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In what way am I the product when using CloudFlare's free tier? (lemmy.world)
submitted 10 months ago by to c/selfhosted@lemmy.world
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[–] 4 points 10 months ago* (4 children)

I'm using my own LetsEncrypt certs for TLS with cloudflare free. I too wonder how I'm the product in this scenario.

I always assumed it was a loss leader play: the more selfhost type people are using cloudflare at home, the more likely they are to recommend and implement it at work, on a paid tier.

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  • [–] 1 point 10 months ago

    Cloudflare has a ton of services in their "free" tier and there's a lot of confusion in here because people toss around "Cloudflare" without specifying which service they are actually talking about.

    If you are using Cloudflared (notice the d) with your own LE Cert then you are probably fine.

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  • [–] 1 point 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (2 children)

    Are you using their proxy or just DNS ?

    If you have the little orange cloud (proxy) on your DNS entry, go to your public facing webpage and examine the cert. Chances are it's not what you think it is.

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  • [–] 1 point 10 months ago (1 child)

    it is exactly what I think it is. you can use your own certs

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  • [–] 1 point 10 months ago*

    Typically on their free accounts they use your cert for communication between them and you, and use cert they issue for communication between them and everyone else.

    User -> CF cert -> CF -> your cert -> your server.

    That's why I suggested examining the cert on your external facing page.

    Regardless, one way or the other, they need to be able to decrypt your data in order to apply their services (WAF, etc).

    Unless, again, you're just using DNS (grey cloud).

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