Cloudflare was down, live updates: Huge chunk of internet taken down by outage
Cloudfare experienced a global network outage, here's the latest updates
The internet is broken?
As of around 11:30am GMT, Cloudfar was expericing major issues. This has affected multiple sites including X, ChatGPT and even Downdetector (of all places!).
For now, Cloudfare is working on the issue. We'll keep you updated here.
Cloudflare is working on the issue
According to the offical Cloudfare status page, the global cloud network is "continuing to investigate the issue.
As of November 18 at 12:03 UTC, Cloudfare states:
"Cloudflare is aware of, and investigating an issue which impacts multiple customers: Widespread 500 errors, Cloudflare Dashboard and API also failing.
We are working to understand the full impact and mitigate this problem. More updates to follow shortly."
It appears we'll see most websites affected during the outage, and so far, that includes X, OpenAI and more. We'll keep you posted!
Is X still down?
According to Downdetector (which was also experiencing its own issues thanks to Cloudflare!), websites like X are experiencing a major outage where users can't access these sites. For X, it topped out at a whopping 9,706 reports, but this now appears to be dropping.
Although since Cloudflare is still working through the issues, we may see more problems with these sites. We'll keep you up to date.
Even Downdetector is...down!
Since Downdetector uses Cloudflare is order to monitor the status of websites, even this site is currently down (oh, the irony). For our team, it appears to come back every once in a while, but it's still experiencing problems on our end.
That also includes StatusGator, which also uses cloud monitoring. For now, at least, it's website is able to be accessed.
Seeing this while accessing X? You're not alone
Head over to X.com and you may see an "Internal server error" page pop up. This is happening to multiple people at Tom's Guide, so if you are too, don't fret, it's likely happening to most people.
Breaking: Cloudflare is seeing service recovery, but still some errors
According to the Cloudflare status page, the global network outage is "seeing services recover." That's a good sign, but the cloud network platform still states that customers may continue to experience higher-than-normal error rates.
So far, Cloudflare is continuing to investigate the issue.
Cloudfare status is going up and down...
There appear to be blips of recovery ever since Cloudflare's servers went down as of 11:48 am UTC, and Downdetector (when it's accessible) shows this. It reached a high of 4,582 reports on the status site, which means many have been experiencing issues.
Right now, it appears to be seeing a sharp dip, as we're now at 1,600 reports. Either way, Cloudflare is still showing signs of problems, but hopefully we won't see this issue last.
Update: Cloudflare investigation continues
Another update from Cloudflare (as of 12:37 pm UTC) shows it's still investigating the issue, so we're not in the clear just yet. Again, users on multiple sites may see "Internal server error" pages or "500 error" problems when accessing sites.
X appears to be down (again)
X still appears to be going through the motions, as its either seeing an error page, not being able to load any X posts or working fine every few minutes.
While Downdetector (when it works) shows that problems are dropping for the social media platform, I wouldn't trust the website just yet considering Downdetector also relies on Cloudflare. Here's hoping the issue is fixed soon enough.
Open AI is still experiencing issues
AopenAI is also seeing some problems, which means ChatGPT, Sora and more are down for many users. According to the OpenAI status page, the problem has been ongoing for the past 50 minutes, which lines up well with the Cloudflare outage.
For now, both OpenAI and Cloudflare are working on fixing the issues. In the meantime, don't rely on ChatGPT or Sora right now.
Breaking: Cloudflare disable WARP in London
In it's latest update, Cloudflare states that it has disable WARP access in London. For those that try to access the internet via WARP, they won't be able to connect.
This is part of the platforms attempts to fix the problem, so this will likely be fixed soon enough.
Breaking: Cloudflare has identified the issue
As of 1.09pm UTC, Cloudflare has stated that it has identified the issue and is now implementing a fix. Fingers crossed this means that we'll see services like X, ChatGPT and more come back soon!
Ongoing issues for ChatGPT and Sora
While the issue has been identified and a fix should be coming soon, OpenAI's services have now been down for over an hour, affecting many who use ChatGPT and Sora.
As Cloudflare states, the platform is continuing to "work towards restoring other services," so we'll see just how soon we can start using our favorite sites on the internet once again.
Yes, Claude AI is also down
Head over to the Claude status page and you'll find that Claude AI is also experiencing a "major outage" (what a surprise). This goes to show just how many platform rely on Cloudflare in order to function (similar to that AWS outage last month.
