You can disable page cache in Cloudflare primarily by setting up a Page Rule to bypass caching for specific URLs or your entire domain. This instructs Cloudflare not to store and serve copies of your web pages from its edge servers, fetching content directly from your origin server for every request.
Using Cloudflare Page Rules to Bypass Cache
One of the most common and effective ways to disable page caching across your entire website or specific sections is by configuring a Cloudflare Page Rule. This method allows you to tell Cloudflare explicitly not to cache content matching a certain URL pattern.
To disable page cache for all pages on your domain using a Cloudflare Page Rule, follow these steps:
- Access your Cloudflare dashboard and navigate to the Rules section, then select Page Rules.
- Click Create Page Rule.
- In the "If the URL matches" field, enter your domain followed by /* to apply the rule to all pages (e.g.,
yourdomain.com/*). This pattern matches your domain name and any path or query string that follows. - Under "Then the settings are:", Add a setting & choose “Cache Level” and select “Bypass”.
- Click Save and Deploy.
Once deployed, this rule will ensure that Cloudflare bypasses its cache for all requests matching the specified pattern, fetching content directly from your origin server instead of serving cached versions.
Why Bypass Cache?
Disabling cache can be necessary for pages that display dynamic content, personalized user information, or data that changes frequently. Bypassing the cache ensures that users always see the most up-to-date version of the page directly from your server.
Remember that using a "Bypass" cache level will increase the load on your origin server, as every request for matched URLs will hit your server directly. It also removes the performance benefits of serving content from Cloudflare's global network edge. Therefore, it's recommended to use this setting only for pages where caching is genuinely problematic or unnecessary.
