Onboard domain Onboard a domain

After you onboard your domain, Cloudflare will act as the reverse proxy and DNS provider for your site.

This guide applies to existing domains that were purchased from another provider, and will use a full DNS setup, which is the most common configuration. To set this up, you will have to complete a few steps at Cloudflare, but also update some settings at your domain registrar1, and at your previous DNS provider (if you were using one).

Cloudflare Registrar

If you need a new domain, you can buy one from Cloudflare without markup fees. We will complete the rest of this setup for you.

1. Log in to the Cloudflare dashboard.

Go to Domains

1. Select Onboard a domain.
2. Enter your website's apex domain (for example, example.com), choose how you would like to add your DNS records, and select Continue.

Note If Cloudflare is unable to identify your domain as a registered domain, make sure you are using an existing top-level domain ↗ (.com, .net, .biz, or others). Cloudflare requires your apex domain to be one level below a valid TLD defined in the Public Suffix List (PSL) ↗. For instance, example.com is valid but level2.example.com2 or example.home are not.

1. Select a plan ↗.

Your DNS records must be accurate for your domain to work properly. If you don't know what DNS records are, consider the video below for a quick explanation.

1. Since the quick scan is not guaranteed to find all existing DNS records, you need to review your records, paying special attention to the following:

Zone apex records (example.com) More about zone apex records Zone apex refers to the domain or subdomain that you are adding to Cloudflare. Usually, the zone apex record makes your domain accessible by visitors. In this case, the necessary record type (A, AAAA, or CNAME) and its content will depend on the provider that hosts your website or application. If you are using Cloudflare Workers, refer to Custom domains. If you are using other providers, look for their guidance on how to connect domains managed on external DNS services. Then, make sure you have the records required by your hosting provider on your DNS records table at Cloudflare. Subdomain records (www.example.com or blog.example.com) More about subdomain records Most subdomains serve a specific purpose within the overall context of your website. For example, blog.example.com might be your blog, support.example.com could be your customer help portal, and store.example.com would be your e-commerce site. Even if you do not require specific subdomains, you might want to set up at least a subdomain record on www. It will usually point to the same content as what you have on the apex domain (example.com) or use a redirect. Having a subdomain DNS record on www helps guarantee that a visitor who types www. in front of your domain address can still find your website or application. Email records More about email records Depending on your business needs, you can configure DNS records so that you can use your domain to receive emails, receive and send emails from your domain, or prevent others from sending emails on your behalf (spoofing). Below are some examples of what those DNS records might look like. The exact values for your DNS mail records depend on your email provider. If you have issues, review the Troubleshooting and contact your email service provider to confirm your DNS records are correct. | Type | Name | Content | Proxy status | TTL | | ---- | -------------- | ----------------------------- | ------------ | ---- | | A | mail | 192.0.2.1 | DNS Only | Auto | | MX | example.com | 5 john.mx.example-server.test | DNS Only | Auto | | TXT | \dmarc | "v=DMARC1; p=reject; sp=... | DNS Only | Auto | | TXT | \.\domainkey | "v=DKIM1; k=rsa; p=..." | DNS Only | Auto | | TXT | example.com | "v=spf1 ip4:..." | DNS Only | Auto | Note If you activate your domain on Cloudflare without setting up the correct DNS records for your domain, your visitors may experience DNS\PROBE\FINISHED\_NXDOMAIN errors.

1. If you find any missing records, manually add those records.
2. Depending on your site setup, you may want to adjust the proxy status for certain A, AAAA, or CNAME records. Each record has a proxy status toggle:

Proxied (orange cloud): web traffic goes through the Cloudflare network, which provides caching, DDoS protection, and other security features. DNS only (gray cloud): Cloudflare returns the DNS record value but does not proxy traffic. Use this for CNAME records that verify your domain for third-party services.

1. Select Continue.

Your domain will be assigned two authoritative Cloudflare nameservers. Nameservers are specialized servers that store your domain's DNS records and "answer" requests from browsers by providing the specific IP address needed to connect to your website.

Usually, you need to add these nameservers at your registrar. Refer to Update nameservers for more information.

Provider-specific instructions

This is not an exhaustive list of provider-specific instructions, but the following links may be helpful:

• Ionos ↗
• 101Domain ↗
• Amazon ↗
• Blacknight ↗
• BlueHost ↗
• DirectNIC ↗
• DNSMadeEasy ↗
• Domain.com ↗
• Dotster ↗
• DreamHost ↗
• EasyDNS ↗
• Enom ↗
• Fast Domain ↗
• FlokiNET ↗
• Gandi ↗
• GoDaddy ↗
• HostGator ↗
• Hostico ↗
• HostMonster ↗
• Hover ↗
• Internetdbs ↗
• iPage ↗
• MelbourneIT ↗
• Moniker ↗
• Name.com ↗
• Namecheap ↗
• Network Solutions ↗
• OVH ↗
• Porkbun ↗
• Rackspace ↗
• Register ↗
• Squarespace ↗
• Site5 ↗
• Softlayer ↗
• Yola ↗

DNSSEC

If your domain uses DNSSEC, you must turn it off at your registrar before changing nameservers. Changing nameservers while DNSSEC is active can cause your domain to become unreachable. You can re-enable DNSSEC through Cloudflare after your domain is active.

To prevent insecure connections and visitor browser errors, review your SSL/TLS certificates. Many Cloudflare services will automatically protect and speed up your web traffic after your nameservers are updated and your DNS records are proxied. For further guidance, refer to Proxy status.

If you encounter unexpected results when changing your nameservers, refer to the DNS Full Setup troubleshooting.

1. The provider you purchased your domain from ↩
2. Enterprise customers can onboard these using Subdomain setup. ↩

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