Cloudflare, a prominent web infrastructure and security service, acknowledged on Friday, February 20, 2026, that its services were experiencing significant issues, leading to widespread user reports of disruptions. The company confirmed it was actively investigating the problems and working diligently to restore full service functionality.
Impact on Users and Services
Users across various platforms reported difficulties accessing key services due to the Cloudflare outage. Notably, popular apps such as UberEats and the sports betting site Bet365 were affected during Friday afternoon, causing inconvenience for many customers. Additionally, some Reddit users highlighted issues with the Steam PC gaming service, attributing the problems to Cloudflare's network errors.
Company Response and Updates
In a statement posted on its website, Cloudflare indicated that users might encounter errors or timeouts when attempting to reach its network or services. The company provided an update at 2:45 PM Eastern Time, emphasizing its ongoing efforts to restore service to impacted customers to pre-outage levels. Cloudflare also mentioned that scheduled maintenance was being performed at a data center in Portland, though it remains unclear if this contributed directly to the outages.
Comparison to Previous Outages
This incident appears less severe than previous Cloudflare outages. In November 2025, a major outage disrupted thousands of internet users, affecting major sites like X, ChatGPT, and various news and media websites, with e-commerce platform Shopify and file transfer service Dropbox also impacted. Reports on DownDetector peaked at 11,000 during that event. A subsequent, though brief, outage occurred on December 5, 2025. In contrast, Friday's outage saw DownDetector reports peak at less than 500 around 2:00 PM EST, with numbers declining shortly thereafter.
Communication and Resolution Efforts
Cloudflare has not posted any updates about Friday's outage on its "Cloudflare Help" X account as of 3:30 PM EST, despite addressing the November and December incidents previously. The company continues to focus on resolving the current issues, aiming to minimize further disruptions for its global user base.
