Domains Day: Connecting Railway with Vercel, Cloudflare, and Hostinger

My experience moving my domain from Hostinger to Porkbun and connecting the domains with Vercel and Railway

Moving My Domains

I decided to transfer all 11 of my domains from Hostinger to other providers. I consulted two friends—a team lead in Canada and an SEO specialist in Turkey—and both recommended Porkbun.

I registered with Porkbun and was required to verify my identity. They offered multiple verification options, and I chose to use my government ID. However, I faced issues: I uploaded my ID about 10 times, and it failed every time, even though the verification platform supported my language. I reached out to their help center, and the fastest response came via email.

It took about 12 hours to receive a reply, which felt like a long time. The good news? They instantly verified my ID with no further issues. Later, when I asked another question, their response again took several hours, unlike Hostinger, which typically responds within 1 to 30 minutes (and at most within 2 hours). However, I found Hostinger’s customer service stricter and sometimes less friendly.

I’ll discuss my reasons for moving later, but for now, let’s focus on the process.

Moving from Hostinger to Porkbun

I had never transferred a domain before, so I expected it to be challenging. However, Hostinger made the process straightforward without asking why I was transferring.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Go to your Hostinger dashboard.
2. Disable the Privacy Protection (WHOIS Privacy Protection) button.
3. Disable the Transfer Lock button. This may take up to 12 hours to update.
4. Obtain the Authorization Code (EPP code) from the dashboard and save it, as you’ll need to provide it to Porkbun for the domain transfer.

On Porkbun’s website: - Enter your domain name in the Domain Name field under the transfer section. - Copy the authorization code from Hostinger and paste it into the Auth Code field. - Click Submit.

The transfer(s) will be added to your cart. From there, click Continue to Billing to pay for the transfer. It’s that simple!

If your domain is older than 60 days, the transfer typically takes 5 to 7 days. Some domains may transfer in as little as 2 days, but Hostinger will send a verification request via email to confirm the transfer.

Note: If your domain is less than 60 days old, you’ll need to wait until it passes the 60-day mark. There’s talk of this being reduced to 30 days, but as of this writing (May 2025), the 60-day rule applies, per ICANN regulations, not Hostinger or Porkbun.

Connecting Railway and Vercel with Porkbun

Connecting a domain to Vercel is straightforward. Follow the instructions provided by Vercel, which are similar to those for any registrar. Add the necessary DNS records in Porkbun’s DNS Management section, accessible from the domain management dashboard under your account menu.

Connecting to Railway was trickier. I needed an intermediary, and I chose Cloudflare to manage my Porkbun domain’s DNS. Here’s how it worked:

1. Configure Cloudflare to manage your Porkbun domain.

2. Add the necessary Railway DNS records to Cloudflare.

3. Wait approximately 1 to 2 days for the DNS changes to propagate.

Once the DNS updates are complete, your domain should work seamlessly with Railway.