Custom Domain + Free SSL on a VPS: Nginx and Certbot Done Right (2026)
Your app is running on the server. curl localhost:3000 works. Now you want https://app.example.com with a padlock, and that last mile (DNS, Nginx, certificates, renewals) is where a surprising number of deploys go wrong. This guide covers custom domains and free HTTPS on a Linux VPS end to end, plus how ShipOwn automates it safely. How the pieces fit DNS maps app.example.com to your server's IP.…
Once your application is up and running on the server, you can configure it to use HTTPS with a free SSL certificate. To set up custom domains and free HTTPS on a Linux VPS, follow these steps: DNS mapping maps your custom domain to your server's IP address, while Nginx listens on ports 80/443 and decides which app receives each request based on the server_name.
Certbot verifies that you control the domain and installs the certificate into Nginx. Renewal keeps the certificate up to date before it expires. To get started, configure DNS records for your domain, open the firewall, create an Nginx server block, test the configuration, and finally, issue the certificate using Certbot. Renewal is crucial to keep the SSL certificate up to date.
ShipOwn automates this process, making it safe and efficient for deploying apps with custom domains and HTTPS.
Written by urgent.news from Dev.to's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
