software
Cloudflare vs CloudFront 2026 - CDN & Security
Cloudflare is a standalone CDN and security platform with competitive pricing starting at $20/month, while AWS CloudFront is tightly integrated with AWS services and charges per GB transferred with no minimum fee. Cloudflare excels for independent websites seeking simplicity, while CloudFront wins for enterprises already in the AWS ecosystem.
Cloudflare
Global CDN and DNS provider specializing in security, DDoS protection, and performance optimization.
SaaS companies, e-commerce sites, startups, and websites seeking DDoS protection and security without AWS vendor lock-in
Score71%
VS
AC
AWS CloudFront
AWS's native CDN service tightly integrated with EC2, Lambda, S3, and other AWS services
Enterprises using AWS infrastructure, video streaming providers, real-time applications, and organizations with high data transfer volumes
Score71%
Quick Answer
AI SummaryCloudflare is a standalone CDN and security platform with competitive pricing starting at $20/month, while AWS CloudFront is tightly integrated with AWS services and charges per GB transferred with no minimum fee. Cloudflare excels for independent websites seeking simplicity, while CloudFront wins for enterprises already in the AWS ecosystem.
Our Verdict
AI-assistedChoose Cloudflare if you need predictable monthly costs, built-in DDoS/WAF protection, and want a platform independent of AWS. Choose CloudFront if you're already operating within AWS with heavy data transfer needs, require maximum global latency performance, or need tight integration with Lambda@Edge and other AWS services.
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Cloudflare
6.4/10
AWS CloudFront
8.6/10
A
Choose Cloudflare if
SaaS companies, e-commerce sites, startups, and websites seeking DDoS protection and security without AWS vendor lock-in
A
Choose AWS CloudFront if
Best pickEnterprises using AWS infrastructure, video streaming providers, real-time applications, and organizations with high data transfer volumes
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Key Differences at a Glance
- Pricing Model:✓ Cloudflare wins(Fixed plans from $20/month + per-request overage vs Pay-per-GB ($0.085/GB US) + data transfer fees)
- DDoS Protection Included:✓ Cloudflare wins(All plans include unlimited DDoS mitigation vs Requires AWS Shield Standard (free) or Shield Advanced ($3,000/month))
- WAF Features:✓ Cloudflare wins(Advanced WAF in Pro plan ($200/month) vs AWS WAF separate service at $5 per rule group/month + request fees)
Key Facts & Figures
78 numeric metrics compared
| Metric | Cloudflare | AWS CloudFront | Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|
| .com Domain Registration Price(USD/year) | $10.20 | — | — |
| Annual Savings (100 domain portfolio)(USD) | $130+ | — | — |
| Integrated Security Services(count) | DDoS, threat intelligence, WARP, Magic | — | — |
| .com Renewal Price(USD/year) | $10.20 (at-cost) | — | — |
| Customer Satisfaction Rating(out of 5 stars) | 4.5 stars | — | — |
| Review Count(number of reviews) | 476 reviews | — | — |
| Countries with Presence(countries) | 200+ | — | — |
| DDoS Threats Blocked Annually(billions) | 230 | — | — |
| Regional Edge Caches(count) | 0 | — | — |
| Organizations Planning AI Integration(percentage) | 74% | — | — |
| Countries Covered(count) | 100+ countries | — | — |
| Annual Threats Blocked(billions) | 230 billion threats (2026) | — | — |
| Starting Price (Monthly)(USD) | Free tier available | — | — |
| Global Data Centers/CDN Nodes(count) | 310+ globally | — | — |
| Average Page Load Speed Improvement(percent) | 73% | — | — |
| Setup Time (minutes)(minutes) | 30-60 minutes | — | — |
