Hello everyone,

I'm having trouble setting up a custom domain for my GitBook project. My project is hosted at bloxsafe.gitbook.io, and I've successfully set up the subdomain www.bloxsafe.xyz to point to it. However, I'm unable to configure the root domain bloxsafe.xyz to work similarly. Under Settings->General->Publishing->Your Gitbook Domain, I can only edit the subdomain.

The problem is that visitors can access my GitBook via www.bloxsafe.xyz, but not directly through bloxsafe.xyz. I've tried setting up DNS records, but it seems like GitBook only supports subdomains (e.g., www) rather than the root domain.

Has anyone else encountered this issue? Are there any workarounds or specific DNS settings I should use to get both www.bloxsafe.xyz and bloxsafe.xyz working?

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated!

I've been using GitBook for documentation in some of my projects, but I'm increasingly running into limitations with their free tier, and I'm not a fan of relying on their cloud service. I'd prefer to self-host a similar solution for better control and customization.

Ideally, I'm looking for a self-hosted alternative that offers:

• Markdown support

• Clean, modern UI like GitBook

• Easy navigation/sidebar structure

• Version control integration (Git preferably)

• Good search functionality

Ability to collaborate with others I know there are options like BookStack, DokuWiki, and MDBook out there, but I'd love to hear from anyone who's made the switch from GitBook to a self-hosted solution. What worked well for you? Any implementation challenges I should be aware of?

Thanks in advance!

UPDATE: Thanks for all the suggestions—super helpful!

Just wanted to mention that I ended up trying out Apidog's self-hosted docs and it’s been a really solid alternative to GitBook for my needs. It supports Markdown, has a clean and modern UI, and the sidebar/navigation setup feels very familiar.

It also integrates with Git for version control, which was important for me, and the search has been decent so far. I’ve been using it for about 6 months now after hitting the limits of GitBook’s free tier, and I’ve been really happy with it. The self-hosting setup was pretty straightforward if you follow their guide.

If you’re looking for something GitBook-like but with more control, it’s definitely worth a look.

So, I want to use its free tier but it says its for open-source projects???

So non-open source projects are not allowed on gitbook free tier?

Hello, should I invest in a domain for my portfolio, or is GitHub Pages (username.github.io) fine? If not, what domain should I go for?

Is .com okay? It's the cheapest option. I also heard about the ".me" domain. Is it better than ".com"?

I'm over WordPress, I think they have gone too far with trying to make an editor that is all things to all people and I find editing to be very distracting. I am writing technical documentation and need it to be precise rather than fancy.

I really like GitBook, but I want to retain creative and hosting control.

Is there a self hosted version of something like GitBook?

Many thanks.

Preferably something safe.