To stop using Cloudflare, first decide whether you need a temporary bypass, want to disable proxying for one hostname, or want to remove the entire domain zone. For a permanent change, set up and verify DNS with another provider, check DNSSEC at your registrar, point the domain’s nameservers to the new provider, then remove the zone in Cloudflare. Removing a zone does not transfer domain registration.
Choose what you mean by “remove Cloudflare”
Cloudflare can handle traffic through its proxy, host authoritative DNS for a domain, and provide other zone services. Those functions can be changed separately. Pick the smallest change that meets your goal.
| Option | What changes | Use it when |
|---|---|---|
| Pause Cloudflare | Temporarily sends site traffic directly to your origin for the whole zone. Cloudflare Rules, WAF, and SSL/TLS certificate services are unavailable while paused. | You are troubleshooting and want to compare behavior without Cloudflare in the traffic path. |
| Turn off proxying for a DNS record | Changes only selected supported records to DNS-only. DNS responses expose the origin IP, and HTTP/HTTPS traffic for that hostname no longer passes through Cloudflare’s proxy. | You need a narrower routing change for a particular hostname. |
| Remove the zone | Removes the domain’s zone from your Cloudflare account and stops using Cloudflare for that zone’s DNS resolution. | You are moving DNS and zone services elsewhere. |
| Transfer domain registration | Moves the registration from Cloudflare Registrar to another registrar. This is separate from zone removal. | You also want another company to manage the domain registration. |
Cloudflare recommends pausing rather than changing nameservers for a temporary troubleshooting test: pausing takes five minutes or less, while nameserver changes can take several hours to propagate. Those are Cloudflare’s stated operational intervals, not a guarantee that every site or DNS change will behave identically.
Before removing the zone: prepare DNS and avoid an outage
Your DNS provider publishes the records that direct visitors, email, and other services to the right destinations. If you remove Cloudflare before the replacement DNS is ready, the website or services such as email may stop resolving. Complete this preparation first.
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- Identify the destination DNS provider. Decide where authoritative DNS will live after the change and get the nameservers that provider assigns to your domain.
- Export or record the current Cloudflare DNS settings. Recreate the records you still need at the destination provider, including website records and records for email or verification. Exporting is also useful if you may later re-add the domain to Cloudflare.
- Verify the new DNS zone. Check that the replacement provider has the necessary records and that the origin addresses and service targets are correct before changing delegation.
- Check DNSSEC and DS records at the registrar. A DS record associated with the old DNS configuration can prevent successful resolution after the switch. Cloudflare warns to ensure there is no DS record at the registrar when changing away. Its explanation of how DNSSEC signatures can cause resolution failures is at Cloudflare’s DNSSEC and domain-transfer guidance.
- Check who controls the delegation. Usually the nameservers are changed at the registrar, but some reseller or delegated-subdomain arrangements require a change at the parent DNS provider. For a child domain delegated from a parent zone, the parent zone’s NS records may also need updating.
- Review paid services and integrations. Note active Cloudflare subscriptions, add-ons, and Logpush jobs that you may need to cancel or recreate. Zone removal cancels active subscriptions without a refund, according to Cloudflare.
Do not guess at DNS records or nameservers. Use the values provided by your destination DNS host and registrar, and allow time for cached DNS answers to expire. Nameserver changes can take several hours to propagate, so the transition may not appear instantaneous everywhere.
Remove the Cloudflare zone
Once the replacement DNS is ready and you have checked DNSSEC, change nameservers at the registrar or other provider controlling the domain’s delegation. Then remove the zone from Cloudflare.
- Sign in to Cloudflare and select the domain.
- Open Overview.
- Find Advanced Actions and choose Remove from Cloudflare.
- Review the confirmation and confirm the removal.
Cloudflare’s removal instructions say Enterprise zones must first be changed to the Free plan to expose the removal control. If that does not work, contact the Cloudflare account team. A newly added domain still in Initializing or Pending status may require a plan selection before deletion; Cloudflare says inactive zones are automatically deleted after 28 days.
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Removing the zone cancels its active subscriptions, and Cloudflare says those charges are not refunded under its billing policy. If you add the zone again later, subscriptions must be purchased again. Cancel applicable add-ons and remove Logpush jobs as part of the move rather than assuming zone removal migrates them.
