Webflow sync, pageviews & more.
NEW

Why am I receiving a 403 error when trying to access my website on Webflow with the link apifestival.africa despite having everything set correctly on Namecheap?

TL;DR
  • Add both apifestival.africa and www.apifestival.africa in Webflow's Hosting settings and set one as the default domain.
  • In Namecheap DNS, set A records for the root domain (75.2.70.75 and 99.83.190.102) and a CNAME for www pointing to proxy-ssl.webflow.com, removing any conflicting records.
  • Publish the site to both domains in Webflow, enable SSL, and wait for DNS propagation for changes to take effect.

You're seeing a 403 Forbidden error when accessing your Webflow-hosted domain (apifestival.africa) because the domain is likely not correctly verified or misconfigured in Webflow or Namecheap.

1. Confirm Custom Domain is Added in Webflow

  • Go to Project Settings > Hosting in your Webflow dashboard.
  • Make sure that apifestival.africa and www.apifestival.africa are both added under Custom Domains.
  • One of them should be set as the Default domain (typically the www version).
  • If the root domain (apifestival.africa) is marked as default, Webflow hosting may not behave properly unless DNS is configured exactly right.

2. Verify DNS Settings in Namecheap

  • Go to Namecheap DNS settings for your domain.

  • Ensure you’ve added the correct DNS records as provided by Webflow:

  • A Records for root/apex domain (apifestival.africa):

    • (a) 75.2.70.75
    • (b) 99.83.190.102

  • CNAME record for www:

    • www → proxy-ssl.webflow.com

  • Delete any conflicting A or CNAME records (e.g., default parking pages from Namecheap).

3. Make Sure the Domain is Published in Webflow

  • After configuring DNS, click "Publish" in Webflow and select your custom domains.
  • If not published to both www.apifestival.africa and apifestival.africa, the site won't load properly.

4. Wait for DNS Propagation

  • DNS updates can take a few minutes to several hours. You can check propagation at tools like whatsmydns.net.

5. SSL Status in Webflow

  • In your Hosting settings, scroll to Advanced options and make sure that SSL is enabled.
  • If it's disabled or in error state, you'll see issues. Toggle it off and back on to reset if needed.

Summary

A 403 error often means Webflow isn’t recognizing the domain due to incomplete setup. Ensure that both the DNS records in Namecheap and domain configuration in Webflow match Webflow’s requirements, publish your site, and allow time for DNS propagation.

Webflow Resources
Webflow templates
Webflow inspiration
Rate this answer

Other Webflow Questions

Explore Logic tutorials
Why does the Request demo button work on my pricing page but not on my home page in Webflow?
How can I add a custom code on my Webflow portfolio website to enable free roam swipe functionality for draggable carousels, where the cards slide based on the power of the mouse drag effect?
How can I install a countdown timer widget on my Webflow site?
Why won't my Webflow contact modal close when someone clicks outside the pop-up?
How can I change the site plan from "Starter" to something else in Webflow?
What could be causing a glitch on all pages with anchors in Webflow?
Why does Webflow show a "failed to upload background video" error message and how can I resolve it?
How can I exclude specific pages in Webflow from appearing in our sitemap and analytics, such as auto-generated certificates given to visitors who completed a basic training on our website?
Why isn't my Webflow site showing up in Google search results, even when searching by URL?
How can I make a lightbox link play a video immediately after being clicked in Webflow, without displaying the second play button from the embedded Vimeo video?
How can I fix the issue with border radius not displaying properly on iOS when applied to a parent div instead of the image itself in Webflow?
How can I center an image in a column in Webflow?
How can I disable the Webflow success or failure state for a sign-up form and display a custom thank you page using jQuery and the Webflow form submit state?
How can I make a background video fullscreen on Webflow, specifically on screens with a resolution of 1920px and above, while still maintaining full screen on all other resolutions? The video I have is 1920x1080 and I don't mind if it appears pixelated on larger resolutions as long as it fills the screen. Why is it so difficult to achieve this? I work with game engines but I'm still struggling with this tool.
How can I link my DIV blocks in Webflow while keeping my embedded SVG icons functional and preventing errors?
Can Webflow be used to call a CSS or JS file stored on a different server, instead of hosting them on GitHub?
How can I dynamically redirect to a CMS created after form submission in Webflow?
In Webflow, how can I hide specific elements in the footer (such as "Ramin Khaze The Difference" and "Schedule showing") when the URL contains a certain parameter, such as "?mls"? I am a beginner in coding and would appreciate any help. Thank you!
How can I prevent the "w-current" class in Webflow from overriding the height of my custom class on a link block element?
Can I capture a screenshot of a Webflow page on click and convert it to a downloadable PDF?
How do I mirror user input from a form field to a non-form text field on the same Webflow page in real-time using JavaScript?
How can I close a dropdown in Webflow when clicking on a link?
Is there a more optimal way to create a portfolio section with a sticky image container that changes as you scroll, similar to the design on Deveb's website, that works across different web browsers, especially Safari, using Webflow or any other JavaScript tools?
How can I implement a multi-select field with a pre-selected option in a popup form on a collection page using Webflow?
How can I alternate the layout of the image and heading for each collection item in a two-column format on Webflow?
How can I execute JavaScript code when clicking a specific button with a given ID in a Webflow project?
How can I disable the Webflow success or failure state for a sign-up form and display a custom thank you page using jQuery and the Webflow form submit state?
How can I create a vertical scrolling menu with Webflow, similar to the one on Apple's website, that switches to horizontal scrolling when the menu doesn't fit on one screen?
How can I change the language of the Google Maps embed from English to Arabic in Webflow?
How can I reduce the vertical space between lines within a bullet point in Webflow? Can I replace the bullet points with icons on the "Services" page?