The Six-Month Journey of Managing SSL and Custom Domains for SaaS: A Common Challenge?

In the world of SaaS development, offering customers the flexibility to use their own branded domains—such as app.theircompany.com—is a highly desirable feature. However, for solo developers and small teams, implementing seamless custom domain support paired with reliable SSL certification can turn into an unexpectedly lengthy and complex process.

Recently, I embarked on building a tailored solution for a business client, where a key requirement was to enable their users to point their own domains to our platform securely. What should have been a straightforward task quickly evolved into a six-month saga of troubleshooting DNS validations, setting up automated SSL certificate issuance, and ensuring smooth renewals across numerous customer domains.

This experience not only consumed a significant amount of my development time but also highlighted a recurring pain point for many SaaS providers: the difficulty of establishing a robust, scalable infrastructure for custom domains and SSL management.

Questions for the SaaS Community

• How are you currently managing custom domain integrations and SSL certificates for your users?
• What obstacles have you encountered during implementation?
• Have you attempted to develop an internal system for handling domain validation and SSL automation? If so, what challenges or delays did you face?
• Do you see value in a self-service platform that streamlines domain pointing, validation, and fully automates SSL provisioning and renewal processes?

I’m eager to hear about your experiences. Is this a familiar challenge for your team? Do you think a dedicated, automated solution could significantly alleviate this pain point? Sharing insights could help us all improve how we support our customers’ branding and security needs with less hassle.

Thanks for engaging!