Alfahosting

Webflow hosting serves only the website. Mailboxes such as info@meinefirma.de need a separate provider, and Webflow's custom code fields accept HTML, CSS, and JavaScript only, so a Webflow-hosted site never runs PHP. Many German companies already keep their .de domain, email, and webspace at Alfahosting and have no reason to move any of it.

Pointing DNS records from the Alfahosting customer panel to Webflow puts the Webflow site on that existing domain with no domain transfer. Nameservers and MX records stay where they are, so mail keeps flowing through Alfahosting's German mail infrastructure. PHP scripts on Alfahosting webspace can receive Webflow webhooks or push content updates into Webflow on a schedule. Sites that must run on a German server can live as a static code export in the Alfahosting /html directory.

This setup fits German SMEs with active Alfahosting mailboxes and a marketing site moving to Webflow. The same DNS pattern repeats client by client inside a DACH agency's Alfahosting reseller account. Freelancers handing off one-off projects take the export path. For IT admins responsible for MX, SPF, and DKIM records, the email preservation steps below are the relevant part.

How to integrate Alfahosting with Webflow

What is Alfahosting? Alfahosting is a German web hosting provider based in Halle (Saale), founded in September 1999, running most of its own infrastructure on colocation space in a Leipzig data center. It sells shared web hosting, WordPress hosting, reseller hosting, virtual and dedicated servers, domain registration, SSL certificates, and email hosting. Contracts and domains live in the customer panel, while email, FTP, database, and PHP settings live in CloudPit.

Teams combine the two when the domain and mailboxes already sit at Alfahosting and only the website moves to Webflow. There is nothing to install: every connection is either a DNS record you edit at Alfahosting or a file you put on its webspace. Alfahosting has no Webflow Marketplace app and no Zapier app, and standard web hosting customers get no documented REST API. For the data-processing side, Alfahosting offers an order-processing agreement under Art. 28 DSGVO.

The Alfahosting-Webflow integration supports four approaches:

• DNS pointing in the Alfahosting panel connects an Alfahosting-registered domain to a Webflow site and keeps email at Alfahosting without writing any code.
• Custom code and Code Embed elements load scripts, fonts, and other files from Alfahosting webspace into a site that stays on Webflow hosting.
• Code export to Alfahosting webspace serves a static Webflow site from Alfahosting's German servers over FTP, SFTP, or WebFTP, and needs a paid Workspace plan.
• The Webflow Data API with PHP scripts on Alfahosting webspace gives you full control over form handling and CMS sync, at the cost of server-side development.

Most implementations combine two or more of them.

Point an Alfahosting domain to Webflow

This method keeps the domain registered at Alfahosting and routes web traffic to Webflow through three DNS records. It suits any owner of a .de domain at Alfahosting who wants to avoid a DENIC provider change. You need a paid Site plan, because custom domains are not available on the free Starter plan. Nameservers stay at Alfahosting and you edit individual records only, as Webflow's manual custom domain guide describes. Record values can differ from site to site, so read yours from Site settings > Publishing > Production before you touch anything at Alfahosting.

To connect the domain:

1. In Webflow, go to Site settings > Publishing > Production > Add a custom domain > Manually add domain. This adds both the root domain and www.
2. Copy the values shown. The current set is an A record for @ with 198.202.211.1, a CNAME for www with cdn.webflow.com, and a TXT record at _webflow holding the one-time-verification=… string.
3. Log in to the Alfahosting customer panel and open Meine Verträge > your contract > DNS System. On older webhosting plans the path runs through Experten-Einstellungen > DNS-System; on new-generation plans the DNS System link sits directly in the contract. Click through the warning notice and select the domain.
4. Edit the existing root A record, or add one via Record hinzufügen > A-Record with hostname @ and value 198.202.211.1, then click Speichern. Read the email section below first if the domain carries active mailboxes.
5. Add the CNAME via Record hinzufügen > CNAME, name www, target cdn.webflow.com, and save.
6. Add the TXT record for _webflow. Which panel you are on decides how hard this is. In the older DNS-System, A, CNAME, and MX records are self-service while TXT and SRV records come from fixed templates, so a hostname like _webflow may need a support ticket naming the domain and the full record value. In Alfahosting's newer oneHome panel you create A, AAAA, CAA, CNAME, MX, SRV, and TXT records yourself: leave the Name field empty for the root domain and enter the prefix on its own, so _webflow goes in as _webflow, per the oneHome DNS guide.
7. Wait for propagation. Alfahosting says a changed DNS entry takes 12 to 24 hours to go live globally.
8. Back in Site settings > Publishing > Production, click Check status under the domain, make www the default domain, and publish.

Keep www as the default domain: setting the root as the default without adjusting DNS can produce redirect loops and a “too many redirects” error. Remove any additional A records on the root, since they conflict with the record above. The legacy values 75.2.70.75, 99.83.190.102, and proxy-ssl.webflow.com stopped accepting published changes on January 13, 2026, per the Cloudflare migration article. Any tutorial or registrar help page still showing them is out of date, whoever published it.