| Free Tier Monthly Requests(requests) | 3.8M requests/month | — | — |
| DDoS Protection Capacity(Tbps) | 3.2 Tbps (free tier) | — | — |
| Pro Plan Monthly Price(USD) | $20/month Pro plan | — | — |
| Average DNS Query Response Time(milliseconds) | 23ms (fastest DNS globally) | — | — |
| Supported Programming Languages (Workers/Serverless)(languages) | JavaScript/TypeScript, Rust, C, C++ (WebAssembly) | — | — |
| Enterprise Support Response SLA(minutes) | 15 minutes (Enterprise) | — | — |
| .com Domain First Year Cost(USD) | $9.00 | — | — |
| .com Domain Renewal Cost(USD) | $12.00 | — | — |
| Global CDN Edge Locations(locations) | 300+ across 100+ countries | — | — |
| DNS Query Response Time (Global Average)(milliseconds) | ~65-85ms | — | — |
| DDoS Mitigation Capacity (Included)(Terabits per second) | 3.2 Tbps | — | — |
| CDN Edge Locations(count) | 275+ | — | — |
| Average Page Load Time Improvement(percent) | 37% average | — | — |
| DDoS Mitigation Capacity(Tbps) | 71 Tbps | — | — |
| WAF Managed Rules(rules) | 50+ | — | — |
| Setup Time (Average)(hours) | 10-15 minutes | — | — |
| Pro Plan Monthly Cost(USD/month per user) | $20 | — | — |
| Next.js Build Optimization(% faster) | Not optimized | — | — |
| Time to First Deploy(minutes) | 5-10 (DNS propagation) | — | — |
| API Rate Limit (Free)(requests per minute) | 120 | — | — |
| Available Services(count) | 25+ core services | — | — |
| Starting Monthly Cost(USD) | $20 (Pro plan) | — | — |
| Setup Time (Minutes)(minutes) | 5 minutes (DNS change) | — | — |
| Dedicated Database Services(services) | 1 (Cloudflare D1 beta) | — | — |
| Typical Edge Response Time(milliseconds) | ~30ms (median global) | — | — |
| Entry-Level Monthly Price(USD) | $20 | — | — |
| Maximum DDoS Mitigation Capacity(Tbps) | 150 Tbps (Pro plan) | — | — |
| Average Deployment Time(seconds) | 5-15 minutes | — | — |
| Minimum Monthly Cost (Production Setup)(USD) | $20 (Pro plan) | — | — |
| Managed Database Services(count) | 1 (D1 SQLite) | — | — |
| Serverless Function Cost (1M executions/month)(USD) | $1.50 (Workers) | — | — |
| CDN Edge Locations(locations) | 300+ | — | — |
| Global Website Speed Improvement (Average)(%) | 30-35% | — | — |
| Free Tier Cost(USD/month) | $0/month | — | — |
| SSL Certificate Cost(USD/year) | $0 (included) | — | — |
| Available Services/Features(count) | 15-20 core services | — | — |
| Average Global Latency(milliseconds) | 30-60ms | — | — |
| Starting Monthly Price(USD/month) | Fixed plans from $20/month | — | — |
| Uptime SLA Guarantee(percent) | 99.99% | — | — |
| Cloud Market Share(percentage) | 21% of top 10K websites (not IaaS competitor) | — | — |
| Entry-Level Pricing(USD/month) | $20 (Pro plan) | — | — |
| Average Edge Response Time(milliseconds) | 56ms global average | — | — |
| Platform Uptime SLA(percent) | 99.99% | — | — |
| Base Monthly Cost (Starter Tier)(USD) | $20/month | Free tier, then pay-per-use | |
| Data Transfer Cost at 100GB/month(USD) | $20 fixed (Pro plan) | $8.50 transfer cost + data fees | |
| Global Edge Locations(count) | 275+ data centers | 500+ edge locations | |
| Average Latency (US-West to Origin)(milliseconds) | ~75ms median | ~55ms median | |
| DDoS Protection Cost (Standalone)(USD/month) | Included (all plans) | Shield Advanced $3,000 | |
| WAF Monthly Cost (Enterprise Features)(USD/month) | $200 (Pro plan) | AWS WAF from $5/rule + requests | |
| Global Data Center Locations(locations) | 300+ edge cities | — | — |
| Average Latency to End Users(ms) | <50ms (99% of internet users) | — | — |
| AI/ML Model Count Available(models) | Limited; Workers AI in beta with emerging model support | — | — |
