Most people know Cloudflare as a web accelleration tool for speeding up apps and websites. But did you know you can register domains on Cloudflare too? That’s right, Cloudflare’s a domain registrar, and since February 2019 it’s been possible to fast and effortlessly register domains on their platform; further streamlining the Cloudflare experience.
Today, you’re going to learn how this process works.
Registering the domain
Cloudflare Registrar can be accessed straight from your Cloudflare dashboard.
Go to Domain Registration > Go to Register Domains
Now, it’s time to check the availability of your desired domain. If you wanted to register example.com you’d have to search for this domain name.
If the domain is available for registration, you’ll be able to proceed with purchasing. Otherwise, try with a different domain or browse through Cloudflare’s suggested domain names. Maybe one of them aligns with your vision.
Done. That was pretty easy, wasn’t it? From here, you’ll be able to benefit from all the usual Cloudflare perks.
Known limitations
While Cloudflare is generally quite easy to work with, there are a few limitations to using Cloudflare Registrar. The most important being related to DNS.
Unless you plan on upgrading to Business or Enterprise, you’re stuck with your assigned Cloudflare nameservers. You can’t use custom nameservers. Personally, I don’t mind as I plan to use Cloudflare DNS either way – but perhaps this isn’t ideal for your use case.
Please consider using another domain registrar like Namecheap in this instance.
Summary
Cloudflare – or Cloudflare Registrar – is one of the most efficient ways of registering a new domain; especially if you plan on taking advantage of Cloudflare’s network. There are limitations to the Free plan though, and you have to make do without custom nameservers unless you upgrade to Business or Enterprise.
Have questions? Shoot us a comment, and we’ll get back to you.