software
AWS vs Cloudflare 2026: Complete Comparison
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.
AW
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Comprehensive cloud infrastructure platform with 200+ services for enterprise and scalable applications
Enterprises, startups scaling complex applications, organizations needing databases, ML pipelines, and full-stack infrastructure management
Score63%
VS
Cloudflare
Global CDN and edge computing platform focused on performance, security, DDoS protection, and API acceleration.
Website owners, SaaS platforms, APIs needing fast global delivery, businesses wanting DDoS/security without infrastructure management; used alongside AWS for edge acceleration
Score63%
Quick Answer
AI SummaryAWS 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.
Our Verdict
AI-assistedChoose 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.
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A
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
7.5/10
Cloudflare
7.5/10
TIE — neck and neck
A
Choose Amazon Web Services (AWS) if
Enterprises, startups scaling complex applications, organizations needing databases, ML pipelines, and full-stack infrastructure management
Choose Cloudflare if
Website owners, SaaS platforms, APIs needing fast global delivery, businesses wanting DDoS/security without infrastructure management; used alongside AWS for edge acceleration
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Key Differences at a Glance
- Primary Use Case:Full cloud infrastructure (compute, storage, databases, ML) vs CDN, security, DDoS protection, edge computing
- Service Breadth:✓ Amazon Web Services (AWS) wins(200+ services across 30+ categories vs 15-20 core services focused on performance & security)
- Global Data Centers:✓ Cloudflare wins(275+ cities, 200+ countries (edge network focus) vs 33 regions, 105+ availability zones)
Key Facts & Figures
117 numeric metrics compared
| Metric | Amazon Web Services (AWS) | Cloudflare | Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard Storage Cost($/GB/month) | $0.023 | — | — |
| Archival Storage Cost($/GB/month) | $0.004 | — | — |
| Market Share 2026(%) | 32% | — | — |
| Global Market Share (2026)(%) | 32% | — | — |
| Total Available Services(services) | 200+ | — | — |
| Global Availability Zones(zones) | 33 | — | — |
| Pricing Model Complexity(simplicity score) | 5/10 | — | — |
| ML/AI Service Innovation Rating(score) | 8/10 | — | — |
| Windows/Active Directory Integration(native score) | 4/10 | — | — |
| Supported Cloud Providers(count) | AWS only | — | — |
| Global Geographic Regions(regions) | 33 regions | — | — |
| Availability Zones (AWS regions)(zones) | 105+ zones | — | — |
| Available Services/Integrations(count) | 190+ native services | — | — |
| Time to Provision Standard EC2 Instance(seconds) | 30-45 (via Console/CLI) | — | — |
| Monthly Cost (1 vCPU, 1GB RAM, Standard Instance)(USD) | $9.50 (t3.micro on-demand) | — | — |
| Outbound Data Transfer Cost per GB(USD) | $0.0116 | — | — |
| Global Data Center Regions(regions) | 33 regions | — | — |
| Global Market Share(%) | 32% of global cloud infrastructure (2024) | — | — |
| Service Count(services) | 200+ | — | — |
| Compute Cost (e2-medium equivalent)(USD/hour) | $0.0416 | — | — |
| Data Transfer Out Cost(USD/GB) | $0.02 | — | — |
| ML Training Setup Time(hours) | 8-12 hours (SageMaker) | — | — |
| BigQuery Query Latency(seconds) | 15-30 seconds (Athena, 1TB scan) | — | — |
| Enterprise Support Annual Cost(USD) | $15,000 | — | — |
| Kubernetes Integration Complexity(manual steps) | 18-25 steps (EKS setup) | — | — |
| Available Cloud Services/Products(count) | 200+ | — | — |
| Free Tier Duration(months) | 12 months + always-free services | — | — |
| Premium Support Response Time(hours) | 1 hour (Business Support) | — | — |
| Monthly Cost for 10TB Egress Data Transfer(USD) | $116 (after 1GB free) | — | — |
| Minimum Setup Time(minutes) | 120 minutes | — | — |
| Average Cold Start Latency(milliseconds) | 125ms (Lambda standard) | — | — |
| Setup Time to First Deploy(minutes) | 45-60 (configure VPC, IAM, EC2, security groups) | — | — |
| Built-in Database Support(count) | 8+ (RDS, DynamoDB, Aurora, ElastiCache, Neptune, DocumentDB, Keyspaces, Timestream) | — | — |
| SLA Uptime Guarantee(%) | 99.99% (us-east-1 region) | — | — |
| Concurrent Connections per Instance(requests/second) | 50,000+ (t3.large EC2) | — | — |
| Estimated Learning Time for New Developer(hours) | 80-100 hours | — | — |
| Supported Programming Languages for IaC(languages) | 3 languages (YAML, JSON, TypeScript/Python/Java via CDK) | — | — |
| Available Services/Resources(services) | 200+ AWS-specific services (largest portfolio in cloud) | — | — |
| Free Tier Cost(USD/month) | Free (1 year, then pay-as-you-go infrastructure costs) | $0/month | |
| AWS Regions/Availability Zones(regions) | 33+ geographic regions with 105+ availability zones | — | — |
| Certified Professionals(people) | 1M+ AWS Certified professionals | — | — |
