If you use CF as your registrar, they require you to use CF DNS. If you're okay with that, they register domains at cost. It's also easy to move a domain later if you change your mind and is quite fast. I recently moved a gTLD domain from CF to Porkbun and the transfer was complete in a matter of minutes, at the cost of a 1-year renewal.
It's always taken days to a week for me. But I've never used CF. Mostly dependent on the outgoing registrar dragging their feet or not I would think?