AWS is a comprehensive Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) provider offering 200+ services for compute, storage, and databases, while Cloudflare is a Content Delivery Network (CDN) and edge computing platform specializing in performance, security, and DDoS protection. AWS dominates enterprise cloud infrastructure; Cloudflare excels at website acceleration and security for businesses of all sizes.
AWS vs Cloudflare — Side-by-side comparison on A Versus B
Choose AWS if you need a complete, scalable cloud infrastructure platform for applications, databases, machine learning, and enterprise workloads with deep compliance certifications. Choose Cloudflare if you need fast, secure content delivery, DDoS mitigation, and edge computing for website acceleration and API security without managing complex infrastructure—or use both together, with Cloudflare as your edge layer in front of AWS.
Compare Amazon Web Services (AWS) vs Cloudflare
Comprehensive cloud infrastructure platform with 200+ services for enterprise and scalable applications
Global CDN and edge computing platform focused on performance, security, DDoS protection, and API acceleration.
Structured comparison data for AWS vs Cloudflare with 193 attributes.
Monthly Cost (1 vCPU, 1GB RAM, Standard Instance)
Monthly Cost for 10TB Egress Data Transfer
Estimated Learning Time for New Developer
Cost for Standard Production App (2 dynos + add-ons)
Compute Instance Starting Price (hourly)
Supported Programming Languages (Workers/Serverless)
DNS Query Response Time (Global Average)
Serverless Function Cost (1M executions/month)
Global Website Speed Improvement (Average)
AWS vs Cloudflare — Attribute Category Vocabulary
Taxonomy of attribute categories used to classify comparison data for AWS vs Cloudflare.
No, they serve different purposes. AWS is a full cloud infrastructure provider for hosting servers, databases, and applications. Cloudflare is a CDN and edge security layer. Most organizations use both: AWS for backend infrastructure and Cloudflare (or similar CDN) for front-end performance and DDoS protection. Cloudflare cannot host your databases or run your application servers.
Which is cheaper for a small business website?
Cloudflare is usually cheaper for content delivery and security. A basic Cloudflare plan costs $20-30/month with included DDoS protection. AWS for a small app costs $20-100+/month depending on usage (EC2, RDS, bandwidth). For just a static website with CDN and security, Cloudflare wins. For applications requiring databases and compute, AWS is necessary.
Does AWS have a CDN and DDoS protection?
Yes, AWS offers CloudFront (CDN) and Shield (DDoS protection). However, CloudFront pricing is complex (varies by data transfer, requests, and region), and Shield Standard is basic—Shield Advanced costs $3,000+/month. Cloudflare's CDN and DDoS are simpler and cheaper for smaller sites, but CloudFront integrates better with other AWS services for large-scale deployments.
Cloudflare is better for simple API acceleration with Workers (serverless edge functions) and built-in caching—setup takes minutes. AWS is better for complex APIs requiring database connections, authentication, or custom logic, using Lambda + API Gateway. For public APIs needing global speed, Cloudflare wins. For private APIs with backend logic, AWS wins.
Can I use both AWS and Cloudflare together?
Yes, this is a common setup. Point your domain to Cloudflare (via DNS), configure Cloudflare to route traffic to AWS origin servers. Cloudflare acts as the edge security/performance layer, AWS handles backend infrastructure. This gives you AWS's compute power + Cloudflare's CDN speed and DDoS protection. Many enterprises use this architecture.