How to Get a Free Domain and Connect It to Cloudflare DNS
You don't necessarily need to buy a domain to experiment with Cloudflare DNS or Cloudflare Tunnel.
There are several services that offer free subdomains. Some of them even allow you to use your own nameservers, which means you can delegate DNS management to Cloudflare without paying for a domain.
In this tutorial, I'll show you how to register a free subdomain, connect it to Cloudflare, and verify that Cloudflare is managing its DNS.
For this example, I'll use:
The exact nameservers assigned to your domain will be different.
1. Register a Free Domain
First, find a free domain provider that allows custom nameservers.
One service worth exploring is DNSHE. Other projects, such as DigitalPlat Domains, also offer free domain registrations.
Unlike a conventional domain registration such as example.com, these services generally provide a subdomain under a domain they control.
For example:
qzlapp.us.ci
myproject.de5.net
myname.eu.org
These are not independently registered top-level domains. You are receiving the right to use a subdomain under the provider's domain.
During registration, choose an available name and complete the registration process.
Some providers offer free registration and renewal, but check their renewal rules and restrictions carefully. Free does not always mean that the domain is guaranteed forever.
2. Create a Cloudflare Account
If you don't already have an account, visit:
https://dash.cloudflare.com/sign-up
Create a free account and log in.
From the Cloudflare dashboard:
Select Add a domain (or Add a site).
Enter your new domain, such as qzlapp.us.ci.
Select the Free plan.
Continue through the DNS setup.
Cloudflare may suggest importing existing DNS records.
If this is a newly registered subdomain and you don't have any existing services to migrate, you can choose Add records later.
You don't need to create an A record pointing to a public IP address just to connect the domain to Cloudflare.
3. Get Your Cloudflare Nameservers
After adding the domain, Cloudflare assigns two nameservers.
For my domain, Cloudflare assigned:
cass.ns.cloudflare.com
hans.ns.cloudflare.com
Keep in mind that these are specific to my domain. You must use the two nameservers shown in your own Cloudflare dashboard.
Cloudflare will display a message similar to:
"Waiting for your registrar to propagate your new nameservers."
This is expected. Cloudflare is waiting for you to update the nameservers at your domain provider.
4. Update Nameservers at Your Domain Provider
Go back to the website where you registered your free subdomain.
Find the Nameservers or DNS delegation settings.
Replace the provider's existing nameservers with the two nameservers assigned by Cloudflare.
For example:
| Field | Value |
|---|
| Name1 | cass.ns.cloudflare.com |
| Name2 | hans.ns.cloudflare.com |
| Name3–Name9 | Leave empty |
Save your changes.
What about Glue Records?
You may also see fields labelled IP1, IP2, or Glue Records.
For Cloudflare nameservers, leave these IP fields empty.
Glue Records are generally needed when you operate your own nameserver under the domain being delegated, such as ns1.example.com.
Cloudflare nameservers belong to cloudflare.com, so you do not need to supply their IP addresses.
What about DNSSEC?
If your domain provider has an existing DNSSEC configuration, check whether there are old DS records.
An old DS record that does not match the new DNS provider's DNSSEC configuration can cause DNS resolution failures.
For a new domain without existing DNSSEC records, there is usually nothing to migrate. Follow your provider's instructions if DNSSEC is already enabled.
5. Verify Nameserver Propagation
After saving the nameserver changes, open Terminal on macOS or Linux.
Run:
dig NS qzlapp.us.ci +short
You should see the two Cloudflare nameservers:
cass.ns.cloudflare.com.
hans.ns.cloudflare.com.
This confirms that DNS queries are seeing the Cloudflare nameserver delegation.
Next, check the SOA record:
dig SOA qzlapp.us.ci +short
My result looked like this:
cass.ns.cloudflare.com. dns.cloudflare.com. 2419439043 10000 2400 604800 1800
This indicates that Cloudflare is responding authoritatively for the DNS zone.
You can also inspect the full delegation path:
dig +trace qzlapp.us.ci NS
This is useful if the nameserver changes have not propagated or something is misconfigured.
6. Wait for Cloudflare Activation
Return to your Cloudflare dashboard.
Cloudflare periodically checks whether your domain is pointing to the assigned nameservers.
Once verification succeeds, you should see a confirmation message:
Your domain is now protected by Cloudflare.
The zone status should become Active.
At this point, Cloudflare is managing DNS for your domain.
You can now:
Create A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, and TXT records.
Configure DNS proxying.
Manage SSL/TLS settings.
Set up Cloudflare Tunnel.
Use Cloudflare security and traffic management features.
Note that activating a Cloudflare zone does not automatically create a website or deploy a Tunnel. Those are separate steps.
7. What Can You Do with This Setup?
One particularly interesting use case is Cloudflare Tunnel.
Suppose you have an Oracle Cloud VPS without a public IP address.
You can install cloudflared on the VPS and establish an outbound tunnel to Cloudflare.
Your architecture can look like this:
Internet
|
v
Cloudflare DNS
|
v
Cloudflare Tunnel
|
v
Oracle Cloud VPS
|
v
localhost:3000
You can then configure hostnames such as:
app.qzlapp.us.ci
api.qzlapp.us.ci
browser.qzlapp.us.ci
Each hostname can route to a different local service on your VPS.
No public IP address is required for the VPS.
This is especially useful for experimenting with self-hosted applications, remote browsers, APIs, and personal infrastructure.
Conclusion
A free subdomain can be surprisingly useful when combined with Cloudflare.
The important requirement is not simply finding a provider that offers free domains. You need one that allows you to configure custom nameservers.
Once you delegate the subdomain to Cloudflare and verify the NS and SOA records, you can use many of Cloudflare's DNS features without purchasing a conventional domain.
My example, qzlapp.us.ci, is now successfully activated on Cloudflare.
The next experiment will be connecting it to my Oracle Cloud VPS using Cloudflare Tunnel.
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