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Cloudflare 15-Year Free SSL Certificate: Complete Guide

🕐 2026-07-04 ✍️ Moyi Foreign Trade

1. Introduction

Recently, many users have asked about SSL certificates, and quite a few are frustrated that free certificates from platforms such as Alibaba Cloud and Tencent Cloud only last 3 months and need frequent renewal. With that in mind, this article details the application process for Cloudflare's 15-year free SSL certificate, which supports wildcard domains and gives users a brand-new option.

2. What Is a Cloudflare SSL Certificate

A Cloudflare SSL certificate is a free SSL/TLS certificate service Cloudflare provides to its users. Unlike traditional certificates, Cloudflare leverages its global Anycast network to establish an encrypted connection between your origin server and Cloudflare's edge nodes, while HTTPS encryption is also enabled between Cloudflare's edge nodes and visitors. This means that even if your origin server has no SSL certificate configured, Cloudflare can still serve your website over HTTPS.

Cloudflare offers several types of SSL certificates to choose from:

  • Flexible SSL: Encrypts only the connection between the user and Cloudflare's edge nodes; no extra configuration needed on the origin server.
  • Full SSL: Encrypts the connection between the user and Cloudflare's edge nodes, and requires the origin server to have a self-signed or valid certificate.
  • Full SSL (Strict): Requires the origin server to have a valid certificate issued by a trusted CA.
  • Origin Certificate: A free origin-server certificate issued by Cloudflare, valid for up to 15 years and supporting wildcard domains. This is the core of this article.

Among these, the Origin Certificate is a standout Cloudflare exclusive: it can be installed on your origin server to ensure communication from Cloudflare to the origin is also encrypted, it is completely free, and it is valid for up to 15 years.

3. Pros and Cons of the Cloudflare 15-Year Free SSL Certificate

When choosing an SSL certificate solution, understanding its pros and cons is crucial. Here is a detailed analysis of Cloudflare's 15-year free SSL certificate:

(1) Advantages

  • Completely free, valid for up to 15 years: Most free certificates on the market (such as Let’s Encrypt and Alibaba Cloud's free certificates) are only valid for 3 months and need renewal every 90 days. Cloudflare origin certificates are issued once and last 15 years, completely eliminating renewal hassles.
  • Supports wildcard domains: Using the *.example.com format protects the main domain and all subdomains, ideal for websites with multiple sub-sites.
  • Simple application process: No complex CSR generation or validation; a few steps in the Cloudflare Dashboard are all it takes.
  • Perfect integration with the Cloudflare CDN: Once issued, Cloudflare's edge nodes automatically trust the certificate without extra trust-chain configuration.
  • Supports multiple key types: You can choose RSA (2048-bit) or ECC (ECDSA P-256) keys to meet different security needs.
  • Lower operational overhead: The 15-year validity means ops teams no longer need to constantly track expiry reminders, greatly reducing workload.

(2) Disadvantages

  • Only available to Cloudflare users: This certificate can only be used on origin servers behind the Cloudflare CDN; it cannot be served directly to external users.
  • Not a publicly trusted CA: Cloudflare origin certificates are not issued by public CAs (such as DigiCert or Let’s Encrypt), so browsers will not directly trust them. You must use them with Cloudflare's proxied CDN, where Cloudflare edge nodes present a user-facing trusted certificate.
  • Requires Cloudflare proxying: DNS records must have Cloudflare proxy enabled (orange cloud) for the certificate to work to its full potential.
  • Useless outside Cloudflare: If you migrate away from Cloudflare, this certificate no longer applies and you will need to apply for another one.

All in all, for websites using the Cloudflare CDN, the advantages of the 15-year free SSL certificate are overwhelming. It not only greatly reduces certificate-management complexity but also saves on SSL certificate procurement costs.

