Cloudflare
3 comparisons available
About Cloudflare
Cloudflare is a leading cloud connectivity and cybersecurity company founded in 2009 by Matthew Prince, Lee Holloway, and Michelle Zatlyn, headquartered in San Francisco. Cloudflare operates one of the world's largest global networks (spanning 310+ cities in 120+ countries), providing DDoS protection, CDN services, DNS resolution (1.1.1.1), Zero Trust security (SASE), and developer infrastructure (Workers, R2, D1, KV). As of 2024, Cloudflare protects approximately 20% of all websites globally and processes 4.2 trillion DNS requests daily. Its 1.1.1.1 DNS resolver is the world's fastest and most privacy-focused public DNS, with 200+ billion queries per day. Cloudflare went public on the NYSE in 2019 and generated approximately $1.6 billion in revenue in FY2023. The company's free tier is unusually generous — websites can use Cloudflare's CDN, DDoS protection, and basic security features at no cost, which has driven massive adoption. Cloudflare Workers (serverless compute at the edge) and R2 (object storage with no egress fees) are disrupting AWS Lambda and S3 for developers seeking lower latency and cost. The company's SASE platform (Cloudflare One) competes with Zscaler and Palo Alto Networks.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Cloudflare free?
Cloudflare offers a genuinely useful free tier: CDN (content delivery), DDoS mitigation, basic WAF rules, 1.1.1.1 DNS resolution, SSL/TLS certificates, and basic analytics — all at no cost. The free plan covers most small websites. Pro ($20/month) adds advanced WAF, mobile optimization, and image optimization. Business ($200/month) adds custom WAF rules, 100% SLA uptime, and priority support. Enterprise pricing is custom. R2 storage and Workers have generous free tiers too.
Cloudflare vs AWS CloudFront: which is better?
Cloudflare is generally better for: ease of setup (change DNS, done), cost (free tier is excellent, no egress fees on R2), DDoS protection by default, and developer experience with Workers. AWS CloudFront is better for: tight integration with other AWS services (S3, EC2, Lambda@Edge), enterprise SLAs with AWS support contracts, and existing AWS workloads. Many companies use both — Cloudflare for external protection/CDN, AWS for backend infrastructure.
What is Cloudflare Workers?
Cloudflare Workers is a serverless computing platform that runs JavaScript/TypeScript (and other languages via WebAssembly) at the edge — meaning your code runs in Cloudflare's 310+ data centers globally, typically within 50ms of end users. Workers is used for API endpoints, authentication middleware, A/B testing, image optimization, and server-side rendering. The free tier includes 100,000 requests/day. Workers is a compelling alternative to AWS Lambda for latency-sensitive edge computing workloads.
Top Alternatives to Cloudflare
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Zscaler
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