| Minimum Monthly Cost(USD) | $0 (free tier + pay-per-use) | — | — |
| Cost for Standard Production App (2 dynos + add-ons)(USD/month) | $100-150 (EC2 Reserved + RDS) | — | — |
| Number of Available Services/Products(count) | 200+ | — | — |
| Maximum RAM per Instance(GB) | 24,576 | — | — |
| Lambda/Serverless Cold Start Latency(milliseconds) | 100-3000 | — | — |
| Global Regions Available(regions) | 32 regions | — | — |
| Global Data Centers(locations) | 108 availability zones in 33 regions | 300+ | |
| Available Services(services) | 200+ services | 25+ core services | |
| Starting Monthly Cost(USD) | $0 (free tier), pay-as-you-go | $20 (Pro plan) | |
| Setup Time (Minutes)(minutes) | 120+ minutes (full configuration) | 5 minutes (DNS change) | |
| Dedicated Database Services(services) | 15+ (RDS, DynamoDB, Redshift, etc.) | 1 (Cloudflare D1 beta) | |
| Typical Edge Response Time(milliseconds) | ~80ms (median global) | ~30ms (median global) | |
| Maximum DDoS Mitigation Capacity(Tbps) | ~700 Gbps (AWS Shield Advanced) | 150 Tbps (Pro plan) | |
| Global Market Share (Cloud IaaS)(%) | 32% | — | — |
| Total Cloud Services(count) | 200+ | — | — |
| Fortune 500 Adoption Rate(percent) | ~75% | — | — |
| Compute Instance Starting Price (hourly)(USD) | $0.0116/hour (t3.micro) | — | — |
| Reserved Instance Discount (1-year)(%) | up to 72% | — | — |
| Machine Learning Service Maturity(years) | SageMaker (launched 2017) | — | — |
| Available Services/Features(count) | 200+ services | 15-20 core services | |
| Global Edge Locations(cities) | 105+ zones across 33 regions | 275+ edge locations | |
| Average Global Latency(milliseconds) | 50-150ms | 30-60ms | |
| Starting Monthly Price(USD) | Pay-as-you-go from $0 | Fixed plans from $20/month | |
| Uptime SLA Guarantee(percent) | 99.99% | 99.95% | |
| Cloud Market Share(percent) | 32% of public cloud (2024) | 21% of top 10K websites (not IaaS competitor) | |
| Time to First Deployment(minutes) | 120-240 minutes | — | — |
| Number of Integrated Services(services) | 200+ services | — | — |
| Free Tier Database Storage(GB) | 0.75GB RDS micro (750 hours/month) | — | — |
| Cost at 1 Million Daily Active Users(USD per month) | $3,000-8,000 (optimized EC2 + RDS) | — | — |
| Average Learning Curve(weeks to productivity) | 8-12 weeks | — | — |
| Developer Adoption Rate(% of cloud developers) | 32% of developers use AWS | — | — |
| .com Domain Registration Price(USD/year) | $10.20 | $10.20 | |
| Annual Savings (100 domain portfolio)(USD) | $130+ | $130+ | |
| Integrated Security Services(count) | DDoS, threat intelligence, WARP, Magic | DDoS, threat intelligence, WARP, Magic | |
| .com Renewal Price(USD/year) | $10.20 (at-cost) | $10.20 (at-cost) | |
| Customer Satisfaction Rating(percent) | 4.5 stars | 4.5 stars | |
| Review Count(number of reviews) | 476 reviews | 476 reviews | |
| Countries with Presence(countries) | 200+ | 200+ | |
| DDoS Threats Blocked Annually(billions) | 230 | 230 | |
| Regional Edge Caches(count) | 0 | 0 | |
| Organizations Planning AI Integration(percentage) | 74% | 74% | |
| Countries Covered(countries) | 100+ countries | 100+ countries | |
| Annual Threats Blocked(billions) | 230 billion threats (2026) | 230 billion threats (2026) | |
| Global Data Center Locations(locations) | 275+ edge cities | 275+ edge cities | |
| Starting Price (Monthly)(USD) | Free tier available | Free tier available | |
| Global Data Centers/CDN Nodes(count) | 310+ globally | 310+ globally | |
| Average Page Load Speed Improvement(percent) | 73% | 73% | |
| Setup Time (minutes)(minutes) | 30-60 minutes | 30-60 minutes | |
| Free Tier Monthly Requests(requests) | 3.8M requests/month | 3.8M requests/month | |
| DDoS Protection Capacity(Tbps) | 121 Tbps network capacity | 121 Tbps network capacity | |
| Pro Plan Monthly Price(USD) | $20/month Pro plan | $20/month Pro plan | |
| Average DNS Query Response Time(milliseconds) | 23ms (fastest DNS globally) | 23ms (fastest DNS globally) | |
| Supported Programming Languages (Workers/Serverless)(languages) | JavaScript/TypeScript, Rust, C, C++ (WebAssembly) | JavaScript/TypeScript, Rust, C, C++ (WebAssembly) | |
| Enterprise Support Response SLA(minutes) | 15 minutes (Enterprise) | 15 minutes (Enterprise) | |
| .com Domain First Year Cost(USD) | $9.00 | $9.00 | |
| .com Domain Renewal Cost(USD) | $12.00 | $12.00 | |
| Global CDN Edge Locations(count) | 300+ across 100+ countries | 300+ across 100+ countries | |
| DNS Query Response Time (Global Average)(milliseconds) | ~65-85ms | ~65-85ms | |
| DDoS Mitigation Capacity (Included)(Terabits per second) | 3.2 Tbps | 3.2 Tbps | |
| CDN Edge Locations(count) | 275+ | 275+ | |
| Average Page Load Time Improvement(percent) | 37% average | 37% average | |
| DDoS Mitigation Capacity(Tbps) | 71+ Tbps | 71+ Tbps | |
| WAF Managed Rules(rules) | 50+ | 50+ | |
| Setup Time (Average)(minutes) | 10-15 minutes | 10-15 minutes | |
| Pro Plan Monthly Cost(USD) | $20 | $20 | |
| Next.js Build Optimization(% faster) | Not optimized | Not optimized | |
