What it does
Accepts custom domains
A virtual host maps an incoming custom domain to a target application address.
Routes web traffic
A proxy cluster relays requests to the configured application and returns its responses.
Manages certificates
The cluster provisions, monitors, and renews TLS certificates for configured domains.
The detailed request flow and DNS choices are documented in How Approximated works.
What it does not replace
- Your application remains the origin that generates the response.
- You or your users still publish the DNS records that point each custom domain at the proxy cluster.
- Creating a virtual host does not itself prove that DNS is pointed correctly or that a certificate is already active; monitoring reports those states separately.
Deployment options
- Cloud
- Approximated manages the proxy infrastructure. Public cloud pricing is summarized on the pricing page.
- Hybrid self-hosted
- Traffic and certificates run through customer infrastructure while the Approximated cloud API and dashboard remain in use.
- Full self-hosted
- A separate, self-contained installation with a local API and dashboard. Feature availability can differ from cloud. See the self-hosted plan details.
Core terminology
- Custom domain
- A domain supplied for use with an application.
- Proxy cluster
- The group of machines serving and relaying a customer's configured traffic.
- Virtual host
- The configuration that maps an incoming address to a target address.
- Incoming address
- The custom domain, optionally with supported path matching, accepted by a virtual host.
- Target address
- The application or origin to which the cluster sends a matching request.
- API key
- The credential that authenticates public API operations and scopes them to a proxy cluster.