Cloudflare - free services that you may not know of.

Cloudflare is widely known for its powerful Content Delivery Network (CDN) and Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) protection. However, they offer a range of free services that can greatly benefit developers, small businesses, and individuals. In this blog, I’ll introduce some lesser-known free services that you can leverage to boost security, speed, and reliability for your websites and applications.

SSL Certificates

One of the most important aspects of web security is SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) encryption, which ensures that the data exchanged between a server and a client is secure. Cloudflare offers free SSL certificates, making it easy to enable HTTPS for your website. With just a few clicks, you can have a secure connection, eliminating the need to manually purchase and configure SSL certificates.

Benefits:

• Automatically secure your domain.
• No need to purchase a third-party SSL certificate.
• Simple setup and management through Cloudflare’s dashboard.

How to use it:
When you register your domain with Cloudflare, SSL is automatically set up. You can manage your SSL settings under the SSL/TLS tab of the Cloudflare dashboard.

Cloudflare Pages

If you’re a developer looking for a way to host your static websites (HTML, CSS, JavaScript), Cloudflare Pages is an excellent free service. It integrates seamlessly with GitHub and allows for continuous deployment, meaning you can push code changes to GitHub, and Cloudflare will automatically update your site.

Benefits:

• Free hosting for static sites.
• Continuous deployment via GitHub.
• Automatic performance optimizations like edge caching.
• Custom domains and SSL are included for free.

How to use it:
Set up a new project in Cloudflare Pages, connect it to your GitHub repository, and choose the branch you want to deploy. Every time you push changes to that branch, your site will be updated automatically.

Email Forwarding

Many people don’t know that Cloudflare offers free email forwarding, allowing you to set up professional-looking email addresses using your domain. Instead of paying for a custom email hosting service, Cloudflare’s email routing lets you forward emails from an address on your domain (e.g., contact@yourdomain.com) to your personal Gmail, Outlook, or other email accounts.

Benefits:

• Free email forwarding service.
• Set up custom email addresses for your domain.
• No need to run a mail server or pay for email hosting.

How to use it:
Go to the Email Routing section in your Cloudflare dashboard. From there, you can add email routes by entering a forwarding address.

Cloudflare Tunnel (Argo Tunnel)

Cloudflare Tunnel is a lesser-known but powerful service that allows you to expose a local server to the internet without opening firewall ports or messing with router settings. It creates a secure, encrypted connection between your machine and Cloudflare’s global network, making your web service or app accessible over the internet without the need for a public IP address.

Benefits:

• Expose local servers or apps securely to the internet.
• No need to configure firewalls or DNS manually.
• Free service with 50 tunnel connections.

How to use it:
To set up a Cloudflare Tunnel, install Cloudflare’s cloudflared tool and run a few commands to create the tunnel between your local environment and Cloudflare’s network.

Cloudflare Workers

Cloudflare Workers allow you to run JavaScript, Rust, or C++ code on the edge of Cloudflare’s network, making it a cost-effective way to build and deploy serverless functions. Whether you need to create API endpoints, run background jobs, or handle request data, Workers can execute the logic closer to your users, improving performance and reducing latency.

Benefits:

• Run serverless code at the edge.
• No need to manage servers or scaling.
• 100,000 free requests per day.

How to use it:
Create a new Worker using the Cloudflare Workers dashboard or the command-line tool Wrangler. You can write and deploy your serverless functions with minimal setup.

Cloudflare DNS

Cloudflare’s free DNS service is one of the fastest and most reliable in the industry. It also provides DNSSEC to protect your domains from DNS hijacking. By using Cloudflare as your DNS provider, you can improve both the security and performance of your domain’s DNS resolution.

Benefits:

• Fast and globally distributed DNS service.
• Free DNSSEC protection.
• User-friendly interface for managing DNS records.

How to use it:
When you add your domain to Cloudflare, you’ll need to point your domain’s nameservers to Cloudflare. Once set up, you can easily manage all your DNS records through their dashboard.

Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA)

With Cloudflare’s Zero Trust service, you can secure your organization’s internal applications using their Access feature. It replaces traditional VPNs with a modern, identity-aware proxy, which limits access based on user identity, device posture, and security policies.

Benefits:

• Secure internal applications without a VPN.
• Enforce identity-based access controls.
• Free plan for small teams.

How to use it:
You can configure Zero Trust access through the Cloudflare Access dashboard by defining access policies and integrating identity providers like Google Workspace or Okta.

Conclusion

Cloudflare’s free offerings go far beyond just a CDN and DDoS protection. From SSL certificates and DNS to more advanced services like serverless computing with Workers and secure tunnels, there are many ways to utilize Cloudflare to improve your online presence or development workflow without breaking the bank.

Are you already using any of these free Cloudflare services? If not, now might be the perfect time to explore how these tools can help you enhance your website’s security, performance, and reliability.

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