With Cloudflare down, majority of the internet breaks. But, at the very least, the pieces are being fixed.
WARP access returns to London
In Cloudflare's latest update, it appears the provider has now re-enabled WARP access in London, which supplies secure access to private apps on any device. If this is the case, we will hopefully see a full recovery of the system soon.
Even public transport apps are being affected
When Cloudflare goes down, it isn't just the popular social media sites and AI tools that are affected, as public transport also takes a dive.
Namely, our own Mike Prospero was unable to access the NJ Transit app in order to get a ticket for the train. That app showed a "500 Error" message with that familiar "Internal server error." So, does that mean fre public transport while the app is down? Who knows, but Cloudflare is still working on the issue.
Downdetector looks to be back online
It appears Downdetector is back online, and boy is it showing a host of reports on multiple services. This could be a good sign the Cloudflare, which Downdetector users, is coming back into shape. Although, the platform is still showing that it's working on the issue.
Now, it shows that X, OpenAI, Spotify, Uber and even games like League of Legends are experiencing problems.
Is Spotify down?
Spotify is also down, as many customers have now reported that they can no longer use the app. Downdetector also shows signs that there are problems with the music platform, and it's just another service that's been affected by the Cloudflare outage.
Services affected by the Cloudflare outage according to Downdetector
- X
- ChatGPT
- Sora
- Claude AI
- Spotify
- Uber
- Canva
- Quizlet
- Indeed
- DoorDash
- Varo
- NJ Transit
- Zoom
- UPS
- Dayforce
X is still going through its problems
Now that Downdetector is up and running (in the U.S., at least), we can see a massive spike return for X, and it's peaked at a whopping 12,374 users. There's currently no sign of this slowing down, and issues with Cloudflare may be showing incorrect information, as many on the Tom's Guide team are able to access X as of writing.
This has changed pretty frequently over the past couple of hours, so hopefully, those who are on it won't see any more problems.
Is X now making a comeback?
It appears more users are reporting that X is coming back online, which appears to be the case according to Downdetector. You can follow along with our X outage live blog for the latest updates, especially if the social media platform returns to experiencing its problems.
For now, for those who can, enjoy posting on X!
Update: Cloudflare is still working on the issue
It's been a while! But Cloudflare is back with another update. The only real news is that the web service provider is still working on fixing the issue. That means we'll still be experiencing problems accessing our favorite sites, although many are already seeing some problems be fixed (as with some us being able to use X).
Hopefully the next update will be a bit more promising!
Big service outages spell doom for the rest
With the AWS outage last month, and now Cloudflare seeing major sites go down, it shows just how much of the internet relies on these services. Here's what CEO of Wire, Benjamin Schilz, had to say about the outage
“The recent Cloudflare outage, occurring only a few weeks after the last major cloud disruption, show how brittle our digital reliance has become. Big cloud outages aren't new, similar mass-scale incidents happened in 2017 and 2021, and regional outages occur regularly, and they will certainly happen again.
"The problem is systemic: the three main hyper-scalers (AWS, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure) provide roughly two-thirds of the underlying infrastructure the digital world runs on. Their APIs connect everything from banking systems and smart homes to e-commerce, meaning the operational error of just one instantly creates a massive "single point of failure."
"This high-dependency, predominantly on US-based providers with virtually no real non-US alternatives offering comparable scale, forces us to fundamentally rethink dependencies and access risk within our internal tech stacks.
"The crucial lesson is that resilience, diversity, and redundancy must always be weighed against convenience when building and deploying digital services. True resilience isn’t just about preparing for redundancy; it’s about maintaining control over your own data. That means ensuring organisations can continue to operate securely and independently, without being tied to one platform, by having robust fallback and alternative solutions in place.”
Breaking: Cloudflare implements fix
As of now, Cloudflare has implemented a fix and believes "the incident is now resolved." We should see serivces come back to normal, if this is the case, but it may take some time.
Cloudflare is still monitoring for errors to make sure all services come back online, so stay tuned as we see them all return!
How's OpenAI and Claude doing?
So, with a fix being implemented by Cloudflare, how are some of the most-used AI services doing? Well, not great, according to OpenAI and Claude's status pages, as they are still experiencing a major outage.