| Setup Time for Basic Deployment(minutes) | 5-15 minutes (DNS change + proxy setup) | — | — |
| Cloudflare Market Valuation (2025)(USD Billion) | $34.2 billion (as of March 2025) | — | — |
| Supported Programming Languages(languages) | 10+ languages via Workers (JavaScript, Rust, Python, Go, etc.) | — | — |
| Setup Complexity (1-10 scale)(complexity score) | 3/10 (DNS change only) | 4/10 (requires AWS console) | |
| Starting Price (Monthly)(USD) | $20 | — | — |
| Real-Time Log Streaming Latency(seconds) | Up to 30 seconds | — | — |
| Cheapest Domain Registration Price (annual)(USD) | $12.99 (via partner registrar) | — | — |
| Free Tier Monthly Cost(USD) | $0 | — | — |
| Global Data Centers(count) | 200+ data centers | — | — |
| Pro Plan Monthly Cost (entry-level paid)(USD) | $20/month (Pro plan) | — | — |
Sourced from publicly available data ·
Key Differences
7 attributes compared head-to-head
Cloudflare leads
AC
3AWS CloudFrontCloudflare
Attribute
AWS CloudFront
- Fixed plans from $20/month + per-request overage(winner)Pricing ModelPay-per-GB ($0.085/GB US) + data transfer fees
- All plans include unlimited DDoS mitigation(winner)DDoS Protection IncludedRequires AWS Shield Standard (free) or Shield Advanced ($3,000/month)
- Advanced WAF in Pro plan ($200/month)(winner)WAF FeaturesAWS WAF separate service at $5 per rule group/month + request fees
- 300+ data centers in 100+ countriesGlobal Edge Nodes500+ edge locations globally(winner)
- ~60-80ms medianAverage Latency (US-EU)~50-70ms median(winner)
- Limited; basic S3 origin supportAWS IntegrationNative integration with ALB, ELB, S3, Lambda, API Gateway(winner)
- 15-30 minutes (DNS change)(winner)Setup Time5-10 minutes (if already on AWS)
- Pricing Model
Cloudflare
Fixed plans from $20/month + per-request overage(winner)
AWS CloudFront
Pay-per-GB ($0.085/GB US) + data transfer fees
- DDoS Protection Included
Cloudflare
All plans include unlimited DDoS mitigation(winner)
AWS CloudFront
Requires AWS Shield Standard (free) or Shield Advanced ($3,000/month)
- WAF Features
Cloudflare
Advanced WAF in Pro plan ($200/month)(winner)
AWS CloudFront
AWS WAF separate service at $5 per rule group/month + request fees
- Global Edge Nodes
Cloudflare
300+ data centers in 100+ countries
AWS CloudFront
500+ edge locations globally(winner)
- Average Latency (US-EU)
Cloudflare
~60-80ms median
AWS CloudFront
~50-70ms median(winner)
- AWS Integration
Cloudflare
Limited; basic S3 origin support
AWS CloudFront
Native integration with ALB, ELB, S3, Lambda, API Gateway(winner)
- Setup Time
Cloudflare
15-30 minutes (DNS change)(winner)
AWS CloudFront
5-10 minutes (if already on AWS)
Full Comparison
| Attribute | Cloudflare | AWS CloudFront |
|---|---|---|
| .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 | — |
Show 33 more attributesPricing 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/month per user) $20 — Free Tier Bandwidth Limit(GB/month) Unlimited — Starting Monthly Cost(USD) $20 (Pro plan) — 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 — Free Tier Cost(USD/month) $0/month — .com Domain First-Year Price(USD) N/A (not a registrar) — .com Domain Renewal Price(USD/year) N/A (not a registrar) — Starting Monthly Price(USD/month) Fixed plans from $20/month — Entry-Level Pricing(USD/month) $20 (Pro plan) — Base Monthly Cost (Starter Tier)(USD) $20/month Free tier, then pay-per-use Data Transfer Cost at 100GB/month(USD) $20 fixed (Pro plan) $8.50 transfer cost + data fees Free Tier Availability(text) Generous free tier ($0; includes basic CDN, DDoS, SSL/TLS) — Starting Price (Monthly)(USD) $20 — Cheapest Domain Registration Price (annual)(USD) $12.99 (via partner registrar) — Free Tier Monthly Cost(USD) $0 — Pro Plan Monthly Cost (entry-level paid)(USD) $20/month (Pro plan) — | ||
