- You're overpaying for domains,
and it's time to stop.
Every domain registrar is marking up the actual cost
of a domain in order to make a profit.
But did you know there's actually one registrar out there
that's only charging you the cost of a domain?
In this video,
I'm gonna be taking a look at Cloudflare
to see if it's worth transferring your domains over
and making the switch.
I've talked about Cloudflare many times on the channel.
They offer a full DNS management system
that gives you speed and security benefits
for your website.
And here's the hack.
You actually don't have to pay anything
to take advantage of Cloudflare on your website.
You don't have to hold your domain with Cloudflare.
You don't have to pay a subscription fee.
You don't have to pay a dime.
You can take advantage of Cloudflare on your website
for free today.
But that just goes to show you the commitment
that Cloudflare has to making the internet a better place.
And as part of that,
they set out on a mission to offer domain names at cost.
A .com domain could be renewed for 8.57,
and a .org domain could be renewed for $10.11.
Compared to registrars like Namecheap,
you're saving an average of $5 per year per domain,
and sometimes even more.
Now I know what you're saying,
"Christian, wait a second.
What about all these domain registrars with the $3 .coms?
I mean we've all seen them.
You go over to GoDaddy,
you see right on the homepage the $3 .com.
Cloudflare is clearly more expensive than $3
for a .com domain.
What's the deal?
You said they're offering it at cost."
And they are,
but it goes both ways.
See, these other registrars are often taking a loss
on the first year of a domain name.
They might give you a .com domain for $3 for your first year
because they're trying to draw you in.
They know that once they have you in the door,
the chances of you transferring your domain
elsewhere are slim.
So in comes Cloudflare's domain registrar.
It's no frills.
You won't find first-year deals.
You won't find gimmicks.
They're just selling domains to you
at cost, no nonsense.
So if Cloudflare is selling domains at cost,
why isn't everybody using it?
Why does GoDaddy even have a market?
Who in their right mind would pay 18.99 a year
for a .com when Cloudflare offers
the same thing for 8.57?
There's got to be a catch.
Well, not really.
I mean the domain space is regulated.
Meaning the domains Cloudflare is selling you
are the same domains that GoDaddy
or anybody else can sell you.
The only difference,
Cloudflare is on a mission to make a better internet.
And as part of that,
they're not charging a profit.
Without a profit,
they don't have a marketing budget.
GoDaddy is out there throwing ads everywhere.
You've probably even seen a GoDaddy ads somewhere
on this channel before one of my videos plays.
GoDaddy is aggressive with marketing.
And I'm picking on GoDaddy in this video,
but every domain registrar is doing it except Cloudflare.
They're not spending money to market their domain product
'cause they're not making a profit.
There's nothing in it for them to get the word out
and get a bunch of people using their service,
but they are passionate about what they're doing.
It's sort of this weird place to be.
But let me tell you,
Cloudflare's service is legit.
It used to be that you could only transfer in
existing domains to Cloudflare,
and you couldn't register new domains.
In the past,
using Cloudflare was too much of a hassle.
You couldn't register new domains there.
There were other limitations that made me hesitant
to recommend it for most people.
But now things are changing.
First, new domain registration
is now available at Cloudflare.
You're no longer forced to transfer in an existing domain
from another registrar.
You can just go right to Cloudflare
and register your new domain.
And this comes with some benefits.
First, you get access
to Cloudflare's new Email Routing feature.
It's currently in beta.
I've just see the video on it that you can go check out.
But it's basically high-quality email forwarding.
And speaking of Cloudflare features,
your domain name is automatically linked to Cloudflare DNS
when you register a domain with Cloudflare.
But the disadvantage is that your domain is stuck
using Cloudflare DNS.
You cannot point a Cloudflare domain
to external name servers.
So if you're using a platform like Wix,
they require you to point your domain to their name servers.
You cannot use manual DNS,
so therefore you cannot use Cloudflare DNS
to point to a Wix website.
So make sure you're okay with using Cloudflare DNS.
Make sure you understand what you're getting into.
If you're just looking for the cheapest domain possible
and you don't really understand Cloudflare,
do not register a domain at Cloudflare.
You'd be better off using a service like Porkbun
or NameSilo for that
if you still wanna get good pricing.
Another thing to consider is the fact that you can't push
a domain in your Cloudflare account
to another Cloudflare user.
So at domain registrars,
it's common to be able to easily push a domain
to another user.
You can't do that with Cloudflare.
The domain is basically stuck in your Cloudflare account.
The only way to effectively get it out is to transfer it out
to another registrar like Namecheap
or Google Domains or Porkbun.
Cloudflare also doesn't support
some common TLDs like .co and .app
and there may be others.
This is a little bit annoying
if you wanna have all your domains at the same registrar.
I have a .co domain.
Not being able to host it
at Cloudflare is a little bit disappointing.
One other thing I wanted to mention
about Cloudflare is the lack of customer support.
There's no live chat,
there's no phone support,
and you're gonna be relying
on free support communities or asking a friend.
Once again, because Cloudflare is not charging
a profit on domain names,
that means they're not able to offer you the same level
of support or service that a company
like Namecheap or Hover would be able to offer.
At the end of the day,
are Cloudflare domains worth it?
Absolutely, but it's not for everyone.
Due to the limitations discussed earlier,
Cloudflare domains are best for people
who also use Cloudflare's other services.
So who is it for?
I think Cloudflare domains is great
for avid Cloudflare users
who are committed to manual DNS management.
I also think it's great for those who want
the absolute cheapest domain renewals possible.
Just keep in mind,
if you go down this route,
you do have to use Cloudflare for DNS management.
So make sure that's something you're comfortable with.
I also think it's great for tech savvy users
who don't mind the possibility of having to transfer
the domain out for full flexibility in the future.
So if you want that cheap price,
if you are tech savvy,
if you can handle manual DNS management,
go with Cloudflare domains.
And if you ever need to use a Wix website
or something else later on
where you have to point it elsewhere,
you can transfer that domain out
'cause you're already tech savvy,
so you're not gonna have any trouble doing that.
That's great, but who is it not for?
I would generally say Cloudflare domains is not a good fit
for first-time domain purchasers.
You're still figuring out how the domain system works,
and I wouldn't put yourself into a situation
where you have to do manual DNS management.
If you're not comfortable with manual DNS management,
if looking at Cloudflare's other services makes
your head spin,
I would not use Cloudflare domains.
You also cannot use it
if you know you need to point your domain
to specific name servers.
Wix.com, for example,
requires you to point your domain
to the Wix name servers for your website to function.
It is not compatible with Cloudflare.
And since Cloudflare domains forces you
to do DNS management through Cloudflare,
you cannot use a Wix website with Cloudflare domains.
And that's when you would need to go
with a different domain registrar.
Also, if you'd like to have customer support
like a live chat or phone number you can call,
Cloudflare is not for you.
There are other options out there
that are better suited for that.
Speaking of, if you're wondering
which domain registrar is right for you,
I highly recommend checking out
my ultimate domain registrar comparison linked up here
and in the description below.
So what do you think of Cloudflare domains?
Would you register a domain there?
I'd love to know your thoughts in the comments down below.
And if you like this video,
do be sure to hit that subscribe button and click the bell
so you don't miss when I release new videos.
With that said,
I will catch you guys next time.