Off (no encryption)

Setting your encryption mode to Off (not recommended) redirects any HTTPS request to plaintext HTTP.

    flowchart LR
        accTitle: No SSL/TLS Encryption
        accDescr: With an encryption mode of Off, your application does not encrypt traffic between the visitor and Cloudflare or between Cloudflare and your server.
        A[Visitor] <--Unencrypted--> B((Cloudflare))<--Unencrypted--> C[(Origin server)]

Use when

Cloudflare does not recommend setting your encryption mode to Off.

Required setup

To change your encryption mode in the dashboard:

In the Cloudflare dashboard, go to the SSL/TLS Overview page.
Go to Overview ↗
Choose an encryption mode.

To adjust your encryption mode with the API, send a PATCH request with ssl as the setting name in the URI path, and the value parameter set to your desired setting (off, flexible, full, strict, or origin_pull).

Limitations

When you set your encryption mode to Off, your application:

Leaves your visitors and your application vulnerable to attacks ↗.
Will be marked as "not secure" by Chrome and other browsers, reducing visitor trust.
Will be penalized in SEO rankings ↗.

Incompatible settings

When you set your SSL/TLS encryption mode to Off, you will not see the options for Always Use HTTPS or Onion Routing.

Authenticated Origin Pull does not work when your SSL/TLS encryption mode is set to Off or Flexible.