4. Preparation Before Applying

Before applying for the Cloudflare 15-year free SSL certificate, complete the following preparation:

4.1 Register a Cloudflare Account

If you don't have a Cloudflare account yet, visit the Cloudflare website to register. The process is very simple:

  • Enter your email address and set a password
  • Verify your email address
  • Log in to the Cloudflare Dashboard

4.2 Add and Host Your Domain on Cloudflare

After registering, you need to add your domain to Cloudflare and change your DNS servers:

  • Log in to the Cloudflare Dashboard and click “Add a site”
  • Enter your domain name (e.g., yourdomain.com)
  • Choose the free plan (Free Plan) — it already includes the 15-year free SSL certificate feature
  • Cloudflare will scan all DNS records of your current domain and import them automatically
  • Review and confirm the DNS records are correct, then continue to the next step
  • Cloudflare will provide two nameserver addresses (e.g., alex.ns.cloudflare.com and uma.ns.cloudflare.com)
  • Go to your domain registrar's admin panel (such as Alibaba Cloud, GoDaddy, Namecheap, etc.) and change your domain's NS records to the addresses Cloudflare provides
  • Wait for DNS propagation (usually a few minutes to 48 hours)

4.3 Confirm DNS Proxy Status

Once the domain is hosted on Cloudflare, make sure the DNS records for your main domain and subdomains have proxy enabled (orange cloud icon). Only proxied records can use Cloudflare's SSL features.

5. Detailed Certificate Application Steps

After completing the preparation above, you can officially apply for the Cloudflare 15-year free SSL origin certificate.

5.1 Go to the SSL/TLS Settings Page

Log in to the Cloudflare Dashboard, select your domain, then click “SSL/TLS” in the left menu → the “Origin Server” tab.

5.2 Create an Origin Certificate

On the Origin Server page, click the “Create Certificate” button. Cloudflare will display the certificate creation form, where you configure the following parameters:

  • Private key type: Choose RSA (2048) or ECC (ECDSA P-256). RSA has better compatibility; ECC offers higher performance with shorter keys. For most scenarios, we recommend ECC (ECDSA P-256) because it is more efficient and just as secure as 2048-bit RSA.
  • Certificate validity: Choose 15 years. This is the longest validity Cloudflare origin certificates support, and the core advantage of this article.
  • Domain list: Enter the domains you want to protect. Wildcard format is recommended, for example:
    • yourdomain.com
    • *.yourdomain.com

    This protects the main domain and all subdomains at the same time.

5.3 Download the Certificate and Private Key

After clicking “Create”, Cloudflare generates the certificate file and private key. The page will show the following:

  • Origin Certificate: PEM-format certificate text starting with —–BEGIN CERTIFICATE—–
  • Private Key: PEM-format key text starting with —–BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY—– or —–BEGIN EC PRIVATE KEY—–

Important: Be sure to download and safely store the private key right away. Once you close this page, Cloudflare will not show the private key again. We recommend saving the certificate and private key as origin-cert.pem and origin-key.pem files and storing them somewhere secure.

6. Deploying the Origin Certificate to a Web Server

After obtaining the certificate, you need to deploy it to your origin server. Below are deployment methods for three common web servers.

6.1 Nginx Deployment

Locate the Nginx configuration file (usually /etc/nginx/nginx.conf or under /etc/nginx/sites-available/), and add or modify the following in the corresponding server block:

server {
    listen 443 ssl http2;
    server_name yourdomain.com;

    ssl_certificate /path/to/origin-cert.pem;
    ssl_certificate_key /path/to/origin-key.pem;

    ssl_protocols TLSv1.2 TLSv1.3;
    ssl_ciphers HIGH:!aNULL:!MD5;

    root /var/www/html;
    index index.html index.php;
}

After configuring, run the following commands to test the configuration and restart Nginx:

nginx -t
systemctl restart nginx # or service nginx restart

6.2 Apache Deployment

For Apache servers, you need to enable the SSL module and modify the virtual host configuration file:

First, make sure the SSL module is enabled:

a2enmod ssl
systemctl restart apache2

Then edit the virtual host configuration file (usually under /etc/apache2/sites-available/) and add or modify the following:
<VirtualHost *:443>
    ServerName yourdomain.com

    SSLEngine on
    SSLCertificateFile /path/to/origin-cert.pem
    SSLCertificateKeyFile /path/to/origin-key.pem

    DocumentRoot /var/www/html
</VirtualHost>

After saving, test and restart Apache:

apachectl configtest
systemctl restart apache2 # or service apache2 restart

6.3 Baota Panel (BT Panel) Deployment

Baota Panel is one of the most popular server management panels in China, and its deployment process is more graphical:

  • Log in to the Baota Panel backend
  • Go to the “Websites” management page
  • Find the target site and click the “Settings” button on the right
  • In the settings window, select the “SSL” tab
  • Choose the “Other Certificates” mode
  • Paste the previously downloaded origin-cert.pem (certificate content) into the “Certificate (PEM format)” input box
  • Paste origin-key.pem (private key content) into the “Key (KEY)” input box
  • Click the “Save” button
  • Turn on the “Force HTTPS” toggle so all HTTP requests automatically redirect to HTTPS

Baota Panel automatically validates the certificate and applies it to the site; no manual service restart is needed.

