Email Forwarding with Cloudflare: The Simple Setup

Cloudflare is one of the best places to manage your domain's DNS — it's fast, free, and reliable. If your domain's DNS is on Cloudflare, setting up a custom email address that forwards to your normal inbox takes just a couple of minutes.

Either way, you start by adding your domain in Routr (the forwarding service) and choosing where to forward. From there you have two options for the DNS: let Routr add the records for you in one click, or add the three records by hand. We'll cover both.

New to custom email in general? Start with our overview of how to set up a custom email address, then come back for the Cloudflare steps.

What you'll need

• A domain whose DNS is managed by Cloudflare.
• An inbox to forward to — Gmail, Outlook, or similar.
• A Routr account to manage the forwarding.
• A couple of minutes.

Option 1: One-click setup with Routr

This is the easiest path. When you add your domain in Routr, we detect that it's on Cloudflare and offer a Connect Cloudflare button. Authorize it once and Routr adds the correct DNS records to your zone automatically — no copying and pasting. Because Cloudflare propagates changes in under five minutes, your address is usually live almost immediately.

Option 2: Add the records manually

Prefer to handle DNS yourself? Once your domain is added in Routr, add these three records in Cloudflare — they point your mail to Routr's forwarding servers:

1. Log in to Cloudflare and select your domain.
2. Go to DNS → Records.
3. Delete any existing MX records.
4. Click Add record: Type MX, Name @, Mail server mx1.improvmx.com, Priority 10.
5. Click Add record again: Type MX, Name @, Mail server mx2.improvmx.com, Priority 20.
6. Click Add record: Type TXT, Name @, Content v=spf1 include:spf.improvmx.com ~all.
7. Save.

Verify and start replying

Give it a few minutes, then use Routr's “check now” button to confirm the records are live. To reply from your custom address, turn on Gmail's “Send mail as” feature — your Routr dashboard includes a step-by-step guide once your domain is verified.

Why Cloudflare and Routr work well together

Cloudflare offers domain registration at cost (no markup) and some of the fastest DNS propagation around, while Routr handles the forwarding and the fiddly parts of email setup. If you're choosing a registrar, Cloudflare is a great pick — and one-click connect means you'll likely never touch a DNS record yourself.

Frequently asked questions