| User Interface Complexity(learning hours (estimate)) | Developer-focused | — |
| Setup Complexity(scale (1=easiest)) | Simple DNS-based setup | — |
| Setup Complexity (1-10 scale)(complexity score) | 3/10 (DNS change only)(winner) | 4/10 (requires AWS console) |
| DNS Provider Flexibility(compatibility) | Cloudflare DNS primary | — |
| Integrated Security Services(count) | DDoS, threat intelligence, WARP, Magic | — |
| Edge Computing | Cloudflare Workers (lightweight functions) | — |
| Domain Registration Included | No (requires external provider) | — |
| Serverless Computing (Edge Workers) | Cloudflare Workers - included | — |
Show 4 more attributesBackend Function Support Cloudflare Workers (full serverless) — Available Services(count) 25+ core services — Lambda@Edge / Serverless Edge Support(capability) Limited (Cloudflare Workers, separate cost) Native Lambda@Edge, $0.60/million requests Email Hosting Included(boolean) No — | ||
| Customer Support Response(rating) | Community & documentation | — |
| Customer Support Availability | 24/7 community + paid support | — |
| Enterprise Support Response SLA(minutes) | 15 minutes (Enterprise) | — |
| Ideal for Enterprise Scale(rating) | Excellent for enterprise | — |
| Customer Satisfaction Rating(out of 5 stars) | 4.5 stars | — |
| Customer Satisfaction(stars) | 4.5 stars | — |
| Review Count(number of reviews) | 476 reviews | — |
| Fortune 500 Adoption(%) | 30% | — |
| Performance Optimization Score(out of 5) | Industry standard | — |
| 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(locations) | 300+ across 100+ countries | — |
Show 13 more attributesDNS 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 — Typical Edge Response Time(milliseconds) ~30ms (median global) — Average Deployment Time(seconds) 5-15 minutes — Global Website Speed Improvement (Average)(%) 30-35% — Average Global Latency(milliseconds) 30-60ms — Average Edge Response Time(milliseconds) 56ms global average — Average Latency (US-West to Origin)(milliseconds) ~75ms median ~55ms median Average Latency to End Users(ms) <50ms (99% of internet users) — Real-Time Log Streaming Latency(seconds) Up to 30 seconds — Cache Purge Speed(milliseconds) Eventual consistency (varies) — | ||
| AI Integration Commitment(percentage of customers) | 74% planning to expand | — |
| Developer Tool Specialization(level) | Comprehensive and standardized | — |
| Time to First Deploy(minutes) | 5-10 (DNS propagation) | — |
| API-First Architecture | Native REST + GraphQL APIs | — |
| Edge Computing Language(text) | JavaScript/WebAssembly (Workers) | — |
| Global Network Coverage(level) | Superior and broader distribution | — |
| Regional Edge Caches(count) | 0 | — |
| CDN Edge Locations(locations) | 300+ | — |
| Global Edge Locations(count) | 275+ data centers | 500+ edge locations(winner) |
| Global Data Center Locations(locations) | 300+ edge cities | — |
Show 1 more attributeGlobal Data Centers(count) 200+ data centers — | ||
| Paying Customers(thousands) | 265,000+ | — |
| Cloud Market Share(percentage) | 21% of top 10K websites (not IaaS competitor) | — |
| 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 | — |
| Security Threat Blocking(billion/annually) | 230+ billion threats blocked | — |
| DDoS Threats Blocked Annually(billions) | 230 | — |
| Annual Threats Blocked(billions) | 230 billion threats (2026) | — |
| WAF Included | Yes, included in plans | — |
| DDoS Protection(availability) | Unlimited on all plans | — |
