Cloudflare Registrar is younger than many domain registrars, but it quickly caught on with developers and tech-savvy users who already use Cloudflare’s services.

What’s catchy about it is that they sell domains at cost, so you only pay the wholesale price for each TLD + ICANN fee with no markup.

Low renewal prices and no sudden price hikes sound good, but still not enough to win me over.

There are three big issues I have with Cloudflare Registrar…

1. You Can’t Change The Nameservers

The first catch with Cloudflare Registrar is that it forces you to use Cloudflare’s nameservers and DNS. You can’t change the nameservers of your domains.

That’s not a big issue if you only intend to use Cloudflare’s DNS, but I don’t like not being able to change nameservers when needed. Some third-party services require you to use their nameservers. If you’re selling the domain, some marketplaces offer a lower commission if you use their nameservers.

2. No Free Support

If you are on the free plan, you don’t get access to support; only the docs and community forums.

Cloudflare has solid services, but if something goes wrong and you need help from their support, good luck getting a response. Sometimes they respond, sometimes they take too long, and sometimes they don’t respond at all! Even users on their paid plans complain about slow support.

3. Fewer TLD Discounts

Other registrars offer a discounted first-year price for some TLDs, but Cloudflare has fewer of those introductory discounts.

For example, a .co domain costs $30 on Cloudflare, but you can buy it for $5 from other places.

You won’t find lower renewal rates than Cloudflare’s though (mostly).

2 More Minor Drawbacks

A couple more issues for some people is the limited number of supported TLDs compared to other registrars, and the lack of complete WHOIS privacy.

Cloudflare offers WHOIS redaction, which means all of your personal contact information will be hidden except for the country and state/city. I prefer complete WHOIS privacy instead of partial redaction.

Spaceship is a Better Alternative

I like Spaceship more than Cloudflare Registrar. Spaceship has better support, free full WHOIS privacy, and almost the same low renewal prices.

A .com domain costs $9.08 to register and $10.18 to renew on Spaceship. On Cloudflare, it’s $10.46 per year for registration and renewal.

The difference is bigger for other TLDs…

A .me domain costs $8.70 for registration and $15.53 for renewal on Spaceship, but on Cloudflare, it’s $16.56 for registration and renewal.

It’s not just about the price, it’s the more responsive support and the ability to use any nameservers instead of being locked into Cloudflare’s ecosystem.

Bottom Line

Some developers consider Cloudflare the best domain registrar, but I disagree for the reasons I listed above. I prefer to keep my domains with other providers where I can get faster support when I need it.