| Time to First Deploy(minutes) | 5-10 (DNS propagation) | 5-10 (DNS propagation) | |
| API Rate Limit (Free)(requests/minute) | 120 | 120 | |
| Entry-Level Monthly Price(USD) | $20 | $20 | |
| Average Deployment Time(minutes) | 5-15 minutes | 5-15 minutes | |
| Minimum Monthly Cost (Production Setup)(USD) | $20 (Pro plan) | $20 (Pro plan) | |
| Managed Database Services(count) | 1 (D1 SQLite) | 1 (D1 SQLite) | |
| Serverless Function Cost (1M executions/month)(USD) | $1.50 (Workers) | $1.50 (Workers) | |
| CDN Edge Locations(locations) | 300+ | 300+ | |
| Global Website Speed Improvement (Average)(%) | 30-35% | 30-35% | |
| SSL Certificate Cost(USD/year) | $0 (included) | $0 (included) |
Sourced from publicly available data ·
Key Differences
7 attributes compared head-to-head
AW
2Amazon Web Services (AWS)Cloudflare leads2 ties
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Attribute
Cloudflare
- Full cloud infrastructure (compute, storage, databases, ML)Primary Use CaseCDN, security, DDoS protection, edge computing
- 200+ services across 30+ categories(winner)Service Breadth15-20 core services focused on performance & security
- 33 regions, 105+ availability zonesGlobal Data Centers275+ cities, 200+ countries (edge network focus)(winner)
- $0-100+ (pay-as-you-go, highly variable)Starting Price (Monthly)$20-200+ (fixed tiers + usage)
- Basic layer 3/4; Advanced requires $3,000+/monthDDoS Protection IncludedStandard DDoS protection included in all plans(winner)
- 50-150ms depending on regionGlobal Request Latency (Average)30-60ms via edge network optimization(winner)
- 32% of public cloud market (2024)(winner)Market Share (Cloud Infrastructure)Powers 21% of top 10K websites; not direct IaaS competitor
- Primary Use Case
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Full cloud infrastructure (compute, storage, databases, ML)
Cloudflare
CDN, security, DDoS protection, edge computing
- Service Breadth
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
200+ services across 30+ categories(winner)
Cloudflare
15-20 core services focused on performance & security
- Global Data Centers
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
33 regions, 105+ availability zones
Cloudflare
275+ cities, 200+ countries (edge network focus)(winner)
- Starting Price (Monthly)
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
$0-100+ (pay-as-you-go, highly variable)
Cloudflare
$20-200+ (fixed tiers + usage)
- DDoS Protection Included
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Basic layer 3/4; Advanced requires $3,000+/month
Cloudflare
Standard DDoS protection included in all plans(winner)
- Global Request Latency (Average)
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
50-150ms depending on region
Cloudflare
30-60ms via edge network optimization(winner)
- Market Share (Cloud Infrastructure)
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
32% of public cloud market (2024)(winner)
Cloudflare
Powers 21% of top 10K websites; not direct IaaS competitor
Full Comparison
| Attribute | Amazon Web Services (AWS) | Cloudflare |
|---|---|---|
| Standard Storage Cost($/GB/month) | $0.023 | — |
| Archival Storage Cost($/GB/month) | $0.004 | — |
| Pricing Model Complexity(simplicity score) | 5/10 | — |
| Base Software Cost(USD) | Pay-per-use only | — |
| Terraform Cloud Team Plan Cost(USD/month per user) | N/A | — |
Show 40 more attributesMonthly Cost (1 vCPU, 1GB RAM, Standard Instance)(USD) $9.50 (t3.micro on-demand) — Outbound Data Transfer Cost per GB(USD) $0.0116 — Compute Cost (e2-medium equivalent)(USD/hour) $0.0416 — Data Transfer Out Cost(USD/GB) $0.02 — Free Tier Duration(months) 12 months + always-free services — Monthly Cost for 10TB Egress Data Transfer(USD) $116 (after 1GB free) — Free Tier Cost(USD/month) Free (1 year, then pay-as-you-go infrastructure costs) $0/month Minimum Monthly Cost(USD) $0 (free tier + pay-per-use) — Cost for Standard Production App (2 dynos + add-ons)(USD/month) $100-150 (EC2 Reserved + RDS) — Starting Monthly Cost(USD) $0 (free tier), pay-as-you-go $20 (Pro plan) Compute Instance Starting Price (hourly)(USD) $0.0116/hour (t3.micro) — Reserved Instance Discount (1-year)(%) up to 72% — Starting Monthly Price(USD) Pay-as-you-go from $0 Fixed plans from $20/month .com Domain Registration Price(USD/year) $10.20 — Annual Savings (100 domain portfolio)(USD) $130+ — .com Renewal Price(USD/year) $10.20 (at-cost) — Pricing Accessibility(level) Highly accessible with strong freemium — Flat-Rate Pricing Availability Per-domain flat-rate plans — Pricing Transparency Predictable, no hidden charges — Starting Price (Monthly)(USD) Free tier available — Free Tier Monthly Requests(requests) 3.8M requests/month — Entry-Level VM Cost (Monthly)(USD) No native VMs; Workers $5-200/month — Pro Plan Monthly Price(USD) $20/month Pro plan — .com Domain First Year Cost(USD) $9.00 — .com Domain Renewal Cost(USD) $12.00 — Entry-Level Web Hosting Price(USD/month) Not applicable — Domain Registration Cost (First Year)(USD) N/A — Shared Hosting Starting Price(USD/month) N/A — Free Plan Available Yes - full-featured — Renewal Domain Price(USD/year) N/A — Pro Plan Monthly Cost(USD) $20 — Free Tier Bandwidth Limit(GB/month) Unlimited — Entry-Level Monthly Price(USD) $20 — Minimum Monthly Cost (Production Setup)(USD) $20 (Pro plan) — Domain Registration Cost (First Year)(USD) N/A — Free Plan Available Yes (with core features) — Shared Hosting Entry Price (Monthly)(USD) N/A — Annual Renewal Cost (Domain)(USD) N/A — .com Domain First-Year Price(USD) N/A (not a registrar) — .com Domain Renewal Price(USD/year) N/A (not a registrar) — | ||
