use an A record if you manage what IP addresses are assigned to a particular machine or if the IP are fixed (this is the most common case)
use a CNAME record if you want to alias a name to another name, and you don’t need other records (such as MX records for emails) for the same name
use an ALIAS record if you are trying to alias the root domain (apex zone) or if you need other records for the same name
use the URL record if you want the name to redirect (change address) instead of resolving to a destination.