Keep Alfahosting email running after the switch

Alfahosting creates a wildcard A record (*) by default, and that record carries email as well as everything else in front of the domain name. Repointing it sends mail to the new IP. A separate mail A record aimed at your Alfahosting server IP keeps delivery where it is, as Alfahosting's A-record article explains. MX and SPF records stay untouched, and Webflow hosting does not include email at all.

To preserve mail routing:

1. Find the server IP under Meine Verträge > your tariff > Server-Info > Allgemeine Informationen > Server-IP.
2. In DNS System, click Record hinzufügen > A-Record, enter mail as the name and the server IP as the target, then Speichern. Newer Alfahosting tariffs use mail-in instead, so copy whichever hostname your panel already shows.
3. Leave the MX records in place. On CloudPit tariffs these are mx03.secure-mailgate.com and mx04.secure-mailgate.com, per the external domains article.
4. Keep the SPF record v=spf1 a mx include:secure-mailgate.com ~all. If it is missing, add it via Record hinzufügen > TXT-Record (Vorlage) > SPF Alfahosting-Server.

Alfahosting sets DKIM by default on domains where it manages the nameservers and the domain's A record, mail, or mail-in points into its own network range; on webhosting booked from April 12, 2021 the SPF entry is written automatically too, so step 4 is a check rather than a task. Both conditions come from the SPF and DKIM article, which also warns that adding an external sending service means extending the SPF record through support. Alfahosting publishes no DMARC guidance, so that record is yours to design.

Load Alfahosting-hosted scripts with Code Embed elements

Webflow's custom code fields run HTML, CSS, and JavaScript only, and each one caps out at 50,000 characters, so anything larger belongs on Alfahosting webspace with a script tag pointing at it. A Code Embed element carries the same 50,000-character ceiling and needs a Core, Growth, Agency, or Freelancer Workspace, or a site with an active Site plan. Serve the file from a domain or subdomain whose DNS still resolves to your webspace, or the browser will fetch nothing.

To reference a hosted file:

1. Upload the file to the /html directory of the Alfahosting webspace over FTP or WebFTP.
2. Confirm it loads over HTTPS at the domain you plan to reference, since a mixed-content URL is blocked on a published Webflow site.
3. Add <script src="https://yourdomain.de/script.js"></script> to Site settings > Custom code > Head code or Footer code, or drop it into a Code Embed element on a single page.
4. Publish the site, because custom code fields take effect on publish rather than on save.

This keeps the site on Webflow hosting and uses Alfahosting purely as a file host, which is the lightest of the four methods to reverse.

Host a Webflow code export on Alfahosting webspace

Some clients require a German server for the website itself, and a static brochure or portfolio site can meet that through code export. Code export needs a paid Workspace plan; Site plans do not include it. The ZIP holds every page as an .html file plus the site's styles, scripts, and uploaded images, and the exported site needs no continuing Webflow plan and carries no attribution requirement. Every current Alfahosting webhosting tariff includes FTP, SFTP, SSH, browser-based WebFTP, mod_rewrite, and free Let's Encrypt certificates covering 50 domains plus all subdomains, per the pricing overview. Handle forms before you export, because form processing does not survive the move.

To deploy the export:

1. In each form's settings, choose Custom Action and paste a handler URL, such as a PHP script on the Alfahosting webspace, then remove the Webflow and Email notifications.
2. Open Main menu > Code export (the W logo in the upper left, or press Shift+E), click Prepare ZIP, and download it.
3. Connect with FileZilla using the server name, FTP username, and password, or use SFTP on port 22 with the primary FTP user. For a browser-only workflow, open CloudPit > FTP > WEB-FTP.
4. Upload the HTML, CSS, JS, and image files to the /html directory, which is the web root on Alfahosting webhosting tariffs.
5. Enable a Let's Encrypt certificate for the domain under Meine Verträge > your contract > Domains & SSL > Zertifikate, as the SSL article describes.

Webflow's code export article is explicit about what stops working once the site leaves Webflow hosting:

• CMS content: Collection Lists render their empty state and Collection pages show nothing bound to a Collection field, because no database ships with the export.
• Form processing: submissions, file uploads, and reCAPTCHA all stop, which is why the Custom Action step comes before the export rather than after it.
• Ecommerce and User Accounts: products, checkout, users, and access groups are database features and none of them are included in exported code.
• Site search and password protection: both run on Webflow's servers, so protected pages come out of the export unprotected.
• Localization and code components: only the primary locale is exported, and code components do not function on an exported site.

A self-hosted export therefore fits static brochure and portfolio work. Anything driven by the CMS or Ecommerce stays on Webflow hosting and uses the DNS method above.

Build with the Webflow Data API and PHP on Alfahosting webspace

Traffic in this method runs almost entirely one way: PHP on the Alfahosting webspace calls Webflow, and the only thing coming back the other way is webhook delivery. Alfahosting documents no REST API for standard webhosting customers, so there is nothing to call in that direction. Your scripts hit the Webflow Data API v2 at https://api.webflow.com with a bearer token in the Authorization header, per the authentication reference. If you have not used it before, the Webflow CMS API guide is the shorter way in.

