How to redirect a URL in Cloudflare

These steps follow Cloudflare's Rules documentation. Cloudflare calls these Single Redirects; the dashboard calls them Redirect Rules.

Create a redirect rule

1. In the Cloudflare dashboard, open your domain and go to Rules → Overview.
2. Select Create rule → Redirect Rule. You can start from a template here, such as redirecting the root to www.
3. Give the rule a name you'll recognise later.
4. Under When incoming requests match, choose Wildcard pattern and type the old address in Request URL. An asterisk matches anything, for example https://example.com/blog/*.
5. Under Then, enter the Target URL. It can be fixed (https://example.com/news) or reuse the parts the asterisks matched, such as https://example.com/news/${1}.
6. Choose the Status code and whether to Preserve query string.
7. Select Deploy, or Save as Draft if you aren't ready.

Cloudflare's other options are All incoming requests, which redirects everything on the domain, and Custom filter expression, for conditions such as country or device.

A worked example: root to www

Cloudflare's own example sends example.com to www.example.com and keeps the path:

• Request URL: https://example.com/*
• Target URL: https://www.example.com/${1}
• Status code: 301
• Preserve query string: on

So https://example.com/products/ goes to https://www.example.com/products/. Cloudflare points out that this rule leaves http://example.com untouched, because the pattern starts with https. To catch both, use http*://example.com/* and change the target to https://www.example.com/${2}, because the first asterisk now matches the "s".

Status codes and query strings

Cloudflare's settings page lists four codes, with 301 as the default:

• 301: permanent. Use it when a page or site has moved for good.
• 302: temporary. The old address is expected to come back.
• 307 and 308: temporary and permanent versions that keep the request method, for forms that post data.

Preserve query string is off by default. Turn it on if your links carry tracking tags such as utm_source, or they'll be dropped at the redirect.

Plans and limits

Cloudflare lists Single Redirects on every plan. The number of rules per domain is 10 on Free, 25 on Pro, 50 on Business and 300 on Enterprise, and regular expressions need Business or above. For a long list of fixed old-to-new addresses, Bulk Redirects lets you upload them as a list instead: 10,000 URL redirects on Free.

Check it works

Paste the old address into the checker after you deploy. It shows every hop and flags any redirect that isn't permanent. If you see two hops where you expected one, your server or another rule is redirecting too.

Why a Cloudflare redirect isn't working

• The hostname isn't proxied. Cloudflare says redirect rules need traffic for the hostname to pass through its network. If the DNS record is grey-clouded (DNS only), or there's no record at all, the rule never runs. The dashboard offers to create or proxy the record when you save a rule that names a hostname.
• The pattern doesn't match. https://example.com/* doesn't match http, www or other subdomains. Paste the exact address you're testing and compare it with the pattern.
• Something else answers first. Your origin server, an older Page Rule or your CMS may redirect the same address. The checker lists every hop, so an extra one stands out.
• A loop. A rule that redirects www to the root, plus a server setting that redirects the root to www, sends visitors round in circles. The checker stops and says so.
• Your browser remembers. Browsers cache 301s. Test in a private window.

For redirects on a server you run, see how to redirect a URL with .htaccess. To keep chains short, read redirect chains.