Cloudflare Nameservers

Cloudflare assigns every zone two nameservers in the pattern name.ns.cloudflare.com, using a first name such as ada.ns.cloudflare.com. The pair is chosen automatically, cannot be changed, and can differ between domains in the same account, so copy the pair shown for your zone exactly.

Nameserver pattern (your exact pair is assigned per domain)

<name>.ns.cloudflare.com
<name>.ns.cloudflare.com

Checked against Cloudflare's own documentation on October 14, 2026. Sources are listed below.

Find the pair assigned to your domain

Cloudflare shows the assigned pair during onboarding, and afterwards on the zone's Overview page in the dashboard.

Check which nameservers a domain uses right now

Your account shows what you configured. The registry shows what the internet actually uses, and the two can differ while a change is in flight. To see the live answer, query the NS records:

dig NS example.com +short

Or run a free DNS scan, which reads the delegation and every record from each authoritative nameserver, and use the DNS propagation checker with the NS record type to watch a change reach resolvers worldwide.

How to change Cloudflare nameservers

1
Log in to your domain registrar. Use ICANN Lookup if you are not sure which registrar it is.
2
If DNSSEC is active at the registrar, turn it off first.
3
Remove the existing nameservers.
4
Add the two Cloudflare-assigned nameservers exactly as shown.
5
Wait up to 24 hours. Cloudflare emails you and marks the domain Active once the change is seen.

Good to know

Changing nameservers while DNSSEC is active can make the domain unreachable, which is why DNSSEC comes off first.
Cloudflare's nameserver IP addresses are static.
Custom (branded) nameservers are available at account, zone and tenant level on eligible plans.

What breaks when nameservers change

Changing nameservers moves every DNS record for the domain to a new provider at once. The common failures:

Email stops arriving because the MX, SPF and DKIM records were not copied to the new provider.
The website or a subdomain goes dark because one A or CNAME record was missed.
The domain fails to resolve for validating resolvers because an old DNSSEC DS record no longer matches.
For a day or two, some resolvers still ask the old provider, so edits made there keep showing up for some users.

DNS Spy checks every record on every authoritative nameserver at least every ten minutes and alerts you the moment one changes or disappears, so a migration mistake shows up before your customers notice. See how DNS monitoring works, or read about monitoring Cloudflare DNS with DNS Spy.

Sources

Cloudflare nameservers (Cloudflare)
Nameserver assignment (Cloudflare)
Full setup: change your nameservers (Cloudflare)

Frequently Asked Questions

Cloudflare assigns each zone two nameservers that follow the pattern name.ns.cloudflare.com, for example ada.ns.cloudflare.com. There is no single list: the pair is chosen automatically, cannot be changed, and may differ between domains in one account. Copy the exact pair from your zone's Overview page.

Cloudflare tries to give all zones in an account the same pair, but where names conflict it assigns a different pair, even within one account. That is expected and harmless. Each domain simply has to use the pair Cloudflare shows for that zone, which you cannot swap for another.

Yes. Cloudflare says to disable DNSSEC at your registrar before changing nameservers, because the old DS record will not match Cloudflare's signing keys and validating resolvers will treat the domain as broken. Once the zone is active on Cloudflare, enable DNSSEC there and add the new DS record.

Nameservers for other providers

GoDaddy nameservers Squarespace nameservers Wix nameservers Bluehost nameservers SiteGround nameservers Namecheap nameservers Network Solutions nameservers

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