hello,
My website is hosted with BlueHost and Cloudflare (free) is part of the package I bought. It has worked fine, mostly, until today when I started receiving a bunch of intermittent 520 &525 errors.
They said it is because the updated the php for my server and Cloudflare has not caught up yet (or something like that)
My host disabled Cloudflare and I am waiting for the problem to clear.
My question is since SSL is the standard everywhere, what is the point of your “free” version which I just learned on your website has compatibility issues with SSL enabled sites?
Those errors should not have anything to do with PHP version. I am not sure what you are trying to say, as far as I am aware, there are no SSL related compatibility issues. You simply need a certificate on your server and your SSL/TLS mode in Cloudflare set to Full (strict).
As for 520 and 525 errors, they are generally caused by your host.
A 520 error occurs when the connection started on the origin web server, but that the request was not completed. The most common reason why this would occur is that either a program, cron job, or resource is taking up more resources than it should causing the server not to be able to respond to all requests properly. Review the Quick Fix Ideas in this Community Tip for troubleshooting suggestions.
A 525 error is typically caused by a configuration issue in the origin web server when its SSL certificate is not properly set up. Review the suggestions in this Community Tip for advice & insight.
If you have Cloudflare enabled through Bluehost’s partner integration, rather than a full setup through Cloudflare, there is not a lot we can do to help and they will need to help you resolve this.
I will look into this some more with my host serve provider and share this info.
My question though about the “free” version comes from this sentence on the “Optimise with Cloudflare” page at my host server:
Notice: Cloudflare Platinum is required for SSL (HTTPS) to function. Enabling Cloudflare Free on a website which uses SSL will cause the site to malfunction.
Well, my site is malfunctioning for sure. And this looks like if I want it to function I have to purchase an additional plan, Cloudflare Premium.
Does that sound right to you? Or can you explain it?
That “Cloudflare Platinum” is not a Cloudflare plan, but your host’s. They appear to want to charge you for that to work. If you sign up directly with Cloudflare, their free plan has no such limitations and I’m not really sure why Bluehost are trying to charge you for it.
Pretty much, yes! Bluehost may be able to offer you some additional benefits if you sign up through them. I.e. usually paid features in Cloudflare for free or cheaper (commonly something like Railgun). However, you can often get more different benefits signing up directly.
You would need to change your nameservers from Bluehost to Cloudflare, but as long as you make sure the DNS records Cloudflare automatically import match those at Bluehost, you shouldn’t have an issue.
Have a look at what the free plan offers here and just let us know if you have any further questions or need any more help
