CNAME flattening

CNAME flattening speeds up CNAME resolution and allows you to use a CNAME record at your zone apex (example.com).

Note

This functionality is also what allows you to use a root custom domain with a Cloudflare Pages site.

How it works

With CNAME flattening, Cloudflare finds the IP address that a CNAME points to. This process could involve a single lookup or multiple (if your CNAME points to another CNAME). Cloudflare then returns the final IP address instead of a CNAME record, helping DNS queries resolve faster.

For more details on the steps involved in CNAME flattening, review the CNAME flattening diagram and refer to the Cloudflare blog post ↗.

Note

For information about CNAME flattening in Internal DNS, refer to internal DNS records.

Aspects to keep in mind

• CNAME flattening happens by default in some cases. Refer to Setup for details.
• CNAME to a different Cloudflare account is prohibited and will result in Error 1014: CNAME Cross-User Banned

• If a CNAME target is being used to verify a domain for a third-party service, turning on CNAME flattening for all CNAME records may cause the verification to fail since the CNAME record itself will not be returned directly.