Are you looking for a DNS server for your website that will serve visitors from all over the globe with the lowest latency and fastest loading speeds possible?
If yes, there are lots of DNS servers out there. Some double as CDNs. In addition, others have DDoS protection. These features protect your website and make sure your website’s visitors are safe.
However, not every DNS has these features. Searching for DNS servers churns out a lot of service providers. And top on that list is Cloudflare. Many websites use this popular DNS server.
Next, comes the question everyone asks – Is Cloudflare safe to use?
What is Cloudflare?
Before looking at how safe Cloudflare is, let’s recap some things. Firstly, what is Cloudflare?
Cloudflare is a free content delivery network (CDN). It is free for its most basic features, though more advanced features come with paid plans. Many websites use Cloudflare because of its security, privacy, and versatility. And these features help keep your website safe.
In addition, Cloudflare is also a DNS server – and has about 152 data centers worldwide. This massive number of servers reduces lag when browsing websites. In addition, it makes for multiple layers of security, which help prevent attacks on websites.
How Does Cloudflare Work
When a visitor searches your website’s address or URL in their browser, Cloudflare’s DNS servers closest to the visitor’s location quickly fetch a copy of the page previously stored there. This way, in milliseconds, your website loads, and the visitor browses your website with minimal delay or lag.
Cloudflare powers lots of websites on the internet today. Since it came out in 2009, Cloudflare has marketed itself as a very speedy DNS server for websites. Moreover, there are many perks for using Cloudflare, and we’ll check them below.
Is It Good to Use Cloudflare?
The development of Cloudflare serves as an improvement on Google’s public DNS. Moreover, not all DNS providers have as many features as Cloudflare. Therefore, when it comes to functionality, it packs a punch.
For example, some DNS servers use third-party providers for basic features, including security. But with Cloudflare, these features are in-built.
Cloudflare also stores backup versions of websites for emergency use, such as during website attacks. This cached version of your website continues to display for customers – so they can use it while you fix what went wrong.
Now, let’s check what benefits you get from using Cloudflare. Cloudflare is one of the best DNS servers out there. In addition, there are extra perks like increased website optimization, lesser loading speed, reduced latency, and security.
Cloudflare’s 152 data centers direct visitors who log into a website to the nearest Cloudflare server from their location.
As a result, your website load time reduces because there are no long website load times that happen with a central server – due to a lot of website traffic.
Also, a 15 Terabyte per second (Tbps) capacity increases the load time. Therefore, websites load faster, with reduced latency.
Highlights
- Speed: Websites using Cloudflare load 2x faster. Cloudflare is one of the fastest DNS servers available.
- People prefer websites that load as fast as possible because of the general preference for reduced lag times. Therefore, Cloudflare gives your websites the advantage of speed.
- Free Plans: Unlike most other DNS servers, Cloudflare has a free plan, as well as paid plans. The free subscription is vital for relatively small websites with a few monthly visitors. In addition, paid subscriptions are available in Pro, Business, and Enterprise plans.
- Choose whichever plan matches what your website needs. Some cool features of free plans include Web Application Firewall (WAF), Unmetered Mitigation of DDoS, Shared SSL certificate, and Global CDN.
- Privacy: Cloudflare keeps your visitors safe and secure. With SSL certificates, people browsing your website will be at rest since this encryption keeps their data safe. This SSL encryption prevents hackers from stealing data entered by your visitors on the website.
- Secured Website: If you’ve ever tried browsing a website, only to be met with an “Access Denied” page from Cloudflare, that is how Cloudflare keeps threats away from websites. Cloudflare blocks visitors from websites through its Threat Reputation module. This tool identifies and blocks malicious IP addresses.
- In addition, Cloudflare blocks visitors with specific IP addresses from browsing your website. This feature restricts countries or regions known for suspicious activities and stops them from accessing your website. Also, if you’re not comfortable with bots crawling your website, you can block them via the anti-content scraping tool.
- A Ton of Cool Features: Cloudflare has many features to manage your website, and there’s a Firewall for security. Also, most website builders, for example, WordPress, and hosting providers like Siteground or Bluehost integrate easily with Cloudflare.
Pros
- 2x faster load times for websites using Cloudflare
- Advanced analytics and stats help optimize websites for visitors
- Website security blocks identified threats via IP addresses from gaining access
- SSL certificate keeps visitors’ data private and secure
- Much more features and stats than similarly-priced competitors
- The free plan allows you to test Cloudflare’s basic features on your website
- Enables third-party app integration for advanced features
- Unlimited bandwidth and traffic come with the free plan
Cons
- 24/7 live customer support is available only with the top-tier plan – Enterprise
- Much more advanced security features are not available on the free plan
- The free program for Cloudflare has limited analytics and stats
Is Cloudflare Safe to Use?
Many websites rely on Cloudflare’s DNS servers. There are many data centers across many countries, and this interconnected network makes websites load faster.
Cloudflare uses a decentralized model that is among the best because it supports data transfer speed up to 15tbps.
With all the benefits of using Cloudflare over competitors, it’s only natural to ask, “Is Cloudflare safe?”
