Is Cloudflare Down?

Many websites use Cloudflare as their CDN and security layer. When Cloudflare has issues, the error pages it generates appear on all websites using its network. The website owner may not even be aware of the issue since it's happening at the CDN layer, not on their servers.

Cloudflare's DNS resolver (1.1.1.1) runs on separate infrastructure from their CDN and security services. However, in major incidents, both systems can be affected. If 1.1.1.1 is down, switch your device's DNS to 8.8.8.8 or 9.9.9.9 as a temporary fix.

While Cloudflare handles a massive share of web traffic, it cannot take down the entire internet. During major Cloudflare outages, sites not using Cloudflare continue to work normally. However, the impact can feel widespread because millions of popular sites rely on Cloudflare's network.

Error 502 means Cloudflare couldn't reach the origin server. Error 520 means the origin returned an unexpected response. Error 522 means the connection timed out. Error 524 means the origin responded too slowly. During Cloudflare outages, these errors appear even when origin servers are functioning normally.

Look at the error page for the Cloudflare logo or ray ID. You can also check if the site's DNS points to Cloudflare IPs using a tool like dig or nslookup. If the error page shows Cloudflare branding and www.cloudflarestatus.com reports an incident, Cloudflare is likely the cause.