Hi, @adamzerner, you can use Netlify DNS but you don’t have to. There are two ways to point custom domains to Netlify sites:
- with Netlify DNS
- using external DNS (like DNSimple)
You can also mix and match, using external DNS for some domain names and Netlify DNS for others, even on the same site.
Note, external DNS is typically easier to set up. If you want to make to move to Netlify DNS, I recommend preparing first. There is more information about this in two “common issue” topics here in community:
I recommend testing with the external DNS method and then moving to Netlify DNS if you want access to the bells and whistles it enables (as it enables some automations at Netlify with things like branch subdomains as one example). Just be sure to copy any important DNS records to Netlify before switching the name servers to the ones at Netlify (that is what the second common issue above covers).
If there are other questions about any of this, we’re happy to answer.