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Pause Cloudflare for a troubleshooting test
Use the pause option when the question is whether Cloudflare’s traffic handling is involved in a problem and you do not want to change DNS delegation. Cloudflare says pausing sends traffic directly to the origin and takes five minutes or less. Because this takes Cloudflare services including Rules, WAF, and SSL/TLS certificates out of use while paused, treat it as a temporary diagnostic step, not as an equivalent to a fully configured replacement.
Turn off proxying for a DNS record
- In the Cloudflare dashboard, select the domain and open DNS > Records.
- Edit the relevant record and switch Proxy Status off so it is DNS-only.
- Check that the hostname now resolves as intended and that the origin is prepared to receive direct traffic.
Cloudflare documents proxying for A, AAAA, and CNAME records. DNS-only answers contain the server’s actual IP address; HTTP/HTTPS traffic for that hostname is not routed through Cloudflare. That can expose the origin address and removes Cloudflare proxy services such as Rules, WAF, and its SSL/TLS certificate services for the record. Do not change unrelated records if only one hostname needs to bypass the proxy.
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Domain registration is a separate move
Cloudflare states that removing a domain from its service does not change its registration. If the domain is registered with Cloudflare and you only want another provider to host DNS, make the DNS change and remove the zone; a registrar transfer is not automatically part of that process.
If you also want to move registration, use Cloudflare’s separate transfer-out workflow: unlock the domain in Manage Domains, retrieve its authorization code, and provide that code to the new registrar. Transfer eligibility restrictions apply. Cloudflare notes that ICANN rules prohibit transfers in certain 60-day circumstances, including recent registration, a recent transfer, or a change to registrant information. If you do not manually approve the transfer, Cloudflare says it auto-approves on the fifth day after receiving the request.
What happens if you add the zone to Cloudflare again?
Re-adding is not necessarily a restore operation. Cloudflare says a removed zone is purged after seven days by default; after purge, its settings are not expected to be restored, even if the zone returns to the same account. A re-added zone receives a new pair of Cloudflare nameservers, which must be set at the registrar unless the domain is registered with Cloudflare. Keep your export if you may need to recreate settings.
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Troubleshooting after the change
The site stops resolving or shows a DNS error
- Confirm the registrar is delegating to the destination provider’s assigned nameservers, not the old Cloudflare nameservers.
- Check that the replacement DNS zone contains the correct website records and that the origin address is correct.
- Check whether a DS record or DNSSEC configuration at the registrar is still tied to the former setup.
- If the domain is a delegated child domain, confirm the parent zone’s NS records point to the intended nameservers.
- Allow for propagation and caching; Cloudflare says nameserver changes may take several hours.
The site loads, but HTTPS fails or behaves differently
When traffic no longer passes through Cloudflare, Cloudflare’s SSL/TLS certificate services are not in the path. Verify that the origin or replacement provider is configured to serve a valid certificate for the hostname. Also check any redirects or security rules that previously depended on Cloudflare.
Email or another non-website service breaks
Review the DNS export and ensure the replacement zone contains the records required by that service. A website can work while mail delivery or domain verification fails if only the web records were recreated.
The removal control is missing
Check the zone’s plan and status. Cloudflare says Enterprise zones must be changed to Free before removal is available; for a zone that remains Initializing or Pending, a plan selection may be needed. Contact Cloudflare’s account team if changing an Enterprise plan does not expose the control.
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The zone was removed, but charges or integrations remain a concern
Check subscriptions, add-ons, and Logpush jobs before removal and confirm their status in the account afterward. Cloudflare says active subscriptions on a removed zone are cancelled without refund; removal does not migrate those services to the replacement DNS provider.
Or skip the browser setup
For a public webpage, you can capture a screenshot with one request using ScreenshotNeo. This does not change DNS, pause Cloudflare, or remove a zone; it gives you a way to save a visual record of a page while you investigate a site change. See the ScreenshotNeo documentation for request options.
curl -G "https://api.screenshotneo.com/v1/shot" -d access_key=YOUR_API_KEY --data-urlencode url=https://cloudflare.com -o shot.webpScreenshotNeo removes cookie banners, newsletter popups, and chat widgets before the shot; bot checks, blank pages, and failed loads are never billed. Its MCP server lets AI agents take screenshots. The Free plan includes 1,000 screenshots a month with no card, and paid plans start at $5 for 3,000.
Sign up for ScreenshotNeo’s free plan to get 1,000 screenshots a month without a card.
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