Articulation is a modern website builder and Weebly alternative, built by the founding engineers of Weebly. Serving design agencies, web hosts, and individual site owners, Articulation helps businesses create professional websites with a powerful drag-and-drop editor, full eCommerce tools, and seamless Weebly migrations. Our Co-Founder Robbie Birkner sat down with one of the Articulation Founders Dustin Doiron to hear how OpusDNS has become a key part of their infrastructure.
Robbie: Dustin, please share a few words on what your company does and explain what role domains and DNS play in your business?
Dustin: Articulation is a website builder platform. Think of us as the modern alternative to Weebly, built by the same people who engineered it from early on. We serve individual site owners, design agencies, and web hosts, giving them a powerful drag-and-drop editor, full eCommerce capabilities, blogging tools, and membership features. Domains are absolutely central to what we do. When a customer publishes their site, they want it on their name, their own unique identifier, not a generic subdomain. Being able to offer reliable, seamless custom domain connectivity is a core part of the product experience and customer journey. And for our agency and web host partners managing multiple client sites, having a dependable domain and DNS layer behind the scenes is non-negotiable.
Robbie: What are some of the challenges or limitations that led you to look for a registrar?
Dustin: As we scaled, we needed a registrar that could keep pace with us. One that offered a proper API-first approach rather than a click-heavy control panel that wasn't designed for volume. We also needed broad TLD coverage to support our customers wherever they are in the world. Finding a partner who understood the needs of a platform business, not just an end user, was key.
Robbie: What were the most important criteria when choosing a partner like OpusDNS?
Dustin: API reliability, ease of implementation and documentation were at the top of the list. When you're managing domains at scale across dozens of TLDs, you need an API that is consistent, well-documented, and genuinely works. Beyond that, we cared about TLD breadth, from the obvious .com and .net to country codes like .ca and .de, and new-gen extensions like .ai and .io. We just had a customer transfer their .london domain to us. Pricing transparency and responsive support were also critical. We needed a wholesale partner who treated us like a partner, not just another account.
Robbie: What ultimately made OpusDNS stand out?
Dustin: OpusDNS checked every box from a technical standpoint, but what really set them apart was the combination of a clean API and a team that actually understood our use case. They weren't trying to sell us a retail product wrapped in wholesale packaging. OpusDNS has built their platform for businesses like ours. The TLD catalogue was impressive, the onboarding was straightforward and very easy, and there was a genuine sense that they wanted us to succeed.
Robbie: What was your initial experience like when onboarding with OpusDNS?
Dustin: Honestly, refreshingly smooth. The API documentation was clear, integration into our existing infrastructure didn't require heroic effort, and when we had questions, we got real answers quickly. We were able to create a successful integration in a matter of a couple days, instead of the weeks originally planned. For a platform that prides itself on making complex things easy for its own customers, it was reassuring to experience that same philosophy from a vendor.
Robbie: Which OpusDNS features or services have had the biggest impact on your operations so far?
Dustin: The API-first approach has been the biggest win for us. It means we can automate domain registration and DNS management as part of our standard site publishing workflow, with no manual steps. The breadth of TLD support has also made a real difference; we're not turning customers away because we can't support their preferred extension. And the DNS management tools are solid with reliable propagation and clean records management, everything you'd want under the hood.
Robbie: What improvements have you seen since switching — whether in performance, efficiency, or revenue?
Dustin: Our customers are not technical by nature. They struggle with updating DNS records. They find domain transfers to be much simpler since that allows us to set up the correct DNS records for them.
Robbie: How has OpusDNS changed your day-to-day workflow or the way your team operates?
Dustin: The team spends far less time firefighting domain-related issues. When your registrar infrastructure is solid, it fades into the background, which is exactly what you want. Our engineers can focus on building great features for our customers rather than troubleshooting registration edge cases or chasing down DNS propagation delays.
Robbie: How would you describe working with the OpusDNS team?
Dustin: Straightforward, knowledgeable, and genuinely responsive. They're a team that knows domains inside and out, and they communicate like partners rather than a support ticket queue. For a foundational part of our infrastructure, that relationship matters a lot.
Robbie: What are you most excited about building or scaling next with OpusDNS?
Dustin: We're expanding our agency and web host offering, which means more client sites, more custom domains, and more demand for a frictionless domain experience at scale. OpusDNS is a key part of that growth story. We're also exploring how deeper API integrations can unlock even more automation for our platform, making the journey from "build your site" to "go live on your domain" as seamless as possible for every Articulation customer.
Robbie: Would you recommend OpusDNS to others? And if so, why?
Dustin: Absolutely. If you're running a platform, an agency, or any business that manages domains at scale, OpusDNS is worth a serious look. The API is solid, the TLD coverage is broad, the pricing is fair, and the team genuinely knows what they're doing. In a space where a lot of registrars are built for consumers, it's refreshing to work with one that was clearly designed with platform businesses in mind.
Robbie: Last question. Every great product has an origin story. What was the defining "aha" moment that shaped what Articulation became and what was the biggest obstacle you had to overcome to get there?
Dustin: Talking to Weebly customers and hearing how frustrated they are that the product is being left behind. We knew we could give them a better experience. From there we set out to build the easiest way possible to move your site off of Weebly and onto Articulation. The biggest challenge early on was resisting the urge to build everything at once. When you know a product space deeply, you see every feature that should exist, but the discipline of launching with the right core, earning trust, and growing from there is harder than it sounds.
Robbie: Dustin, thank you so much for taking the time to do this interview with us. We are very grateful to have you as a customer of OpusDNS and for providing continuous feedback to us. We’ll look forward to servicing you and your team for many years to come and are excited to see you grow exponentially month of month.
Want to learn more about how OpusDNS can power your platform or agency? Visit opusdns.com to get started.