To answer this question, we reviewed their DNS settings – how they store and use customers’ data, the level of encryption on the website, and if any websites using Cloudflare had their data stolen previously.
After comprehensive research, the answer is yes. Cloudflare is very safe as a DNS server. It’s very reliable, speedy, and saves you if your website goes offline by error. In addition, over 2 million companies trust Cloudflare.
Lastly, Cloudflare powers some of the world’s top websites like IBM, Shopify, Zendesk, and Hubspot.
5 Top Reasons to Consider Cloudflare as Your DNS Server
Cloudflare has proven to be much better than a lot of DNS servers out there. There are a lot of reasons to consider Cloudflare as your DNS serves, and some of them are mentioned below.
Experience
Cloudflare has managed DNS servers since 2009, and they have gathered a lot of experience over these 12 years. As the internet continues evolving, using a very stable DNS server is a great decision. Most of Cloudflare’s competitors do not have half as much experience as they do.
More so, this advantage means they will resolve any issues you have with your hosting and offer solutions as fast as possible.
Improved Technologies
As technology continues to grow, more and more advancements are made. Cloudflare makes sure their data centers have fully-functional servers with up-to-date software. Moreover, they regularly upgrade their servers so their customers get the best services available.
Speed
Websites using Cloudflare’s DNS servers load twice as fast as those that do not. Cloudflare prioritizes speed. And loading speed is essential for your website. Therefore, you have the advantage of getting your website’s pages to load with minimal delay.
Versatility
There are lots of plugins and integrations that work smoothly with Cloudflare’s DNS servers. An example is Google Analytics which tracks your website’s analytics and stats. The data gathered help in optimizing your website for a better user experience.
Cloudflare’s DNS server also integrates well with website builders like WordPress. So, you can add your website to the server in a few simple steps.
Regular Backups
Cloudflare takes copies of your website and stores them on multiple servers. This extra feature is useful against emergencies – like mistakenly deleting your website or during a cyber-attack.
If your website is down, the Cloudflare server brings up the last version of the website and puts it up for anyone browsing your website. This way, your website will continue to show up for visitors while you fix what went wrong behind the scenes.
Can Cloudflare Completely Protect My Privacy?
This question is another familiar one people ask from time to time, second to “Is Cloudflare safe?”.
The question, “Can Cloudflare completely protect my privacy?” comes with privacy concerns about Cloudflare’s DNS servers and how they use website visitors’ data.
Multiple people studied how Cloudflare collects and keeps data – and in this way, discovered no data breach. This finding reaffirms Cloudflare’s privacy statement.
We also reviewed the data collection method and found that Cloudflare deletes website visitors’ data every 24 hours. As a result, they do not store consumer data.
Now, for the question “Can Cloudflare completely protect my privacy?” Cloudflare is not entirely private 100%. Attacks do happen from time to time. Configuration errors account for more than 99% of website attacks for websites using Cloudflare.
Regardless, Cloudflare is entirely safe, but the extent of protection falls on many factors. For example, how well you configure your website settings play a role in data privacy.
There are plenty of guidelines on configuring your DNS server setting on the net. However, if you have any difficulties, it would be best to contact Cloudflare’s support for help.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Is using Cloudflare DNS safe?
Yes. Cloudflare is protected by multiple levels of security like DDoS and SSL certificates. Therefore, your website, as well as the website visitors’ data, are well protected.
- Can Cloudflare be trusted?
Yes. Cloudflare is super reliable, and its decentralized servers speed up your website’s loading time. Moreover, Cloudflare’s servers store copies of your website. Their serves use these backups if your website suddenly goes down or during attacks.
- Is Cloudflare private?
Cloudflare is a public DNS server – similar to Google DNS – but way better and more secure. In addition, they recently added a feature that allows you to create your personal, private network on their DNS servers. This feature gives you an extra-secure network within their servers.
- Is Cloudflare free?
Yes. Most basic websites do not need many features, and Cloudflare has a free plan that caters to their needs. The free subscription includes an SSL Certificate, unlimited website traffic, DDoS, and a global CDN. In addition, paid plans offer more advanced features for professional websites.
- Can Cloudflare lower my SEO?
No. Google has confirmed that CDNs (websites using DNS servers like Cloudflare) could rank higher in SEO results if configured correctly. This added benefit is a great reason to use Cloudflare over its competitors.
- Where are Cloudflare’s data centers located?
Cloudflare has over 152 data centers in Africa, Asia, America, Europe, and the Middle East. With a data center on almost every continent, many servers exist for every website. Also, you can monitor the status of their servers via their website’s system logs.
Wrapping up
In conclusion, we addressed the common question people ask – Is Cloudflare safe? As you see from above, Cloudflare is super safe and great for hosting your websites. Their many data servers increase your website’s loading speed – and you want your websites to load in as little time as possible.
In addition, Cloudflare updates its website from time to time, so your website uses the latest DNS settings. Also, your website gets extra SEO points on Google’s Search Engine.
Cloudflare is an excellent choice for your website. Therefore, you should try it. However, if you’re still curious about it, you can do your own research. Good luck with your endeavors!