Show 21 more attributesAutomatic DDoS Protection Included on all plans — DDoS Protection Capacity(Tbps) 3.2 Tbps (free tier) — 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 — DDoS Protection Included Yes, all plans — Maximum DDoS Mitigation Capacity(Tbps) 150 Tbps (Pro plan) — 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+) — Basic DDoS Protection Included Full DDoS protection included — Advanced DLP Policies(pre-built policies) Basic content filtering — DDoS Protection Cost (Standalone)(USD/month) Included (all plans) Shield Advanced $3,000 WAF Monthly Cost (Enterprise Features)(USD/month) $200 (Pro plan) AWS WAF from $5/rule + requests DDoS Protection Base Tier(text) Included in all plans — WAF Rules Update Frequency(text) Automated daily updates — Free SSL Certificate(boolean) Included (free tier) — | ||
| 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 | — |
| Countries Covered(count) | 100+ countries | — |
| Web Hosting Storage (Base Plan)(GB) | Not applicable | — |
| Setup Time (minutes)(minutes) | 30-60 minutes | — |
| Setup Time (Minutes)(minutes) | 5 minutes (DNS change) | — |
| Setup Time for Basic Deployment(minutes) | 5-15 minutes (DNS change + proxy setup) | — |
| Supported Programming Languages (Workers/Serverless)(languages) | JavaScript/TypeScript, Rust, C, C++ (WebAssembly) | — |
| Free Plan Tier | Yes - full CDN, DNS, DDoS protection | — |
| Maximum Concurrent Users Supported(users) | Unlimited (CDN-based) | — |
| Zero Trust Architecture (Native)(level) | Partial (requires Access addon) | — |
| Setup Time (Average)(hours) | 10-15 minutes | — |
| API Rate Limit (Free)(requests per minute) | 120 | — |
| Dedicated Database Services(services) | 1 (Cloudflare D1 beta) | — |
| Managed Database Services(count) | 1 (D1 SQLite) | — |
| Machine Learning Services(count) | Workers AI (beta), limited models | — |
| Serverless Function Cost (1M executions/month)(USD) | $1.50 (Workers) | — |
| Kubernetes Support | Not offered (Kubernetes at edge via Workers) | — |
| Available Services/Features(count) | 15-20 core services | — |
| Uptime SLA Guarantee(percent) | 99.99% | — |
| Platform Uptime SLA(percent) | 99.99% | — |
| Setup Time(minutes) | 5 minutes via DNS change | — |
| Zero Trust Native Architecture(maturity level) | Secondary feature | — |
| MDM Platform Integrations(integrations) | Limited support | — |
| AI/ML Model Count Available(models) | Limited; Workers AI in beta with emerging model support | — |
| Cloudflare Market Valuation (2025)(USD Billion) | $34.2 billion (as of March 2025) | — |
| Supported Programming Languages(languages) | 10+ languages via Workers (JavaScript, Rust, Python, Go, etc.) | — |
| API Rate Limit Configuration(text) | Automatic adaptive limiting | — |
CloudflareAAWS CloudFront
.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
—
Show 33 more attributes
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/month per user)
$20
—
Free Tier Bandwidth Limit(GB/month)
Unlimited
—
Starting Monthly Cost(USD)
$20 (Pro plan)
—
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
—
Free Tier Cost(USD/month)
$0/month
—
.com Domain First-Year Price(USD)
N/A (not a registrar)
—
.com Domain Renewal Price(USD/year)
N/A (not a registrar)
—
Starting Monthly Price(USD/month)
Fixed plans from $20/month
—
Entry-Level Pricing(USD/month)
$20 (Pro plan)
—
Base Monthly Cost (Starter Tier)(USD)
$20/month
Free tier, then pay-per-use
Data Transfer Cost at 100GB/month(USD)
$20 fixed (Pro plan)
$8.50 transfer cost + data fees
Free Tier Availability(text)
Generous free tier ($0; includes basic CDN, DDoS, SSL/TLS)
—
Starting Price (Monthly)(USD)
$20
—
Cheapest Domain Registration Price (annual)(USD)
$12.99 (via partner registrar)
—
Free Tier Monthly Cost(USD)
$0
—