| AI/ML Model Flexibility | Multiple models via Bedrock | — |
| Hybrid Cloud Support Maturity | AWS Outposts (limited) | — |
| Global Availability Zones(zones) | 33 | — |
| Global Geographic Regions(regions) | 33 regions | — |
| Availability Zones (AWS regions)(zones) | 105+ zones | — |
| Global Data Center Regions(regions) | 33 regions | — |
Show 5 more attributesGlobal Data Centers(locations) 108 availability zones in 33 regions 300+ Global Network Coverage(level) Superior and broader distribution — Regional Edge Caches(count) 0 — Global Data Center Locations(locations) 275+ edge cities — CDN Edge Locations(locations) 300+ — | ||
| Container Serverless Performance | Fargate (feature-rich) | — |
| Market Share 2026(%) | 32% | — |
| Global Market Share (2026)(%) | 32% | — |
| Global Market Share(%) | 32% of global cloud infrastructure (2024) | — |
| Global Market Share (Cloud IaaS)(%) | 32% | — |
| Cloud Market Share(percent) | 32% of public cloud (2024)(winner) | 21% of top 10K websites (not IaaS competitor) |
Show 1 more attributePaying Customers(thousands) 265,000+ — | ||
| Total Available Services(services) | 200+ | — |
| ML/AI Service Innovation Rating(score) | 8/10 | — |
| Hybrid Cloud Support Level(capability) | Moderate (Outposts) | — |
| SQL Server Database Support(text) | RDS for SQL Server (third-party) | — |
| Windows/Active Directory Integration(native score) | 4/10 | — |
| Developer Community Size(developers) | Largest | — |
| Premium Support Response Time(hours) | 1 hour (Business Support) | — |
| Customer Support Response(rating) | Community & documentation | — |
| Customer Support Availability | 24/7 community + paid support | — |
| Enterprise Support Response SLA(minutes) | 15 minutes (Enterprise) | — |
| Container/Kubernetes Strength(native integration) | Strong (ECS/EKS) | — |
| BigQuery-Grade Analytics(capability) | Via Athena/Redshift | — |
| Supported Cloud Providers(count) | AWS only | — |
| Available Services/Integrations(count) | 190+ native services | — |
| Total Cloud Services(count) | 200+ | — |
| Time to Provision Standard EC2 Instance(seconds) | 30-45 (via Console/CLI) | — |
| Average Cold Start Latency(milliseconds) | 125ms (Lambda standard) | — |
| Lambda/Serverless Cold Start Latency(milliseconds) | 100-3000 | — |
| Typical Edge Response Time(milliseconds) | ~80ms (median global) | ~30ms (median global)(winner) |
| Average Global Latency(milliseconds) | 50-150ms | 30-60ms(winner) |
Show 11 more attributesPerformance Optimization Score(out of 5) Industry standard — Countries Covered(countries) 100+ countries — Global Data Centers/CDN Nodes(count) 310+ globally — Average Page Load Speed Improvement(percent) 73% — Average DNS Query Response Time(milliseconds) 23ms (fastest DNS globally) — Global CDN Edge Locations(count) 300+ across 100+ countries — DNS Query Response Time (Global Average)(milliseconds) ~65-85ms — CDN Edge Locations(count) 275+ — Average Page Load Time Improvement(percent) 37% average — Next.js Build Optimization(% faster) Not optimized — Global Website Speed Improvement (Average)(%) 30-35% — | ||
| GitHub Integration for IaC(native support) | AWS CloudFormation requires manual GitHub setup | — |
| Built-in CI/CD Pipeline(included) | No, requires CodePipeline ($0.02/active pipeline) | — |
| Service Count(services) | 200+ | — |
| Number of Available Services/Products(count) | 200+ | — |
| Available Services/Features(count) | 200+ services(winner) | 15-20 core services |
| ML Training Setup Time(hours) | 8-12 hours (SageMaker) | — |
| Kubernetes Integration Complexity(manual steps) | 18-25 steps (EKS setup) | — |
| Minimum Setup Time(minutes) | 120 minutes | — |
| Supported Programming Languages for IaC(languages) | 3 languages (YAML, JSON, TypeScript/Python/Java via CDK) | — |
| Developer Tool Specialization(level) | Comprehensive and standardized | — |
Show 3 more attributesTime to First Deploy(minutes) 5-10 (DNS propagation) — API Rate Limit (Free)(requests/minute) 120 — API-First Architecture Native REST + GraphQL APIs — | ||
| BigQuery Query Latency(seconds) | 15-30 seconds (Athena, 1TB scan) | — |
| Enterprise Support Annual Cost(USD) | $15,000 | — |
| Available Cloud Services/Products(count) | 200+ | — |
| AI/ML Service Availability(availability) | SageMaker, Bedrock, Forecast, Lookout, Kendra | — |
| Built-in Database Support(count) | 8+ (RDS, DynamoDB, Aurora, ElastiCache, Neptune, DocumentDB, Keyspaces, Timestream) | — |
| DNS Provider Flexibility(compatibility) | Cloudflare DNS primary | — |
