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Transfer your domain to Cloudflare

Transferring a domain moves your registration from your current registrar to Cloudflare.

  • Active work: About 30 minutes.
  • Total time: Up to 10 days, depending on your registrar.
  • Cost: Cloudflare domains are at-cost with no markup fees. Most transfers include a one-year extension from your current expiration date. Some country-code domains (such as .uk) have no transfer fee.

Before you begin

Confirm the following before you start:

  • You have a Cloudflare account with a verified email address.

  • Your Cloudflare account has a valid payment method on file.

  • Your domain was registered at least 60 days ago and has not been transferred in the last 60 days (ICANN requirement).

  • You have not changed your registrant name, organization, or email address in the last 60 days. Under ICANN rules, changes to these fields trigger a 60-day transfer lock. Some registrars let you opt out of this lock during the change, but not all do.

  • Your account at your current registrar is active. If your domain has expired, renew it at your current registrar first.

  • Your domain uses only standard characters (letters, numbers, hyphens). Cloudflare does not support domains with non-Latin characters (for example, 例え.jp).

  • If you are transferring a .us domain, refer to Additional requirements for .US domains.

  • If you are transferring multiple domains, notify your bank to prevent fraud alerts on multiple charges.

  • Cloudflare Registrar requires your domain to use Cloudflare for authoritative DNS (full setup). You cannot use another DNS provider while registered with Cloudflare.

1. Add your domain to Cloudflare

Before you can transfer your registration, your domain must be active on Cloudflare. This is what allows Cloudflare to protect your site with performance and security features during and after the transfer. You will not be able to enter an authorization code or proceed with the transfer until this step is complete.

Disable DNSSEC

If DNSSEC is enabled at your current registrar, disable it before you change nameservers. DNSSEC validates DNS responses using cryptographic signatures tied to your current provider. When you point nameservers to Cloudflare, those signatures will no longer match, which causes DNS resolution failures and can prevent your domain from becoming active.

At your current registrar:

  1. Check your domain settings for DNSSEC or DS records. If there are none, DNSSEC is not active and you can skip to Add your domain.
  2. Remove or disable DNSSEC (sometimes labeled "DS records").
  3. Wait at least 24 hours for the change to propagate before changing nameservers.

Provider-specific DNSSEC instructions

This is not an exhaustive list, but the following links may be helpful:

After your transfer completes, you can re-enable DNSSEC through Cloudflare with one click. Refer to Enable DNSSEC.

Add your domain and update your nameservers

Follow the steps in Set up Cloudflare DNS to add your domain, review your DNS records, and get your assigned nameservers. Then update the nameservers at your current registrar to the ones Cloudflare assigned.

Nameserver instructions for popular registrars

Each registrar has a different interface for updating nameservers. These links explain the process at popular registrars:

Wait for your domain to become active

In the Cloudflare dashboard:

Wait for your domain status to change from Pending to Active. This usually takes a few minutes but can take up to 24 hours.

If your zone has been pending for more than 24 hours, verify that you updated the nameservers correctly at your current registrar and that DNSSEC is disabled.

2. Transfer your registration

Once your domain is active on Cloudflare, you can transfer the registration. This moves your domain record from your current registrar to Cloudflare. You will go back and forth between your current registrar and Cloudflare during this process.

Unlock your domain

At your current registrar:

Remove the lock on your domain so Cloudflare can process the transfer. Most registrars apply a lock by default (sometimes called registrar lock, domain lock, or transfer lock) to prevent unauthorized transfers. In WHOIS, this appears as clientTransferProhibited.