Katie Allred Book a call

AI & Tech

Why I Moved My Website to Cloudflare (and Can Finally Publish on My Own)

· Updated · by · 5 min read

A laptop, a cup of coffee, a pair of glasses and a small plant on a wooden desk

Update, October 29, 2026: I’ve since switched my editor from Sveltia CMS to Pages CMS. It’s hosted for me, so I no longer run a sign-in page on my own site, and katieallred.com/admin/ is gone. Everything else here still holds: Cloudflare hosts and builds the site, and I write and publish from my browser. I wrote about why I chose Pages CMS over WordPress.

Have you ever had a quick fix for your website and put it off because making it meant opening code?

That was me. When I moved this site off WordPress, I got a faster, simpler website that I own outright. I also gave up something I didn’t realize I’d miss: a place to just sit down and write. Every typo fix and every new post had to go through the code, usually with an AI assistant helping me. That works. It’s also a lot of steps for a three-sentence update.

So this week I changed two things. I moved katieallred.com to a new host, and I added a simple editor so I can write, edit and publish from my browser. Here’s why, and what I’d tell you if you’re thinking about doing the same.

What changed

If you’re reading this, you probably didn’t notice anything. That was the goal. Every page lives at the same address it always has, and every link you’ve saved still works.

Behind the scenes:

  • The site is hosted on Cloudflare instead of GitHub Pages.
  • Cloudflare builds it, too. Every time I save, Cloudflare rebuilds the site and puts the update live within a few minutes. It also checks every 15 minutes for scheduled posts, so a post I set for 8:00 goes live on its own soon after.
  • I can write at katieallred.com/admin/. The editor is Sveltia CMS, and it saves my posts straight into the site’s files.
  • My email didn’t move. My domain is still registered where it was. Only the DNS, the internet’s address book for my domain, moved to Cloudflare.

Why I left GitHub Pages

GitHub Pages was a great place to start. It’s free, and it was simple to set up. But GitHub says Pages isn’t meant for running an online business, and my site isn’t just a hobby anymore. It’s where people book calls with me, find my books and learn about my consulting work. I wanted a home for it that’s built for that.

And I wanted to write without a middleman. A blog you can’t easily update is a blog you stop updating.

How I picked a new host

I looked at a few options before I picked one. Here’s the short version of what I learned:

  • Vercel is fast and popular with developers, but its free plan is for non-commercial use. A business site belongs on a paid plan.
  • SiteGround would have worked, but it’s shared hosting built for WordPress. I’d be paying every month for features my site doesn’t use.
  • Cloudflare has a free plan that allows commercial use, doesn’t charge for bandwidth, and serves pages from servers close to whoever is reading.

I recommend starting with the free option that fits how you actually use your site, then reading the fine print on commercial use before you commit. That one question ruled out more options than price did.

How the editor works

Here’s the part I’m most excited about. Sveltia CMS doesn’t have a database to maintain. When I hit save, it saves the post as a file in my website’s code and the site rebuilds itself. A few minutes later, it’s live.

I can:

  • Save a draft that stays off the site until I’m ready.
  • Set a future date and let the post publish on its own.
  • Upload a photo and write its description for screen readers, right in the same screen.

I did this with AI, and that’s the point

I did this migration with Claude, working through it in conversation. It wrote the setup, tested it, and walked me through every step that needed my own hands, like changing my nameservers and creating the sign-in for the editor. It also caught things I would have missed, like making sure my email records came over before anything switched.

That’s the way I keep telling church and nonprofit teams to use AI. Let it handle the technical, temporary work. Keep your own time for the writing, the people and the message.

If you’re thinking about moving your site

You don’t have to do it all at once. Here’s the order I’d follow:

  1. Write down what you have. List your domain, your DNS records (especially email) and where your site lives today.
  2. Check the fine print. Make sure your host allows the way you use your site, and check what happens if you grow.
  3. Move DNS before you move the site. Copy every record, switch your nameservers, and confirm your email still works.
  4. Switch the site last. Plan for a few minutes of downtime, and do it at a quiet time of day.

Most people visiting your website will never see the work behind it. That’s fine. When it’s easy to show up and share what you know, you’ll do it more often. Automate the temporary. Invest in the eternal.

<details>
  <summary>Is Cloudflare really free for a personal or business website?</summary>
  <p>For a static site like this one, yes. Cloudflare's free Workers plan serves static files without a bandwidth charge and allows commercial use. The small piece of code that starts my scheduled rebuilds runs on the same free plan.</p>
</details>
<details>
  <summary>What is a git-based CMS?</summary>
  <p>A git-based CMS is an editor that saves your posts as files in your website's code repository instead of in a database. I started with Sveltia CMS and now use Pages CMS. When I click save, it updates the files, and my site rebuilds itself a few minutes later.</p>
</details>
<details>
  <summary>Did moving hosts affect my email?</summary>
  <p>No. My domain is still registered where it was. I only moved the DNS to Cloudflare, copied every email record over first, and checked that mail still worked before switching the website.</p>
</details>