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written on 2 January 2024
How To Transfer a Domain from Google to Cloudflare
rcg   ·   2 January, 2024
Domain Name Prices (USD) (as of 2 Jan 2024)
DomainAWSCloudflare
app-----$12
builders$32$25
cards$29$25
com$13$9
games$29$20
page-----$8
place$20$25
site$20$25
studio$12$24
Steps To Transfer A Custom Domain
  1. go to your custom domain name on Google Domains
  2. on the left panel click on DNS
  3. turn off DNSSEC
  4. on the left panel click on Registration settings
  5. turn off Privacy protection
  6. turn off Domain is locked
  7. click on Transfer out > Get auth code and copy it for later

  8. Go to your Cloudflare dashboard
  9. on the left panel click on Websites
  10. click Add a site button
  11. enter the domain name without the www (such as example.com)
  12. click Free (this might take a little bit; mine took 3 minutes)
  13. when the Review your DNS records shows up, click Continue at the bottom
  14. note the domain name servers for later (mine were ajay.ns.cloudflare.com and diana.ns.cloudflare.com)

  15. go back to Google Domains
  16. on the left panel click on DNS
  17. change the underlined Default name servers tab to Custom name servers tab
  18. enter the two domain server names from earlier (e.g. ajay.ns.cloudflare.com and diana.ns.cloudflare.com)
  19. also on this page click on Switch to these settings

  20. go back to the Cloudflare page and click on Done, check nameservers
  21. go through the Quick Start Guide: turn on Auto HTTPS, always use HTTPS, turn on Brotli compression
  22. click Check nameservers at the bottom and then wait (mine took ten minutes)

  23. when you get a cloudflare email, reload the cloudflare newDomain page to see "Great news!"
  24. go to the Cloudflare dashboard by clicking on the Cloudflare logo

  25. on the left panel click on Domain Registration > Transfer Domains
  26. select the new domain and at the bottom click on Confirm Domains
  27. enter the transfer code you copied previously from Google Domains page, then Confirm and proceed
  28. accept the defaults and click on Confirm and Finalize Transfer

  29. wait for google to email you to confirm the transfer (on mine, about 5 minutes)
  30. on the left panel click on DNS >settings and enable DNSSEC
  31. click on DNS > Records and set the email records to be restrictive
Additional Commands of Interest
Open a shell and run these commands:
To see relevant information on yourDomainName:   nslookup -type=cname yourNewDomain
To see the name servers:   nslookup -type=ns yourNewDomain