Why is SSL important for websites?
You’ve probably noticed the little padlock icon in your browser’s address bar. That padlock means the site is using SSL (Secure Sockets Layer). This is a way to encrypt traffic so hackers can’t snoop on what you’re doing. What’s really important is that nowadays, any website without an SSL certificate is more difficult to access. Modern browsers like Chrome and Safari will literally block visitors, and display a warning that the site is “Not Secure.”
Even if you’re just running a personal blog or portfolio, visitors will need that padlock to enable easy access. Having it is the standard for any website.
Problem: SSL Certificates are not free with most registrar
When I first set up this blog with Namecheap hosting, they gave me a free SSL certificate for 1 year. After that they made it clear that I would have to pay for annual renewals. This is very typical for domain registrars. It might seem insignificant, but across multiple projects and subdomains , those costs add up quickly. Also, this is not a revenue-generating hobby for me, so I simply don’t want to pay an annual fee. Thankfully, free solutions exist.
Cloudflare Offers Free SSL
That’s where Cloudflare comes in. Cloudflare is a free service that sits between your visitors and your hosting provider. It improves performance, blocks cyberattacks, and most importantly for me, provides free SSL certificates for your root domain and subdomains forever. They can do this because they issue and and manage certificates on their own global network of servers, meaning your site’s traffic is encrypted at Cloudflare before it even reaches your hosted data.
Instead of paying my registrar for certificates each year, I could switch my domain’s DNS over to Cloudflare and let them handle SSL for me. It’s actually really awesome, because Cloudflare also caches static content for quick retrieval. Utilizing this platform not only makes my content secure, but faster and more responsive.
Cloudflare Set Up Process
At a high level, the simple steps are:
- Create a new Cloudflare account
- At your registrar, point your domain’s nameservers to Cloudflare nameservers.
- That’s…pretty much it! If there are any issues, just check your DNS settings and troubleshoot as needed.
If you want the more technical steps, here they are:
- Preparation
- Create a new Cloudflare account
- Cloudflare requires DNSSEC to be off at your registrar (Namecheap had it off by default for shared hosting)
- Input your domain and automatically pull domain information through the Cloudflare wizard
- Save the two nameservers Cloudflare provides for later use
- Nameserver Switch
- At your domain registrar (I use Namecheap), I went into the settings and changed my nameservers away from the default, and to the two custom ones Cloudflare assigned me.
- DNS propagation takes a few minutes to hours. Cloudflare showed the domain as “Active” once it was done. For me it was very quick, less than 10 minutes
- Double check that any subdomain DNS records you have on your registrar are also configured in Cloudflare
- Other Cloudflare Settings
- Set SSL/TLS mode to Full (never use “Flexible”).
- Enabled “Always Use HTTPS” and “Automatic HTTPS Rewrites.”
- Check
- Confirmed SSL was working with a browser padlock + SSL Labs test.
Typical Problems and Solutions
Problem 1: Subdomains showed the cPanel “SORRY!” page
- This may not be a WordPress problem — it was Apache not recognizing the domain.
- Cause: Cloudflare’s proxy + CNAME records pointed traffic to the wrong backend IP.
- Fix:
- Changed the DNS record for each subdomain from a CNAME (hostname) to an A record (direct IP).
- Example:
A subdomain → 123.45.678.901 - Once I did this, Apache served the correct site.
Problem 2: Should I use A records or CNAMEs?
- CNAMEs are safer in theory (if the host’s IP changes, you don’t need to update DNS).
- But with shared hosting + Cloudflare, they sometimes break.
- Fix:
- A records (direct IP) are more reliable in this setup.
Problem 3: SSL settings confusion
- Cloudflare offers “Flexible” SSL — don’t use it. It causes redirect loops.
- Use Full if your host has SSL, or Full (Strict) with a Cloudflare Origin Certificate.
Summary
If you’re hosting websites through providers like Namecheap, you’ll quickly learn that free SSL only lasts a year. Instead of paying annual fees, you can utilize Cloudflare to get free SSL across all your domains and subdomains for free, forever.