Originally posted on my blog.
Freenom is a domain registrar that provides unlimited free domains that last for one year. The only limit is that you can only get domains ending in .tk, .ml, .ga, .cf, or .gq.
In this post, I’ll show you how to register a domain at Freenom step-by-step. Then I’ll show you how to replace Freenom’s default nameservers (which are pretty bad) with Cloudflare’s to have better control of your domains.
Register domain at Freenom
Step 1: Go to https://www.freenom.com and get yourself an account.
Step 2: Go to the homepage. Type the domain you would like to register in the Find a new FREE domain field. Then click Check Availability.
Step 3: If the domain name is available click Get it now! and then click Checkout.
Step 4: Set the period to 12 months. Then click Continue.
Step 5: Check I have read and agree to the Terms & Conditions. Then click Complete Order.
Step 6: You’ve successfully registered your free domains. But we’re not done yet. Let’s move to the Cloudflare part.
Add your domains to Cloudflare
Step 1: Go to https://www.cloudflare.com and get yourself an account.
Step 2: Click Add a site in Account Dashboard.
Step 3: Type in your domain and click Add site.
Step 4: Select plan Free and click Confirm plan.
Step 5: Cloudflare will scan for existing DNS records. Wait until it finishes, and click Continue.
Step 6: Cloudflare will give you two nameservers that you need to set in Freenom.
Step 7: Go back to Freenom. Click Services > My Domains. You should see all domains you’ve registered. Click Manage Domain on the domain that you’re configuring.
Step 8: Click Management Tools > Nameservers > Use custom nameservers (enter below). Now enter the nameservers provided by Cloudflare, and click Change Nameservers.
Step 9: Go back to Cloudflare, click Done, check nameservers. It will take a while, so please be patient.
Step 10: Enjoy your free domain!
Final Thoughts
These domains are not suitable for professional usage, but if you can’t afford to buy a domain or just want to find one to test your project, Freenom + Cloudflare is a perfect choice. Personally, I use it for a lot of my projects.
I hope you’ll find this post helpful!
Top comments (15)
After all this is done, where can I host this website?
I found that using GitHub Pages works quite well :D
I would recommend these for frontend apps: Cloudflare Pages, Vercel, Netlify, or GitHub Pages.
thanks for the great article. But who this is not suitable for professional usage? I am looking forward to hosting my portfolio in one of the domain I got using freenom. Could you explain on that point? Again thanks for this post.
How to get an account there? The only way i could use is sign in via google ;/
When I want to checkout domains i get error "The address in your profile is not valid
The city in your profile is not valid"
thank you
How to do URL forwarding?. By changing nameservers in freenom, URL forwarding is not working. Correct me if I'm doing wrong.
Vercel is a great option for hosting and URL forwarding.
Where should i host my website?
I would recommend these for frontend apps: Cloudflare Pages, Vercel, Netlify, GitHub Pages, or Replit. (Possibly Glitch as well.) Some of these can also host your backend.
Thanks!
By switching to cloudflare dns it will support @ record ?
Hi, may i know why I can add my domain name
Thank you
This page isn’t workingmy.freenom.com is currently unable to handle this request.
HTTP ERROR 503
i try to open the page but couldnt
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