7. Configuring the CA Root Certificate

Although the Cloudflare origin certificate is issued by Cloudflare's internal CA, you may need to configure a CA root certificate so Cloudflare's edge nodes can properly validate your origin server. The certificate creation page also provides the “Cloudflare Origin CA Root Certificate”, an intermediate certificate used to build the complete certificate trust chain.

If you need to configure the CA root certificate, follow these steps:

  • Download the Cloudflare origin CA root certificate (Cloudflare officially provides the PEM-format CA bundle)
  • Create a certificate chain file containing the origin certificate and the CA root certificate:
    cat origin-cert.pem cloudflare-origin-ca-root.pem > fullchain.pem
  • Use the ssl_trusted_certificate directive in the Nginx configuration:
    ssl_trusted_certificate /path/to/fullchain.pem;
  • Use the SSLCertificateChainFile directive in the Apache configuration:
    SSLCertificateChainFile /path/to/cloudflare-origin-ca-root.pem

In practice, for websites behind Cloudflare proxying, the origin server only needs to provide the origin certificate to work, because Cloudflare's edge nodes trust the origin certificates they issue themselves. Configuring the CA root certificate is mainly for completeness and compatibility in certain specific scenarios.

8. Verifying the SSL Setup

After deploying the certificate, verify that the SSL configuration is working:

8.1 Browser Verification

  • Visit https://yourdomain.com in a browser and check whether the address bar shows the padlock icon
  • Click the lock icon to view certificate details and confirm the certificate info is correct
  • Check whether the certificate validity is 15 years

8.2 Online SSL Testing Tools

  • Use SSL Labs (https://www.ssllabs.com/ssltest/) for a comprehensive scan of your domain
  • Use Why No Padlock (https://www.whynopadlock.com/) to check for mixed-content issues
  • Use the curl command-line tool for a quick check:
    curl -vI https://yourdomain.com

8.3 Certificate Content Verification

Use the OpenSSL command-line tool to view certificate details:

openssl x509 -in origin-cert.pem -text -noout

Focus on the following information:

  • Issuer: should be Cloudflare's CA
  • Subject: should include your domain
  • Validity: confirm the start and end dates and verify it is 15 years
  • Subject Alternative Names (SAN): confirm all domains you applied for are included

9. FAQ and Notes

9.1 Certificate Expiry Reminders

Although the Cloudflare origin certificate is valid for 15 years, we recommend setting a reminder before expiry to avoid the site becoming inaccessible after the certificate lapses. You can check the expiry date on the SSL/TLS settings page in the Cloudflare Dashboard.

9.2 What If the Certificate Is Lost

If you accidentally lose the private key or certificate files, click “Revoke” for the old certificate on the SSL/TLS → Origin Server page in Cloudflare, then create a new certificate. Note that after revocation you need to redeploy to the origin server.

9.3 Multi-Layer CDN Scenarios

If you also use other CDN services (such as Upyun or Alibaba Cloud CDN), the Cloudflare origin certificate may not work properly. In multi-layer CDN scenarios, we recommend using a certificate issued by a public CA.

9.4 Compatibility Notes

The Cloudflare origin certificate is based on a self-signed CA, so some older clients or libraries may not trust it. However, since users are served by Cloudflare's edge nodes with publicly trusted certificates (issued by public CAs such as Google Trust Services or Let’s Encrypt), end users are not affected.

10. Summary

The Cloudflare 15-year free SSL certificate is an extremely cost-effective solution. With this detailed tutorial, you should now master the full process from preparation and certificate application to server deployment and verification. Compared with traditional free certificates that need renewal every 3 months, Cloudflare's origin certificate is configured once and lasts 15 years, dramatically reducing ops workload.

This solution is especially suitable for:

  • Personal blogs and small websites
  • Small and medium business websites using the Cloudflare CDN
  • Users who need wildcard certificates for multiple sub-sites
  • Teams that want to lower SSL certificate operations costs

If you already use the Cloudflare CDN, enabling the 15-year free SSL origin certificate is a smart choice that costs nothing extra. Spend a few minutes on the setup and enjoy 15 years of HTTPS security — why not?

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