| Integrated Security Services(count) | DDoS, threat intelligence, WARP, Magic | — |
Show 4 more attributesEdge Computing Cloudflare Workers (lightweight functions) — Domain Registration Included No (requires external provider) — Serverless Computing (Edge Workers) Cloudflare Workers - included — Backend Function Support Cloudflare Workers (full serverless) — | ||
| Setup Time to First Deploy(minutes) | 45-60 (configure VPC, IAM, EC2, security groups) | — |
| Estimated Learning Time for New Developer(hours) | 80-100 hours | — |
| Setup Time (Minutes)(minutes) | 120+ minutes (full configuration) | 5 minutes (DNS change)(winner) |
| Setup Time(minutes) | 30-60+ minutes (account setup, IAM, networking) | 5 minutes via DNS change(winner) |
| Average Learning Curve(weeks to productivity) | 8-12 weeks | — |
Show 2 more attributesSetup Time (minutes)(minutes) 30-60 minutes — Setup Time (Average)(minutes) 10-15 minutes — | ||
| SLA Uptime Guarantee(%) | 99.99% (us-east-1 region) | — |
| Uptime SLA Guarantee(percent) | 99.99%(winner) | 99.95% |
| Concurrent Connections per Instance(requests/second) | 50,000+ (t3.large EC2) | — |
| Maximum RAM per Instance(GB) | 24,576 | — |
| Maximum Concurrent Users Supported(users) | Unlimited (CDN-based) | — |
| GitHub Stars(stars) | N/A (not a single GitHub repo) | — |
| Multi-Cloud Support(cloud providers) | AWS only | — |
| Available Services/Resources(services) | 200+ AWS-specific services (largest portfolio in cloud) | — |
| AWS Regions/Availability Zones(regions) | 33+ geographic regions with 105+ availability zones | — |
| Certified Professionals(people) | 1M+ AWS Certified professionals | — |
| Global Regions Available(regions) | 32 regions | — |
| Global Edge Locations(cities) | 105+ zones across 33 regions | 275+ edge locations(winner) |
| Available Services(services) | 200+ services(winner) | 25+ core services |
| DDoS Protection Included | No (Shield Advanced: $3,000/month) | Yes, all plans |
| Maximum DDoS Mitigation Capacity(Tbps) | ~700 Gbps (AWS Shield Advanced) | 150 Tbps (Pro plan)(winner) |
| Basic DDoS Protection Included | Layer 3/4 only (Advanced costs $3,000+/mo) | Full DDoS protection included |
| Security Threat Blocking(billion/annually) | 230+ billion threats blocked | — |
| DDoS Threats Blocked Annually(billions) | 230 | — |
Show 15 more attributesAnnual Threats Blocked(billions) 230 billion threats (2026) — WAF Included Yes, included in plans — DDoS Protection(availability) Unlimited on all plans — Automatic DDoS Protection Included on all plans — DDoS Protection Capacity(Tbps) 121 Tbps network capacity — DDoS Mitigation Capacity (Included)(Terabits per second) 3.2 Tbps — DDoS Protection Tier Advanced (free tier + enterprise) — SSL/TLS Certificates Free Universal SSL all plans — DDoS Mitigation Capacity(Tbps) 71+ Tbps — WAF Managed Rules(rules) 50+ — DDoS Protection on Free Plan Yes, included — WAF Included at Entry Level Yes ($20/month plan) — DDoS Protection (Free Plan) L3/L4 included — SSL Certificate Cost(USD/year) $0 (included) — WAF (Web Application Firewall)(availability) Yes (Pro plan+) — | ||
| Dedicated Database Services(services) | 15+ (RDS, DynamoDB, Redshift, etc.)(winner) | 1 (Cloudflare D1 beta) |
| Managed Database Services(count) | 1 (D1 SQLite) | — |
| Fortune 500 Adoption Rate(percent) | ~75% | — |
| Machine Learning Service Maturity(years) | SageMaker (launched 2017) | — |
| Time to First Deployment(minutes) | 120-240 minutes | — |
| Number of Integrated Services(services) | 200+ services | — |
| Free Tier Database Storage(GB) | 0.75GB RDS micro (750 hours/month) | — |
| Cost at 1 Million Daily Active Users(USD per month) | $3,000-8,000 (optimized EC2 + RDS) | — |
| Database Query Flexibility(complexity level) | Extensive—full SQL, custom queries, advanced analytics | — |
| Developer Adoption Rate(% of cloud developers) | 32% of developers use AWS | — |
| User Interface Complexity(learning hours (estimate)) | Developer-focused | — |
| Ideal for Enterprise Scale(rating) | Excellent for enterprise | — |
| Customer Satisfaction Rating(percent) | 4.5 stars | — |
| Review Count(number of reviews) | 476 reviews | — |
| Fortune 500 Adoption(%) | 30% | — |
| AI Integration Commitment(percentage of customers) | 74% planning to expand | — |
| Customer Satisfaction(stars) | 4.5 stars | — |
| Annual Revenue Growth (YoY)(percent) | 31% (Q3 2025: $562M) | — |
| Net Income Achievement(million USD) | Growing (not disclosed) | — |
| 2026 Projected Operating Profit(million USD) | Not specified | — |
| AI/ML Integration | Workers Bindings, multimodal models, AI agents | — |
| Pricing Entry Point | Free tier + affordable paid plans | — |
| Countries with Presence(countries) | 200+ | — |
| Organizations Planning AI Integration(percentage) | 74% | — |
| AWS Service Integration | Limited; requires manual configuration | — |
| AWS Integration | Limited, requires manual configuration | — |
| Setup Complexity(complexity score) | Simple DNS-based setup | — |
| Web Hosting Storage (Base Plan)(GB) | Not applicable | — |
