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Cloudflare Outage 2025: Internet infrastructure and security company Cloudflare suffered a major outage on Tuesday, disrupting several popular websites for users around the world. The incident temporarily took platforms like Open AI’s ChatGPT, Perplexity, X (formerly Twitter), Canva, Google Cloud, Coinbase, Uber, Shopify, Dropbox, and others offline. Many services, however, began restoring access within a few hours.

In an update posted around 9:57 am ET, Cloudflare asserted that it had implemented a fix to resolve the issue, though some users might still face difficulties accessing the online dashboard.

The incident comes less than a month after Amazon Web Services faced a daylong outage that disrupted many online platforms, followed by a global outage affecting Microsoft’s Azure cloud and 365 services.

After such a widespread outage, one question naturally comes in our mind: Why did major platforms like X and OpenAI go down? Here’s a quick look at what could have caused such a massive disruption and what users can do at home when an essential app suddenly stops working.

Cloudflare Outage: Services Offered

Cloudflare runs one of the world’s largest content delivery networks (CDNs) and provides several essential services that most major websites depend on. It offers several essential internet services that help websites run smoothly and stay secure. It stores copies of website data on servers around the world so pages load faster for users.

The platform also protects websites from DDoS attacks, where hackers try to overload a site with fake traffic. Cloudflare strengthens security through filters and firewalls that block harmful requests before they reach the original server. Adding further, it manages DNS services, which work like the internet’s phone book, guiding users to the correct IP addresses whenever they open a website.

Why Did Cloudflare Bring Down So Many Websites?

A Cloudflare spokesperson said the outage was caused by an automatically generated configuration file used to manage threat traffic. This file became much larger than expected and overloaded the system, causing a crash in the software that handles traffic for several Cloudflare services.

The company noticed a spike in unusual traffic around 5:20 am ET. Cloudflare also confirmed that there is no evidence of an attack or any malicious activity behind the outage.

Furthermore, such incidents usually point to a single point of failure in the internet infrastructure. It could be a Cloudflare outage or a problem in the content delivery network, a global DNS or routing issue, or even a breakdown in major cloud servers like AWS, Google Cloud, or Azure.

Cloudflare Outage: Simple Steps to Try at Home During a Global Outage

Step 1: Switch internet source by trying mobile data, a different Wi Fi network, a hotspot, or another ISP since one network may not reach the affected servers.

Step 2: Disable any VPN because it can break the routing path to the app or website.

Step 3: Restart the app or browser and if that doesn’t help restart your device to clear hidden system conflicts.

Step 4: Clear cache on Android, delete browser history on laptops and PCs, or offload the app on iPhone because corrupt cached data can prevent loading.

Step 5: Change DNS settings manually to fix connectivity issues. Use Google DNS 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 or Cloudflare DNS 1.1.1.1.

Step 6: If the app still fails try the web version in a browser since the web interface often works when the app does not.