If this is HTTPS, how would Cloudfare have the certificate for your domain so that browsers don't warn about a mismatch?
Or is it that when you sign over DNS to a provider, they can take over your cert? They can "ass-cert" their own? :)
Or is it that when you sign over DNS to a provider, they can take over your cert? They can "ass-cert" their own? :)
What a certificate is supposed to verify is that traffic is going to the right place. If you designate cloudflare as the rightful host of your website then they can get a certificate.
This isn't an edge case though. This is cloudflare's primary product. It is why users use them.
This may tell you something about how keen Cloudflare are to handle traffic they themselves cannot decrypt.
Realistically its a totally different product, and 5 digit price is probably cheap relative to competitors in that space.
You do ideally want your own /24, though even that's not a hard requirement. And it can be provider-assigned space as long as your provider is willing to sign an LOA for you.
As for competitors, there are a few that start in the low 4 digits per month for similar services. That's not to say Cloudflare doesn't have anything unique to offer though, they're great at scale and standardization.