Moving your domain to Cloudflare: a plain-English guide

To move your domain to Cloudflare, you add it to a Cloudflare account, check that every DNS record copied across, then change the nameservers at your current registrar to the two Cloudflare gives you. That moves your DNS; transferring the registration itself to Cloudflare is a separate, optional step you can do later or not at all.

The process is not hard. The part that goes wrong is email, so most of this guide is about protecting it.

What is the difference between DNS and the registration?

Two different things are usually bundled together when people say "my domain is at GoDaddy" or wherever.

• Registration is the rental of the name itself. You renew it yearly at a registrar.
• DNS is the address book that tells the internet where your website and email live.

You can keep the registration where it is and point the DNS at Cloudflare. That gives you Cloudflare's DNS, security and hosting without touching your renewal setup.

What should you gather before you start?

Ten minutes of preparation saves an afternoon of confused phone calls.

• The login for wherever you bought the domain
• A screenshot or export of every current DNS record
• Where your email lives: Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, or your old web host
• Whether DNSSEC is turned on at your registrar
• Access to whoever manages your website, in case the site's address needs updating

How do you move your DNS to Cloudflare, step by step?

1. Create the Cloudflare account in the business's name. Not your web person's personal account. Whoever owns the login controls the domain's traffic.
2. Add your domain. Cloudflare scans your existing DNS and imports what it finds.
3. Compare the imported records against your screenshot. Pay attention to MX records (mail delivery) and TXT records for SPF, DKIM and DMARC (mail authentication), plus any verification records from Google or Microsoft.
4. Set proxy status sensibly. Website records can usually be proxied through Cloudflare (the orange cloud). Anything mail-related should stay DNS-only (grey cloud).
5. Turn off DNSSEC at your old registrar before changing nameservers. Leaving it on is a common way to take a site offline.
6. Change the nameservers at your registrar to the two Cloudflare assigned you.
7. Wait for Cloudflare to confirm the domain is active. The change is not instant, and Cloudflare will email you when it is.
8. Test everything. Load the site on your phone, send an email in and out, and submit your own contact form.

Once it is active, you can turn DNSSEC back on from inside Cloudflare.

Which settings trip people up afterwards?

Most problems after a move come from three settings.

• SSL/TLS mode. If your host has its own certificate, use Full (strict). Flexible mode can cause redirect loops and mixed security warnings.
• Missing email records. If mail stops arriving, it is almost always an MX or TXT record that did not copy across.
• Old records pointing nowhere. Stray records for a past host or an abandoned subdomain are worth deleting while you are in there.

Should you transfer the registration to Cloudflare too?

It is optional. Some owners like having the registration and the DNS in one place with one login, and Cloudflare says it sells registrations at cost.

Before you try, check Cloudflare's list of supported domain endings. Not every extension can be registered there, and if yours cannot, keeping the registration where it is and using Cloudflare for DNS works fine.

A transfer usually means removing the transfer lock at your current registrar, requesting a transfer authorization code, and approving a confirmation email. Domains that were registered or transferred recently can be locked from moving for a period, so check that first.

What about AI crawlers?

Cloudflare lets you allow or block AI crawlers in three groups: Search, Agent and Training. According to Cloudflare's changelog, domains added from Sept 15, 2026 block Training and Agent bots on pages with ads by default.

If you want your business to show up when people ask ChatGPT or Perplexity for a recommendation, make sure search crawlers are allowed after the move. We explain why in how to get recommended by ChatGPT.

Where Papaya fits

Every website we build is hosted on Cloudflare, on an account the client owns, so moving the domain is part of the job rather than an extra. If you would rather not do the nameserver swap yourself, the websites page explains how we handle the setup. We are based in Kitchener-Waterloo and work with businesses across Ontario and Canada; the contact form is the easiest way to ask.

Common questions

Will moving my domain to Cloudflare break my email?

It should not, as long as your MX and TXT records copy across correctly and stay DNS-only. Screenshot your old records first and compare them before you change nameservers.

Do I have to transfer my domain registration to use Cloudflare?

No. You can keep the registration where it is and point your nameservers at Cloudflare, which moves your DNS without moving the renewal.

Who should own the Cloudflare account?

The business should. Put the account in the company's name with an email you control, and add your web person as a member rather than letting them own it.