| Supported Programming Languages (Workers/Serverless)(languages) | JavaScript/TypeScript, Rust, C, C++ (WebAssembly) | — |
| Free Plan Tier | Yes - full CDN, DNS, DDoS protection | — |
| Zero Trust Architecture (Native)(level) | Partial (requires Access addon) | — |
| Average Deployment Time(minutes) | 5-15 minutes | — |
| Machine Learning Services | Workers AI (beta), limited models | — |
| Serverless Function Cost (1M executions/month)(USD) | $1.50 (Workers) | — |
| Kubernetes Support | Not offered (Kubernetes at edge via Workers) | — |
AAmazon Web Services (AWS)
CloudflareStandard Storage Cost($/GB/month)
$0.023
—
Archival Storage Cost($/GB/month)
$0.004
—
Pricing Model Complexity(simplicity score)
5/10
—
Base Software Cost(USD)
Pay-per-use only
—
Terraform Cloud Team Plan Cost(USD/month per user)
N/A
—
Show 40 more attributes
Monthly Cost (1 vCPU, 1GB RAM, Standard Instance)(USD)
$9.50 (t3.micro on-demand)
—
Outbound Data Transfer Cost per GB(USD)
$0.0116
—
Compute Cost (e2-medium equivalent)(USD/hour)
$0.0416
—
Data Transfer Out Cost(USD/GB)
$0.02
—
Free Tier Duration(months)
12 months + always-free services
—
Monthly Cost for 10TB Egress Data Transfer(USD)
$116 (after 1GB free)
—
Free Tier Cost(USD/month)
Free (1 year, then pay-as-you-go infrastructure costs)
$0/month
Minimum Monthly Cost(USD)
$0 (free tier + pay-per-use)
—
Cost for Standard Production App (2 dynos + add-ons)(USD/month)
$100-150 (EC2 Reserved + RDS)
—
Starting Monthly Cost(USD)
$0 (free tier), pay-as-you-go
$20 (Pro plan)
Compute Instance Starting Price (hourly)(USD)
$0.0116/hour (t3.micro)
—
Reserved Instance Discount (1-year)(%)
up to 72%
—
Starting Monthly Price(USD)
Pay-as-you-go from $0
Fixed plans from $20/month
.com Domain Registration Price(USD/year)
$10.20
—
Annual Savings (100 domain portfolio)(USD)
$130+
—
.com Renewal Price(USD/year)
$10.20 (at-cost)
—
Pricing Accessibility(level)
Highly accessible with strong freemium
—
Flat-Rate Pricing Availability
Per-domain flat-rate plans
—
Pricing Transparency
Predictable, no hidden charges
—
Starting Price (Monthly)(USD)
Free tier available
—
Free Tier Monthly Requests(requests)
3.8M requests/month
—
Entry-Level VM Cost (Monthly)(USD)
No native VMs; Workers $5-200/month
—
Pro Plan Monthly Price(USD)
$20/month Pro plan
—
.com Domain First Year Cost(USD)
$9.00
—
.com Domain Renewal Cost(USD)
$12.00
—
Entry-Level Web Hosting Price(USD/month)
Not applicable
—
Domain Registration Cost (First Year)(USD)
N/A
—
Shared Hosting Starting Price(USD/month)
N/A
—
Free Plan Available
Yes - full-featured
—
Renewal Domain Price(USD/year)
N/A
—
Pro Plan Monthly Cost(USD)
$20
—
Free Tier Bandwidth Limit(GB/month)
Unlimited
—
Entry-Level Monthly Price(USD)
$20
—
Minimum Monthly Cost (Production Setup)(USD)
$20 (Pro plan)
—
Domain Registration Cost (First Year)(USD)
N/A
—
Free Plan Available
Yes (with core features)
—
Shared Hosting Entry Price (Monthly)(USD)
N/A
—
Annual Renewal Cost (Domain)(USD)
N/A
—
.com Domain First-Year Price(USD)
N/A (not a registrar)
—
.com Domain Renewal Price(USD/year)
N/A (not a registrar)
—
AI/ML Model Flexibility
Multiple models via Bedrock
—
Hybrid Cloud Support Maturity
AWS Outposts (limited)
—
Global Availability Zones(zones)
33
—
Global Geographic Regions(regions)
33 regions
—
Availability Zones (AWS regions)(zones)
105+ zones
—
Global Data Center Regions(regions)
33 regions
—
Show 5 more attributes
Global Data Centers(locations)
108 availability zones in 33 regions
300+
Global Network Coverage(level)
Superior and broader distribution
—
Regional Edge Caches(count)
0
—
Global Data Center Locations(locations)
275+ edge cities
—
CDN Edge Locations(locations)
300+
—
Container Serverless Performance
Fargate (feature-rich)
—
Market Share 2026(%)
32%
—
Global Market Share (2026)(%)
32%
—
Global Market Share(%)
32% of global cloud infrastructure (2024)
—
Global Market Share (Cloud IaaS)(%)
32%
—
Cloud Market Share(percent)
32% of public cloud (2024)
21% of top 10K websites (not IaaS competitor)
Show 1 more attribute
Paying Customers(thousands)
265,000+
—
Total Available Services(services)
200+
—
ML/AI Service Innovation Rating(score)
8/10
—
Hybrid Cloud Support Level(capability)
Moderate (Outposts)
—
SQL Server Database Support(text)
RDS for SQL Server (third-party)
—
Windows/Active Directory Integration(native score)
4/10
—
Developer Community Size(developers)
Largest
—
Premium Support Response Time(hours)
1 hour (Business Support)
—
Customer Support Response(rating)
Community & documentation
—
Customer Support Availability
24/7 community + paid support
—
Enterprise Support Response SLA(minutes)
15 minutes (Enterprise)
—
Container/Kubernetes Strength(native integration)
Strong (ECS/EKS)
—
BigQuery-Grade Analytics(capability)
Via Athena/Redshift
—
Supported Cloud Providers(count)
AWS only
—
Available Services/Integrations(count)
190+ native services
—
Total Cloud Services(count)
200+
—
Time to Provision Standard EC2 Instance(seconds)
30-45 (via Console/CLI)
—
Average Cold Start Latency(milliseconds)
125ms (Lambda standard)
—
