How to create a temporary domain

A temporary domain is a short-term web address typically used for testing, development, or temporary projects. These domains are perfect for staging environments, trial websites, and quick deployments that don’t impact any of your existing domains and don’t require any additional outlay.

Temporary domains can be created with free services or with the hosts file, depending on your specific needs and overarching skillset, without needing to commit to a domain name or expand additional capital.

Create a temporary domain with a free service

If you’re looking for a quick and easy solution, several providers offer free subdomains that serve as temporary domains. Services such as Freenom, No-IP, Dynu, and SkipDNS let you create a subdomain under their main domain.

1. First, visit a free subdomain provider, we mentioned a few examples above which all work great. For this guide we will use SkipDNS, head to that site and we will get started.

2. Now, using the preview drop-down menu select what kind of site you want to preview either a regular or multi-site install.

3. After that, enter the IP address of your server, you can find this by logging into cPanel and view the information pane on the right side.

4. If the temporary domain you want to create is an addon domain, you will need to have created that in cPanel first. At this stage, enter that domain into the “under” section.

5. Finally, change the over setting if you need specific ports and then click “Go” to create your temporary domain.

Registering a domain

For many, registering a new domain specifically for development purposes can be a more versatile solution. Once you have the domain, you can easily set up a cPanel account and create multiple subdomains, each tailored for different development projects.

Overall, this approach provides greater flexibility and organisation, making it easier to manage your development environment.

Using the hosts file.

It is possible to set up a temporary domain directly from your local machine using the hosts file. Learn how to use to edit the hosts file on different operating systems.