Cloudflare experienced a major global outage on 18th Nov 2025 that took down thousands of websites for 2–3 hours. Many site owners and developers panicked—not only because their sites were unreachable, but because even the Cloudflare login page and dashboard were inaccessible. That meant you couldn’t bypass Cloudflare’s proxy, so basically, we were all stuck.
But here’s the good news:
You can bring your website back online even if Cloudflare is completely down — simply by updating your nameservers directly at your domain registrar.
In this guide, I’ll show you exactly how to do this safely and quickly, so next time Cloudflare goes down, your site will not go down with it.
How Cloudflare Works
First, discuss on how Cloudflare works and the DNS role.
The role of Cloudflare’s DNS
When you use Cloudflare, your domain uses Cloudflare’s nameservers. That means all DNS queries go through Cloudflare first.
What happens when Cloudflare’s dashboard becomes inaccessible
If Cloudflare goes down, you can’t change records, you can’t disable proxy, you can’t pause Cloudflare, and you can’t access your DNS via Cloudflare.
Your site becomes unreachable even if your hosting server is perfectly online.
Why your origin server remains online
Cloudflare is only a proxy layer. Your actual server (cPanel, DirectAdmin, VPS, etc.) is still functioning normally behind the scenes.
Why and When You May Need to Remove Cloudflare Temporarily
You should consider removing Cloudflare during situations like:
Complete Cloudflare outage: If Cloudflare DNS stops responding globally, your entire domain becomes unreachable.
Login/dashboard issues: If you cannot log into Cloudflare, you cannot fix anything inside it.
Critical downtime: E-commerce, SaaS, business sites, or high-traffic services cannot afford long outages.
The Fastest Solution — Update Nameservers at Your Domain Registrar
Switching nameservers tells the internet to stop using Cloudflare’s DNS and instead use your hosting provider’s DNS.
Step-by-Step Guide: Removing Cloudflare by Updating Nameservers
Step 1 — Log in to your domain registrar
This could be: GoDaddy, Namecheap, Google Domains, Porkbun, or any other domain provider.
Step 2 — Find the nameserver settings
Usually under: “DNS Management” > “Domain Settings” > “Nameservers”
Step 3 — Replace Cloudflare nameservers with your hosting company’s nameservers
Here you can see the Cloudflare nameservers. Replace it with your hosting company’s nameservers.
Example Cloudflare nameservers:
abby.ns.cloudflare.com
tom.ns.cloudflare.com
Your hosting provider will give you something like:
ns1.yourhost.com
ns2.yourhost.com
Or
dns1.yourhostingcompany.net
dns2.yourhostingcompany.net
Step 4 — Save changes and confirm
Once you hit save, the update begins immediately.
After 5–30 minutes, check your site and it should be up and running. Now your website is back online without Cloudflare.
Pros and Cons of Removing Cloudflare
Advantages
- Your site comes back online
- You don’t rely on Cloudflare’s availability
- DNS becomes easier to control
Disadvantages
- Lose DDoS protection
- Lose Cloudflare CDN speed boost
- Origin server IP becomes public
Once Cloudflare resolves the outage, simply restore your old Cloudflare nameservers.
Conclusion
Cloudflare outages are rare, but when they happen, they hit hard — as we all saw yesterday on 18th Nov 2025. With Cloudflare down globally, thousands of site owners could not access the dashboard or manage their DNS.
The fastest fix?
Update your nameservers directly at your domain registrar and bypass Cloudflare completely.
Your website will go live again, even if Cloudflare stays down for hours.
Now you’re prepared.
Next time Cloudflare has an outage, your site won’t disappear with it.
FAQs:
1. How long does it take to remove Cloudflare?
Usually, 15–60 minutes for global DNS propagation.
2. Will my SSL certificate still work after removing Cloudflare?
Yes — if your hosting provider has its own SSL installed.
3. Do I lose security when bypassing Cloudflare?
Yes, Cloudflare’s firewall and DDoS protection stop working until you re-enable it.
4. What if I want Cloudflare back later?
Just restore your original Cloudflare nameservers — everything will work again.