publishes an equivalent self-hosted custom-domain platform. Being able to move the custom-domain edge onto your own infrastructure is a useful option to have as your SaaS grows.
Frequently asked questions
What should I compare in custom domain APIs for SaaS?
Compare Approximated, Cloudflare for SaaS, and Entri Power across the complete domain lifecycle: apex and subdomain DNS, automated HTTPS, origin routing, onboarding, removal, and ongoing monitoring. Include WAF and DDoS protection, form verification, webhooks, engineering support, deployment options, and the full domain-and-bandwidth bill. We built Approximated to bring these production capabilities together in dedicated proxy infrastructure for SaaS teams.
When is Approximated a good custom domain API choice?
We're a strong fit when customer domains are a production feature your SaaS depends on. Our cloud combines dedicated clusters, automatic HTTPS, straightforward apex A records, WAF and DDoS protection, Edge Verify, domain monitoring, webhooks, and DNS onboarding. Real engineers can help with integration and incidents, and our published cloud and self-hosted plans let you evaluate costs and deployment scope up front.
Which custom domain providers support apex domains?
Our cloud supports apex A records through a dedicated anycast IPv4 address for each customer cluster; its configured tenant hostnames share that address. Entri Power documents a root-domain hosting workflow. Cloudflare's IP-based Apex Proxying requires an Enterprise plan plus a paid add-on; other apex routes can depend on the customer's DNS provider. Test the actual DNS instructions and plan requirements alongside the provider's production tools.
How much does Approximated Cloud cost for customer domains?
Our published cloud rate is $0.20 per domain per month with a $20 monthly minimum. It includes 400 GB of bandwidth, with additional bandwidth at $0.05 per GB. Domain volume discounts apply automatically: five percentage points for each full 1,000 domains, up to 50%. At 10,000 domains, the domain charge is $0.10 per domain per month, before any bandwidth overage. Self-hosted plans have their own published prices and scope, and custom SLA terms are agreed separately. Use expected domains and traffic to calculate the complete bill.
Can I self-host custom domains as my SaaS grows?
Yes. You can start with Approximated Cloud, then move toward hybrid or full self-hosting as traffic and infrastructure requirements grow. Hybrid keeps our cloud API and dashboard while traffic and certificates run on your servers. Full self-hosting provides a separate installation with a local API and dashboard, with a different feature scope. Cloudflare for SaaS and Entri Power document managed proxy services without an equivalent published self-hosted platform. Our engineers can help plan deployment and any customer DNS migration.