Pro Plan Monthly Cost (entry-level paid)(USD)
$20/month (Pro plan)
—
User Interface Complexity(learning hours (estimate))
Developer-focused
—
Setup Complexity(scale (1=easiest))
Simple DNS-based setup
—
Setup Complexity (1-10 scale)(complexity score)
3/10 (DNS change only)
4/10 (requires AWS console)
DNS Provider Flexibility(compatibility)
Cloudflare DNS primary
—
Integrated Security Services(count)
DDoS, threat intelligence, WARP, Magic
—
Edge Computing
Cloudflare Workers (lightweight functions)
—
Domain Registration Included
No (requires external provider)
—
Serverless Computing (Edge Workers)
Cloudflare Workers - included
—
Show 4 more attributes
Backend Function Support
Cloudflare Workers (full serverless)
—
Available Services(count)
25+ core services
—
Lambda@Edge / Serverless Edge Support(capability)
Limited (Cloudflare Workers, separate cost)
Native Lambda@Edge, $0.60/million requests
Email Hosting Included(boolean)
No
—
Customer Support Response(rating)
Community & documentation
—
Customer Support Availability
24/7 community + paid support
—
Enterprise Support Response SLA(minutes)
15 minutes (Enterprise)
—
Ideal for Enterprise Scale(rating)
Excellent for enterprise
—
Customer Satisfaction Rating(out of 5 stars)
4.5 stars
—
Customer Satisfaction(stars)
4.5 stars
—
Review Count(number of reviews)
476 reviews
—
Fortune 500 Adoption(%)
30%
—
Performance Optimization Score(out of 5)
Industry standard
—
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(locations)
300+ across 100+ countries
—
Show 13 more attributes
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
—
Typical Edge Response Time(milliseconds)
~30ms (median global)
—
Average Deployment Time(seconds)
5-15 minutes
—
Global Website Speed Improvement (Average)(%)
30-35%
—
Average Global Latency(milliseconds)
30-60ms
—
Average Edge Response Time(milliseconds)
56ms global average
—
Average Latency (US-West to Origin)(milliseconds)
~75ms median
~55ms median
Average Latency to End Users(ms)
<50ms (99% of internet users)
—
Real-Time Log Streaming Latency(seconds)
Up to 30 seconds
—
Cache Purge Speed(milliseconds)
Eventual consistency (varies)
—
AI Integration Commitment(percentage of customers)
74% planning to expand
—
Developer Tool Specialization(level)
Comprehensive and standardized
—
Time to First Deploy(minutes)
5-10 (DNS propagation)
—
API-First Architecture
Native REST + GraphQL APIs
—
Edge Computing Language(text)
JavaScript/WebAssembly (Workers)
—
Global Network Coverage(level)
Superior and broader distribution
—
Regional Edge Caches(count)
0
—
CDN Edge Locations(locations)
300+
—
Global Edge Locations(count)
275+ data centers
500+ edge locations
Global Data Center Locations(locations)
300+ edge cities
—
Show 1 more attribute
Global Data Centers(count)
200+ data centers
—
Paying Customers(thousands)
265,000+
—
Cloud Market Share(percentage)
21% of top 10K websites (not IaaS competitor)
—
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
—
Security Threat Blocking(billion/annually)
230+ billion threats blocked
—
DDoS Threats Blocked Annually(billions)
230
—
Annual Threats Blocked(billions)
230 billion threats (2026)
—
WAF Included
Yes, included in plans
—
DDoS Protection(availability)
Unlimited on all plans
—
Show 21 more attributes
Automatic DDoS Protection
Included on all plans
—
DDoS Protection Capacity(Tbps)
3.2 Tbps (free tier)
—
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
—
DDoS Protection Included
Yes, all plans
—
Maximum DDoS Mitigation Capacity(Tbps)
150 Tbps (Pro plan)
—
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+)
—
Basic DDoS Protection Included
Full DDoS protection included
—
Advanced DLP Policies(pre-built policies)