One constraint decides the shape of the build: the Create Webhook endpoint requires a bearer token from a Data Client App with the sites:write scope, not a plain site token, and it allows 75 registrations per trigger type per site. Register the webhook once from an app you control, then let the PHP handler do the rest.

The endpoints worth knowing:

• Webhooks: events such as form_submission, site_publish, and collection_item_created post to an HTTPS URL you own, and the full list of trigger types sits in the events reference.
• Form submissions: list them per site with GET /v2/sites/{site_id}/form_submissions and the forms:read scope, which is the polling alternative to a webhook.
• CMS collection items: create and update them with the CMS:write scope, in batches of up to 100 items per call.
• Sites: publish with POST /v2/sites/{site_id}/publish, rate limited to one successful publish queue per minute, and read domain IDs from GET /v2/sites/{site_id}/custom_domains.

The v1 API was deprecated on March 31, 2025, so build against v2 only. This path is for developers comfortable writing and hosting PHP; the two sections below are the jobs it actually earns its keep on.

Send form notifications through Alfahosting SMTP with a webhook

Webflow sends form notifications from its own addresses and offers no field for your mail server, and the obvious workaround makes things worse: a custom form action bypasses Webflow's form processing entirely, so you lose the submission record along with the notification. A form_submission webhook delivered to a PHP script on Alfahosting keeps the record and lets you send the mail from your own mailbox.

To implement this:

1. Upload a PHP handler to the Alfahosting webspace over SFTP and confirm it answers over HTTPS on a domain that resolves to Alfahosting.
2. Register the webhook with POST https://api.webflow.com/v2/sites/{site_id}/webhooks, set triggerType to "form_submission", and set url to the script's HTTPS address.
3. In the script, run the verification the webhooks guide describes: compute an HMAC SHA-256 of x-webflow-timestamp, a colon, and the raw body, using the signing secret, then compare it to x-webflow-signature. Reject anything older than 5 minutes.
4. Read name, data, submittedAt, and formId from the payload and send the mail with PHPMailer or mail(). Use host webXXX.alfahosting-server.de, port 465, SSL/TLS, and the full email address as the username; the exact server name sits under CloudPit > E-Mails > E-Mail-Adressen > Verbindungsdaten, per the mail server article.
5. Return HTTP 200. Any other status is treated as a failure and retried up to three more times at 10-minute intervals before Webflow gives up.

If the mail library needs a particular PHP release, switch the version per domain under CloudPit > Domains > Aktionen > PHP-Einstellungen, which the PHP version article walks through. Note the version you moved away from, because a rollback is the fastest fix if the handler stops responding.

Sync external data into the Webflow CMS with a cron job

A scheduled PHP script can read product, event, or price data from a MariaDB database on the Alfahosting webspace and write it into a CMS collection overnight. Check your tariff first: the cronjob article is explicit that cron scheduling depends on the plan, and Alfahosting's entry-level webhosting tariff does not include it. Receiving a webhook needs no such tier, since that is an ordinary HTTPS request to a PHP file.

To set up the sync:

1. Write a PHP script that queries the source data and calls POST https://api.webflow.com/v2/collections/{collection_id}/items for new records, with the CMS:write scope.
2. Update existing records with PATCH https://api.webflow.com/v2/collections/{collection_id}/items and batch several items into one call, per the update items reference.
3. Publish the staged changes with POST https://api.webflow.com/v2/sites/{site_id}/publish, or skip staging and write straight to POST https://api.webflow.com/v2/collections/{collection_id}/items/live, as the live items reference shows.
4. In CloudPit > CRONJOBS, click + CRONJOB HINZUFÜGEN, choose PHP-Skript ausführen, and give the full absolute path to the script.
5. Turn on the optional email alert for cron failures so a broken sync lands in your Alfahosting inbox rather than going unnoticed for a week.

One trap for anyone porting older code: since the July 7, 2025 publishing change, setting isDraft: true no longer unpublishes a live item. Unpublishing now goes through DELETE /v2/collections/{collection_id}/items/live.

What you can build with the Alfahosting Webflow integration

Pairing the two lets you launch on an existing .de domain without transferring the domain or moving a single mailbox. Four shapes cover most of what German teams actually do with it:

• Company site on Webflow, mailboxes at Alfahosting: an SME points @ and www at Webflow and leaves the mail A record and MX records alone. brachbach-sieg.de states in its privacy policy that the site is built and hosted on Webflow while Alfahosting handles further services such as email hosting.
• Agency delivery across a reseller account: a DACH agency managing client domains through Alfahosting reseller hosting sets the A, CNAME, and TXT records per client domain, so each client keeps registrar control and its existing inbox while the agency publishes.
• Static site on a German server: a freelancer builds a portfolio or brochure site in Webflow, exports the code, and uploads it to the client's /html directory, leaving a self-contained site on the client's own contract with no continuing Webflow subscription.
• Form routing and content sync through PHP: a form_submission webhook hits a PHP handler that mails the sales team from the company's own domain, while a nightly cron job on the same webspace pushes updated event listings into a CMS collection.

If the notification email is the part you actually care about, read how to customize form notification emails before you build a webhook you may not need.