Lambda/Serverless Cold Start Latency(milliseconds)
100-3000
—
Typical Edge Response Time(milliseconds)
~80ms (median global)
~30ms (median global)
Average Global Latency(milliseconds)
50-150ms
30-60ms
Show 11 more attributes
Performance Optimization Score(out of 5)
Industry standard
—
Countries Covered(countries)
100+ countries
—
Global Data Centers/CDN Nodes(count)
310+ globally
—
Average Page Load Speed Improvement(percent)
73%
—
Average DNS Query Response Time(milliseconds)
23ms (fastest DNS globally)
—
Global CDN Edge Locations(count)
300+ across 100+ countries
—
DNS Query Response Time (Global Average)(milliseconds)
~65-85ms
—
CDN Edge Locations(count)
275+
—
Average Page Load Time Improvement(percent)
37% average
—
Next.js Build Optimization(% faster)
Not optimized
—
Global Website Speed Improvement (Average)(%)
30-35%
—
GitHub Integration for IaC(native support)
AWS CloudFormation requires manual GitHub setup
—
Built-in CI/CD Pipeline(included)
No, requires CodePipeline ($0.02/active pipeline)
—
Service Count(services)
200+
—
Number of Available Services/Products(count)
200+
—
Available Services/Features(count)
200+ services
15-20 core services
ML Training Setup Time(hours)
8-12 hours (SageMaker)
—
Kubernetes Integration Complexity(manual steps)
18-25 steps (EKS setup)
—
Minimum Setup Time(minutes)
120 minutes
—
Supported Programming Languages for IaC(languages)
3 languages (YAML, JSON, TypeScript/Python/Java via CDK)
—
Developer Tool Specialization(level)
Comprehensive and standardized
—
Show 3 more attributes
Time to First Deploy(minutes)
5-10 (DNS propagation)
—
API Rate Limit (Free)(requests/minute)
120
—
API-First Architecture
Native REST + GraphQL APIs
—
BigQuery Query Latency(seconds)
15-30 seconds (Athena, 1TB scan)
—
Enterprise Support Annual Cost(USD)
$15,000
—
Available Cloud Services/Products(count)
200+
—
AI/ML Service Availability(availability)
SageMaker, Bedrock, Forecast, Lookout, Kendra
—
Built-in Database Support(count)
8+ (RDS, DynamoDB, Aurora, ElastiCache, Neptune, DocumentDB, Keyspaces, Timestream)
—
DNS Provider Flexibility(compatibility)
Cloudflare DNS primary
—
Integrated Security Services(count)
DDoS, threat intelligence, WARP, Magic
—
Show 4 more attributes
Edge Computing
Cloudflare Workers (lightweight functions)
—
Domain Registration Included
No (requires external provider)
—
Serverless Computing (Edge Workers)
Cloudflare Workers - included
—
Backend Function Support
Cloudflare Workers (full serverless)
—
Setup Time to First Deploy(minutes)
45-60 (configure VPC, IAM, EC2, security groups)
—
Estimated Learning Time for New Developer(hours)
80-100 hours
—
Setup Time (Minutes)(minutes)
120+ minutes (full configuration)
5 minutes (DNS change)
Setup Time(minutes)
30-60+ minutes (account setup, IAM, networking)
5 minutes via DNS change
Average Learning Curve(weeks to productivity)
8-12 weeks
—
Show 2 more attributes
Setup Time (minutes)(minutes)
30-60 minutes
—
Setup Time (Average)(minutes)
10-15 minutes
—
SLA Uptime Guarantee(%)
99.99% (us-east-1 region)
—
Uptime SLA Guarantee(percent)
99.99%
99.95%
Concurrent Connections per Instance(requests/second)
50,000+ (t3.large EC2)
—
Maximum RAM per Instance(GB)
24,576
—
Maximum Concurrent Users Supported(users)
Unlimited (CDN-based)
—
GitHub Stars(stars)
N/A (not a single GitHub repo)
—
Multi-Cloud Support(cloud providers)
AWS only
—
Available Services/Resources(services)
200+ AWS-specific services (largest portfolio in cloud)
—
AWS Regions/Availability Zones(regions)
33+ geographic regions with 105+ availability zones
—
Certified Professionals(people)
1M+ AWS Certified professionals
—
Global Regions Available(regions)
32 regions
—
Global Edge Locations(cities)
105+ zones across 33 regions
275+ edge locations
Available Services(services)
200+ services
25+ core services
DDoS Protection Included
No (Shield Advanced: $3,000/month)
Yes, all plans
Maximum DDoS Mitigation Capacity(Tbps)
~700 Gbps (AWS Shield Advanced)
150 Tbps (Pro plan)
Basic DDoS Protection Included
Layer 3/4 only (Advanced costs $3,000+/mo)
Full DDoS protection included
Security Threat Blocking(billion/annually)
230+ billion threats blocked
—
DDoS Threats Blocked Annually(billions)
230
—
Show 15 more attributes
Annual Threats Blocked(billions)
230 billion threats (2026)
—
WAF Included
Yes, included in plans
—
DDoS Protection(availability)
Unlimited on all plans
—
Automatic DDoS Protection
Included on all plans
—
DDoS Protection Capacity(Tbps)
121 Tbps network capacity
—
DDoS Mitigation Capacity (Included)(Terabits per second)
3.2 Tbps
—
DDoS Protection Tier
Advanced (free tier + enterprise)
—
SSL/TLS Certificates
Free Universal SSL all plans
—
DDoS Mitigation Capacity(Tbps)
71+ Tbps
—
WAF Managed Rules(rules)
50+
—
DDoS Protection on Free Plan
Yes, included
—
WAF Included at Entry Level
Yes ($20/month plan)
—
DDoS Protection (Free Plan)
L3/L4 included
—
SSL Certificate Cost(USD/year)
$0 (included)
—
WAF (Web Application Firewall)(availability)
Yes (Pro plan+)
—
Dedicated Database Services(services)
15+ (RDS, DynamoDB, Redshift, etc.)
