Why Cloudflare Isn't Always the Best Choice

As a website owner, you naturally want just one thing: a website that’s always online, loads lightning-fast, and is fully protected against malicious actors. In the quest for the best performance, terms like “CDN,” “DDoS protection,” and “Cloudflare” quickly come up. For many, Cloudflare has become the default choice. But is it actually necessary, and are there any downsides?

In this blog, we take a deep dive into Cloudflare. We look at the advantages, but also at the disadvantages that are often overlooked. And we explain why, at MijnHostingPartner.nl, you often don’t need that extra step at all.

Why is Cloudflare so popular?

Cloudflare has built a rock-solid reputation over the years. Many people choose their platform for a number of clear reasons:

• A global network (CDN): Static files from your website are stored on servers around the world, so a visitor in America can load your site faster.

• Basic DDoS protection: It filters out frequent automated traffic and malicious bots before they can overload your website.

• It’s free to try: For novice hobbyists, the free entry-level plan is often an attractive option.

That sounds fantastic, but in practice, Cloudflare also introduces a number of significant challenges and risks for your website.

The downsides of Cloudflare: What you need to think carefully about

Although the platform makes many claims about improved performance and security, in practice we regularly see that it actually causes problems.

1. The 'Single Point of Failure'

When you enable Cloudflare via the nameserver change, you route all your website’s traffic through their servers. Cloudflare acts as a digital bouncer. But what if the bouncer itself goes down? Although they have a massive network, there have been major, global outages at Cloudflare in the past. At such a moment, your website, along with a large part of the internet, goes down immediately. It doesn’t matter how stable and fast MijnHostingPartner.nl’s servers are; your visitors simply can’t get through the door. The only solution in this case is to switch back to our nameservers. After that, your website will be accessible again.

2. The infamous Error 520 to 525 screens

Nothing looks as unprofessional as a visitor trying to access your website and seeing a large, gray Cloudflare error page (such as Error 520 'Web server is returning an unknown error' or Error 522 'Connection timed out'). This is often due to a miscommunication or incorrect configuration between the Cloudflare proxy and the hosting environment. This causes unnecessary frustration for your customers and leads to extra support requests, even though your website itself is often functioning perfectly fine.

3. Privacy and GDPR legislation

Privacy is a hot-button issue, especially in Europe. Cloudflare is an American company. Because they act as a “man-in-the-middle,” all traffic—including the privacy-sensitive data entered on your contact forms or in your online store—is first decrypted on Cloudflare’s servers for scanning. For European companies that must strictly comply with GDPR regulations, this can be a legal gray area you’d rather avoid.

4. Captcha fatigue among your visitors

Have you ever visited a website and had to click three times to indicate where the fire hydrants were located before you could proceed? That’s Cloudflare’s bot protection. If it’s set just a bit too strictly—which is often the case—legitimate human visitors are constantly confronted with checks. This significantly raises the barrier to visiting your website and can directly cost you conversions and revenue.

5. Unnecessary Latency for Local Websites

If your target audience is primarily located in the Netherlands or Europe, Cloudflare can actually slow down your website. After all, traffic must first travel through a Cloudflare node before reaching our servers. Why take an extra digital detour when you can go directly?

Why MijnHostingPartner.nl eliminates the extra step

At MijnHostingPartner.nl, we believe in simplicity, speed, and optimal security without the hassle. That’s exactly why we’ve invested heavily in our own infrastructure.

• Global DNS solution: Our DNS environment is redundant and distributed worldwide. This means that the translation of your domain name to the website happens lightning-fast anywhere in the world, without requiring an external party.

• Integrated DDoS prevention: We protect our network and your websites right at the gateway. Our systems detect and block malicious traffic and DDoS attacks at the server level. So you don’t need an additional U.S. proxy service for this.

• Greater privacy and shorter lines of communication: Your data remains within a trusted, European environment and is fully compliant with privacy laws. Plus, if you have questions, you can contact our own experts directly, instead of having to search through the complex manuals of an external tech giant.

Do you really need Cloudflare?

For massive, international platforms with millions of visitors outside Europe, a service like Cloudflare can be a valuable addition. But for the vast majority of websites and online stores in the Netherlands, it mainly introduces unnecessary complexity, potential error messages, and privacy risks.

Are you choosing MijnHostingPartner.nl? Then you’re choosing a provider that has already taken care of the basics—global DNS speed and rock-solid DDoS protection—for you as standard. This way, your website stays fast, secure, and truly yours.

Do you have questions about your website’s security, or would you like to know how we optimize your DNS performance? Feel free to contact our help desk; we’d be happy to assist you!