Hostinger CDN vs Cloudflare

Compare Hostinger CDN and Cloudflare and learn why only one should be active

Updated 6 days ago

Hostinger CDN and Cloudflare are both Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) that speed up your website and protect it from attacks. Hostinger CDN is built into hPanel and works without any external account, while Cloudflare is a third-party service managed from its own dashboard. Only one CDN should be active for a website at a time, so compare the two options and switch between them safely.

Differences between Hostinger CDN and Cloudflare

Aspect Hostinger CDN Cloudflare
Setup Enabled with one click in hPanel Requires a Cloudflare account and nameserver change
Nameservers Domain must use Hostinger nameservers Domain must use Cloudflare nameservers
Management hPanel CDN dashboard Cloudflare dashboard
Caching and analytics Included Included
Image optimization WebP compression and smart image optimization included Cloudflare Images, with usage limits that vary by plan
Security Security levels, Under Attack mode, IP and country blocking, DDoS protection Similar features managed at Cloudflare
SSL Handled automatically by Hostinger Managed in the Cloudflare dashboard
Availability Premium Web, Business Web, Cloud, and Agency hosting plans Any hosting provider
Hostinger CDN is available on Premium Web, Business Web, Cloud, and Agency hosting plans, and is not available for VPS (Virtual Private Server) hosting. Websites built with Hostinger AI Builder are optimized automatically.

Why only one CDN should be active for a website

Running Cloudflare in front of Hostinger CDN is not a supported setup — avoid the combination. There are three common problems with a double-CDN setup: redirect loops from conflicting HTTPS rules, stale content because two separate caches must be purged, and incorrect visitor IP addresses in analytics and security tools.

Hostinger CDN requires the domain to use Hostinger nameservers, while Cloudflare requires its own nameservers, so the two services cannot proxy the same website at the same time. Keeping the domain on Cloudflare nameservers, even with proxying turned off, prevents Hostinger CDN from routing traffic.

How to switch from Cloudflare to Hostinger CDN

  1. Open the DNS (Domain Name System) records of the domain in the Cloudflare dashboard and copy every record you still need, such as MX records for email and TXT records for verification.
  2. Recreate the copied records in the Hostinger DNS zone, and confirm the A record points to the IP address of your hosting plan.
  3. Point the domain domain.tld to Hostinger nameservers at your domain registrar. Nameserver changes take up to 24 hours to propagate.
  4. After the domain resolves through Hostinger nameservers, go to hPanel → Websites → Dashboard → Performance → CDN.
  5. Click Enable.
  6. Verify the switch by checking the response headers of your website: responses delivered through Hostinger CDN include the x-hcdn-cache-status header.

How to switch from Hostinger CDN to Cloudflare

  1. Go to hPanel → Websites → Dashboard → Performance → CDN.
  2. Click Disable.
  3. Set up Cloudflare for the domain following the guide How to set up Cloudflare for a domain hosted on Hostinger.
  4. During the Cloudflare setup, review the DNS records Cloudflare imports and confirm the A, MX, and TXT records are complete before switching nameservers, so the website and email keep resolving.
Disable Hostinger CDN before pointing the domain to Cloudflare nameservers. Skipping this step can cause redirect loops and SSL errors during the transition.

Both services keep your website fast and protected — Hostinger CDN with zero-configuration integration in hPanel, Cloudflare with management in its own dashboard. With one CDN active at a time, your website avoids cache conflicts and redirect loops.