Does Cloudflare Host Websites

If you’re involved in website building and hosting, there’s a good chance you’ve heard the name Cloudflare mentioned before.

Cloudflare is a well-known Content Delivery Network (CDN) that aims to build a better and more secure internet.

Does Cloudflare host websites? While Cloudflare doesn’t provide traditional website hosting for storing and serving website files like a typical web host, it can be used in conjunction with a web hosting provider. You would typically keep your website files on your chosen web hosting server. Cloudflare would sit in front of your server, acting as a middle layer to enhance performance, security, and reliability.

As one of the biggest CDN providers in the world, many website builders and internet users want to learn more about Cloudflare. If you’ve come here wanting to know if Cloudflare hosts websites, you’ve come to the right place.

In today’s post, I will explain everything you need to know about Cloudflare. I’ll tell you what it is, what it can do, and how you can use it, and of course.

What Is Cloudflare?

For those who don’t know, Cloudflare is a global network designed to make your connection to the internet private, fast, secure, and reliable.

Cloudflare is a type of Content Delivery Network.

Also referred to as CDN, this type of network is a distributed group of servers that caches content near the end user.

This can help improve security and privacy while also improving load times. CDNs like Cloudflare can also reduce costs.

Cloudflare’s main mission is to build a better internet for everyone.

Today, non-profits, businesses, bloggers, and anyone with an internet presence can rely on Cloudflare to improve their online experience.

There are currently millions of websites using this platform, and Cloudflare serves more than 46 million HTTP requests per second.

How Does Cloudflare Work?

So, how does Cloudflare work? To answer that question, we have to take a step back.

Back in the early days of the internet, users had to request to go from their computer to a server to load a website.

This would then return the web page they requested. The problem with this was that servers would crash if too many requests were made.

This made it harder for websites to offer reliable, fast, and safe content. That’s where Cloudflare came in.

Cloudflare eliminates these difficulties by using a powerful edge network.

This network provides content and other services as close to you as possible. This helps us get information quickly and safely.

Cloudflare also offers security by protecting internet properties from malicious attacks.

Does Cloudflare Offer Web Hosting?

Now you know more about Cloudflare, let me answer the main question that brought you to this post. To put it simply, no, Cloudflare doesn’t host websites.

Despite essentially running the internet for us at times and offering most of the features web hosting companies provide, Cloudflare doesn’t currently offer web hosting services.

Instead, Cloudflare’s basic service is a DNS provider that points to your existing host.

Having said this, that doesn’t mean you can’t incorporate Cloudflare into your current web host.

You can choose a web hosting provider that automatically provides Cloudflare access. Alternatively, you can sign up for the service on your own and apply its features to your website.

What Else Does Cloudflare Not Offer?

Despite everything else Cloudflare offers, there are a few other things it can’t do. I’ve listed two other things Cloudflare can’t help you with below!

Improved Web Hosting Provider Server Speeds

Cloudflare can improve performance through caching and serving, but it can’t actually speed up the web hosting server itself.

If you have chosen a web hosting provider that isn’t up to par, there’s a very good chance the speed improvements Cloudflare does offer won’t be enough.

Manage A Domain Name

If you host a domain name with a Cloudflare partner, you must manage that domain name through the partner’s control panel.

You can’t manage your domain name through the Cloudflare control panel.

What Can Cloudflare Do For You?

While it might be disappointing that Cloudflare can’t offer web hosting, you’ll be pleased to hear that the platform still has a lot to offer, so don’t let the lack of web hosting put you off.

Cloudflare has a huge range of valuable tools that we can use to keep our visitors happy. Let’s look at what Cloudflare can do for you!

Optimize, Secure, And Accelerate Your Website And Applications

The most important thing Cloudflare can do for you is optimize, secure, and accelerate your website or application.

Using Cloudflare, we can keep our websites and applications safe while also making them more reliable and trustworthy.

Thanks to the huge range of tools Cloudflare offers, we can also make our websites run faster.

Cloudflare can even help us scale our website faster, which will, in turn, boost engagement.

Store Data And Improve Developer Timelines

Cloudflare’s developer platform helps to improve productivity by skipping time-wasting deployment steps.

Instead, developers can head straight from coding to deployment. You can use Cloudflare workers as opposed to building your own infrastructure.

Secure Network Access

Cloudflare operates a secure server network, making it perfectly poised to offer services in place of traditional Virtual Private Network (VPN) providers.

Businesses can use Cloudflare’s secure network access to save money by not having to invest in VPNs to protect their employees.

Local Network Protection

Aside from offering DDoS protection, Cloudflare also offers local network protection with Magic Transit to businesses directly.

Cloudflare can use Magic Transit to bring its global network protection to your business at the level you need it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Final Thoughts

So, while Cloudflare doesn’t currently offer web hosting services, the platform still has much to offer. In this post, I’ve also shown you some of the other things Cloudflare can’t do and some of the best things it can do.

Now that you know what Cloudflare has to offer, why don’t you check out the platform yourself?

Cloudflare is one of the best CDNs in the world, so we know you’ll be impressed with what you find.