Cloudflare Round-robin DNS: A Guide for Website Owners
Learn how Cloudflare round-robin DNS uses multiple A or AAAA records, how proxy settings change routing, and when a more controlled setup is needed.
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If you want a hostname such as www to serve from multiple servers, Cloudflare's round-robin DNS setup uses multiple A or AAAA records with the same hostname, with each record pointing to a different server. What happens next depends on whether those records are proxied.
How the setup works#
Cloudflare describes round-robin DNS as a simple way to distribute traffic across multiple servers. The domain must be added to Cloudflare, its nameservers must be updated, and the records must be created for the same hostname.
For example, a website owner can create several records for www, with each record pointing to a different server address. The records should use one consistent proxy setting.
| Record configuration | Documented behavior |
|---|---|
| All records unproxied | Cloudflare returns the configured server addresses. The visitor's device chooses which address to contact directly. |
| All records proxied | The visitor connects to Cloudflare. Cloudflare selects one of the configured origin addresses and documents retrying another associated address if a request to one origin fails. |
| Mixed proxy settings | Cloudflare treats the records as proxied and warns that this can cause unexpected behavior. Cloudflare recommends using either all proxied or all unproxied records. |
Steps for website owners#
- Add the domain to Cloudflare.
- Update the domain's nameservers as required for the Cloudflare setup.
- Create multiple
AorAAAArecords for the same hostname, such aswww. - Point each record to a different server.
- Set all records in that group to either proxied or unproxied.
Choose unproxied records when visitors should receive the configured server addresses and connect to an address directly. Choose all proxied records when visitors should connect to Cloudflare first and Cloudflare should select an origin address.
What round-robin DNS does not guarantee#
Multiple records provide a basic distribution method. They do not guarantee equal traffic among servers, higher performance, or uninterrupted availability. The retry behavior Cloudflare documents for proxied records should not be treated as a general uptime guarantee.
Cloudflare distinguishes this simple arrangement from its load-balancing service, which it describes as providing more fine-grained traffic control, automatic failover, and intelligent routing. If those controls are required, round-robin DNS records alone do not provide them.
Sources
- Cloudflare: Round-robin DNS Checked 2026-10-08
- Cloudflare DNS documentation Checked 2026-10-08