Moving a Domain to Cloudflare: What to Check First
Domain transfers are rare events, and a single misstep can lead to downtime or a failed migration. Before you initiate a transfer to Cloudflare Registrar, run through the following prerequisites to confirm your domain is eligible.
Confirm Cloudflare Is the Right Fit
Cloudflare Registrar was built specifically for customers who use Cloudflare’s DNS products. Consequently, domains registered with Cloudflare can only use Cloudflare nameservers. If your domain needs non-Cloudflare nameservers, Cloudflare is not the right registrar for you.
Beyond the nameserver constraint, verify that Cloudflare supports your domain's top-level domain (TLD). You can review the full list of supported TLDs on Cloudflare’s TLD policies page. Note that .dev and .app support was planned for mid-July 2023. Cloudflare currently does not support premium domains or internationalized domain names (Unicode).
Check Registration History and WHOIS Status
- Registration date: ICANN rules prohibit a domain transfer if the domain was registered or previously transferred within the last 60 days.
- WHOIS Registrant updates: ICANN also prohibits transfers if the WHOIS Registrant contact information was modified within the past 60 days.
If either condition applies, the transfer cannot proceed until the waiting period elapses.