At the very least, "a fix has been implemented and we are monitoring the recovery," as Claude says, and OpenAI is following suit. That means we should see all of these services return to normal at some point soon (well, sooner rather than later, hopefully).
Outage reports are seeing a massive drop
Is this the beginning of the end of the Cloudflare outage? Seems like it, according to Downdetector. We're now at a steep drop to just 3,669 reports, which is good considering it was at a peak of 11,183 not too long ago.
If this drop continues, it means the fix has worked and everything will come back online. We'll keep you up to date on the latest, so stay tuned.
Update: Some issues still persist
As it turns out, the Cloudflare Global Network issue is still showing a sign or two of problems, as the service provider now states:
"Some customers may still be experiencing issues logging into or using the Cloudflare dashboard. We are working on a fix to resolve this and continuing to monitor for any further issues."
This shouldn't affect most users as far as breaking a huge chunk of the internet goes, but it shows that some problems persist. But Cloudflare will be on the case.
Update: OpenAI, Claude are fully operational
And we're back! OpenAI's ChatGPT and Sora, along with Claude AI, are back up and running, with no problems in sight. So, you can test out all your prompts once again, and hope for the best that this doesn't happen anytime soon.
League of Legends, Valorant also experiencing issues
It wasn't just social media platforms and AI that saw huge problems thanks to Cloudflare, as games such as League of Legends, Valorant and more saw a big spike in issues, with Riot Games stating they are "aware of a problem causing players to disconnect from their games and are investigating the problem."
This appears to be getting fixed, as Downdetector shows a drop in outage reports. With Cloudflare now fixing the issue, we'll see even more services make a return.
Services returning to normal
Over on Downdetector, many of the most affected services of the Cloudflare outage are now coming back online, although a few may still be experiencing issues here and there. That includes X, Spotify and games like League of Legends.
Cloudflare is still restoring services, so it may take a little longer for everything to come back for all.
Cloudflare outage estimated to cost up $15 billion every hour
When an internet infrastructure service goes down, a lot of websites suffer. And with the 19% of websites that Cloudflare powers, that causes many issues for big platforms like X, Spotify and more.
As Tom's Guide has learned, according to website maintenance service SupportMy.website, an estimated $5 billion to $15 billion has been lost for every hour of the outage. Since the first rumblings of the downtime started at around 12 pm UTC, that means the roughly $60 billion at most has been lost.
That's a huge chunk of change, especially for the approximately 35% of Fortune 500 companies that rely on Cloudflare services. Even if it was just a few hours, the outage has caused plenty of damage.
"From reputation to the bottom line, Cloudflare is one of those systems that businesses don't realize they need or even use sometimes. But when it's down, they feel it," said Jason Long, founder of SupportMy.website.
Spotify still having problems?
Cloudflare is still working through services globally and clearing remaining errors (and latency), and the rest of the clean up may have to do with Spotify. As spotted on Downdetector, Spotify is still seeing many outage reports (479 right now). Although, that's dipping, and it will continue to. So, hopefully more users will start being able to listen to tunes via the Spotify app!
Outage may be affecting Uber and Uber Eats
Uber status pageWhile the outage appears to be settling down for most services we're seeing Uber and Uber Eats huge spikes on Down Detector.
According to the site Apps Run The World Uber has used Cloudflare for its services since at least 2022.
An alleged Uber status page isn't showing any issues right now.
Cloudflare update
Cloudflare says the system is in recovery.
"We continue to monitor the system through recovery and we are seeing errors and latency return to normal levels. A full post-incident investigation and details about the incident will be made available asap."
Tracking Uber and Uber Eats
Uber and Uber Eats appear to be suffering from a some sort of outage. It's likely that the impact is related to the ongoing Cloudflare issues.
However, just in case it's not, we're tracking the Uber outage as well. Follow along with our Uber outage live blog here.
Update from Cloudflare
Cloudflare latest update says the service is fully back to normal.
"Cloudflare services are currently operating normally. We are no longer observing elevated errors or latency across the network.
Our engineering teams continue to closely monitor the platform and perform a deeper investigation into the earlier disruption, but no configuration changes are being made at this time.
At this point, it is considered safe to re-enable any Cloudflare services that were temporarily disabled during the incident. We will provide a final update once our investigation is complete."
