Subject: How are Cloudflare’s nameservers different?

Direct Response

Cloudflare’s nameservers are authoritative for your domain, meaning they hold and serve the DNS records to the internet. Google DNS and OpenDNS, by contrast, are public recursive resolvers used by end users to look up domains. They do not host your records but query authoritative servers on behalf of clients.

Can I delegate to Cloudflare while using my host’s DNS?

No. Your domain can only have one authoritative set of nameservers. If you point to Cloudflare, you must manage your DNS in the Cloudflare dashboard. You can import your host’s records into Cloudflare, but Cloudflare will answer queries once delegated.

Thought Process

Recursive vs authoritative DNS is the key difference. Cloudflare adds features (CDN, WAF, Workers) because it is authoritative. Recursive resolvers like Google simply ask authoritative servers and return the answers.

Tools Used

• WHOIS / dig NS — to confirm which NS are authoritative.
• Cloudflare Dashboard — to manage the zone when delegated.