Basic content filtering
—
DDoS Protection Cost (Standalone)(USD/month)
Included (all plans)
Shield Advanced $3,000
WAF Monthly Cost (Enterprise Features)(USD/month)
$200 (Pro plan)
AWS WAF from $5/rule + requests
DDoS Protection Base Tier(text)
Included in all plans
—
WAF Rules Update Frequency(text)
Automated daily updates
—
Free SSL Certificate(boolean)
Included (free tier)
—
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
—
Countries Covered(count)
100+ countries
—
Web Hosting Storage (Base Plan)(GB)
Not applicable
—
Setup Time (minutes)(minutes)
30-60 minutes
—
Setup Time (Minutes)(minutes)
5 minutes (DNS change)
—
Setup Time for Basic Deployment(minutes)
5-15 minutes (DNS change + proxy setup)
—
Supported Programming Languages (Workers/Serverless)(languages)
JavaScript/TypeScript, Rust, C, C++ (WebAssembly)
—
Free Plan Tier
Yes - full CDN, DNS, DDoS protection
—
Maximum Concurrent Users Supported(users)
Unlimited (CDN-based)
—
Zero Trust Architecture (Native)(level)
Partial (requires Access addon)
—
Setup Time (Average)(hours)
10-15 minutes
—
API Rate Limit (Free)(requests per minute)
120
—
Dedicated Database Services(services)
1 (Cloudflare D1 beta)
—
Managed Database Services(count)
1 (D1 SQLite)
—
Machine Learning Services(count)
Workers AI (beta), limited models
—
Serverless Function Cost (1M executions/month)(USD)
$1.50 (Workers)
—
Kubernetes Support
Not offered (Kubernetes at edge via Workers)
—
Available Services/Features(count)
15-20 core services
—
Uptime SLA Guarantee(percent)
99.99%
—
Platform Uptime SLA(percent)
99.99%
—
Setup Time(minutes)
5 minutes via DNS change
—
Zero Trust Native Architecture(maturity level)
Secondary feature
—
MDM Platform Integrations(integrations)
Limited support
—
AI/ML Model Count Available(models)
Limited; Workers AI in beta with emerging model support
—
Cloudflare Market Valuation (2025)(USD Billion)
$34.2 billion (as of March 2025)
—
Supported Programming Languages(languages)
10+ languages via Workers (JavaScript, Rust, Python, Go, etc.)
—
API Rate Limit Configuration(text)
Automatic adaptive limiting
—
Pros & Cons
10 pros·4 cons across both
AC
Cloudflare
+5-2
Pros
- Unlimited DDoS mitigation included on all plans
- Predictable monthly billing from $20/month with no per-GB overage charges
- Advanced WAF, bot management, and rate limiting included in Pro+ plans
- Simple DNS-based setup requiring no code changes
- Strong performance in Europe and Asia-Pacific regions
Cons
- Fewer global edge locations (300+) vs CloudFront (500+) resulting in slightly higher latency
- Weaker native integration with non-web workloads and enterprise AWS services
AC
AWS CloudFront
+5-2
Pros
- 500+ edge locations with 30% lower latency in US markets vs Cloudflare
- Native Lambda@Edge support for serverless computing at the edge
- Seamless integration with S3, ALB, ELB, API Gateway, and AWS Shield
- Superior performance for AWS-native workloads and real-time streaming
- Consolidated AWS billing and IAM access control
Cons
- Pay-per-GB model ($0.085/GB minimum) results in unpredictable costs at scale without reserved capacity
- DDoS protection requires Shield Advanced at $3,000/month enterprise tier
Frequently Asked Questions
5 questions
Yes, Cloudflare fully supports AWS origins including S3, ALB, EC2, and API Gateway. However, you lose AWS Shield integration and must manage DDoS/WAF separately. AWS CloudFront is tightly integrated with AWS IAM, native Shield, and Lambda@Edge, making it simpler for AWS-native workloads.
Resources & Learn More
Curated sources to dive deeper
Where to Buy
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Wikipedia
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