1 (Cloudflare D1 beta)
Managed Database Services(count)
1 (D1 SQLite)
—
Fortune 500 Adoption Rate(percent)
~75%
—
Machine Learning Service Maturity(years)
SageMaker (launched 2017)
—
Time to First Deployment(minutes)
120-240 minutes
—
Number of Integrated Services(services)
200+ services
—
Free Tier Database Storage(GB)
0.75GB RDS micro (750 hours/month)
—
Cost at 1 Million Daily Active Users(USD per month)
$3,000-8,000 (optimized EC2 + RDS)
—
Database Query Flexibility(complexity level)
Extensive—full SQL, custom queries, advanced analytics
—
Developer Adoption Rate(% of cloud developers)
32% of developers use AWS
—
User Interface Complexity(learning hours (estimate))
Developer-focused
—
Ideal for Enterprise Scale(rating)
Excellent for enterprise
—
Customer Satisfaction Rating(percent)
4.5 stars
—
Review Count(number of reviews)
476 reviews
—
Fortune 500 Adoption(%)
30%
—
AI Integration Commitment(percentage of customers)
74% planning to expand
—
Customer Satisfaction(stars)
4.5 stars
—
Annual Revenue Growth (YoY)(percent)
31% (Q3 2025: $562M)
—
Net Income Achievement(million USD)
Growing (not disclosed)
—
2026 Projected Operating Profit(million USD)
Not specified
—
AI/ML Integration
Workers Bindings, multimodal models, AI agents
—
Pricing Entry Point
Free tier + affordable paid plans
—
Countries with Presence(countries)
200+
—
Organizations Planning AI Integration(percentage)
74%
—
AWS Service Integration
Limited; requires manual configuration
—
AWS Integration
Limited, requires manual configuration
—
Setup Complexity(complexity score)
Simple DNS-based setup
—
Web Hosting Storage (Base Plan)(GB)
Not applicable
—
Supported Programming Languages (Workers/Serverless)(languages)
JavaScript/TypeScript, Rust, C, C++ (WebAssembly)
—
Free Plan Tier
Yes - full CDN, DNS, DDoS protection
—
Zero Trust Architecture (Native)(level)
Partial (requires Access addon)
—
Average Deployment Time(minutes)
5-15 minutes
—
Machine Learning Services
Workers AI (beta), limited models
—
Serverless Function Cost (1M executions/month)(USD)
$1.50 (Workers)
—
Kubernetes Support
Not offered (Kubernetes at edge via Workers)
—
Pros & Cons
10 pros·6 cons across both
AW
AW
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
+5-3
Pros
- 200+ services enabling end-to-end cloud solutions (EC2, S3, RDS, Lambda, SageMaker)
- Largest market share (32%) with proven enterprise reliability and longest operational track record
- Advanced ML/AI services (SageMaker, Bedrock) with pre-trained models and custom training
- 99.99% SLA uptime guarantee across 33 global regions with 105+ availability zones
- Deepest compliance certifications (SOC 2, PCI-DSS, HIPAA, FedRAMP, ISO 27001)
Cons
- Steeper learning curve with complex pricing across 200+ services; bill shock common for beginners
- High per-service costs compared to competitors; requires active optimization and reserved instances to save 40-60%
- Basic DDoS protection only; advanced protection requires AWS Shield Advanced at $3,000+/month
Cloudflare
+5-3
Pros
- Largest edge network globally: 275+ cities, 200+ countries with average 30-60ms latency worldwide
- DDoS protection and WAF (Web Application Firewall) included in all plans, starting at $20/month
- Simple, transparent pricing with fixed tiers; no bill shock or surprise usage costs
- Workers edge computing enables serverless functions at 275+ edge locations without managing servers
- Easy 5-minute setup via DNS change; seamless integration with any existing infrastructure (AWS, GCP, on-premises)
Cons
- Limited to edge/CDN use cases; cannot replace AWS for databases, VMs, storage, or ML workloads
- Smaller ecosystem; 15-20 core services vs AWS's 200+; integration with legacy systems less mature
- Advanced features require higher-tier plans; some security rules only available at Business+ ($200+/month)
Frequently Asked Questions
5 questions
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.
Resources & Learn More
Curated sources to dive deeper
Where to Buy
As an affiliate, we may earn a commission from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you. Learn more about our affiliate disclosure
Wikipedia
- W
Amazon Web Services (AWS) on Wikipedia (opens in new tab)
Comprehensive cloud infrastructure platform with 200+ services for enterprise and scalable applications
- W
Cloudflare on Wikipedia (opens in new tab)
Global CDN and edge computing platform focused on performance, security, DDoS protection, and API acceleration.
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