What is Cloudflare?
Pros from reviewers
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Comprehensive security features: Cloudflare offers a wide range of security features, including CDN and DDOS protection, which function superbly. This allows companies to centralize their security needs
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Easy setup and integration: The process of setting up Cloudflare and adding a website is straightforward and intuitive. Cloudflare offers direct integrations with third-party providers like cPanel, making website addition as easy as a single click.
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Freemium model: Cloudflare offers a freemium model that allows users to distribute their services globally at a fraction of the cost. This model provides access to many features, from network and device security to WAFs, easy-to-use page rules, tunneling, and optimizations for delivery across the network
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User-friendly and customizable: Cloudflare is praised for its user-friendly interface and high customizability. It offers easy-to-use documentation and API, straightforward integration, and a strong user community. It also allows users to modify request and response headers
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Excellent free tier: Cloudflare's free tier is highly valued by users. It offers many advanced features even for free users, like DNSSEC in Cloudflare DNS, Cloudflare proxy, and 'I'm under attack' mode. Plus, Cloudflare optimizes the content of hosted websites by minifying codes, which makes websites much faster
Cons from reviewers
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Occasional false positives: The security features, while robust, can sometimes result in false positives, causing unnecessary alerts and potentially blocking legitimate traffic
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Limited SSL certificate options: The free and business plans do not allow users to bring their own SSL certificates, a basic and necessary feature for many businesses. To upload a custom SSL, users have to purchase an expensive enterprise plan
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Inconsistent support: While the support team is generally able to resolve issues, the response times can be slow and sometimes frustrating, especially when dealing with complex problems
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Unintuitive settings: Some settings are not in obvious locations, requiring users to conduct research and read documentation to locate them, which can be time-consuming
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Overly aggressive firewall: The firewall can sometimes be overly aggressive in filtering traffic, causing occasional user access issues. This can lead to a poor user experience and potential loss of traffic.
$250,000 in credits for 1 year on Cloudflare
Get $250,000 in credits for 1 year on Cloudflare and up to $250,000 savings with Secret.
Main features
Starting Price
Free Plan
Increase the performance of websites and applications
Give your developers a platform
Get Zero Trust Services
Choose a modern infrastructure
Load balancing and traffic management
Starting Price
N/A
Free Plan
No
Increase the performance of websites and applications
Give your developers a platform
Get Zero Trust Services
Choose a modern infrastructure
Load balancing and traffic management
$250,000 in credits for 1 year on Cloudflare
Get $250,000 in credits for 1 year on Cloudflare and up to $250,000 savings with Secret.
How Cloudflare compare to similar software?
Product
Price
N/A
Free plan
No
Main features
Pros
Cons
Alternatives
Deal
$250,000 in credits for 1 year on Cloudflare
Save up to $250,000
Both platforms are categorized as tools for content delivery networks. Cloudflare enhances performance and offers protection for websites, APIs, and SaaS connected to networks. On the other hand, Akamai focuses on providing mobile, cloud, media, and security solutions across various platforms.
Cloudflare stands out from its competitors by offering more than just DDoS protection, including CDN and SSL/TLS. Thanks to its global network of servers it offers the fastest content delivery while enhancing website performance. For their advanced security measures, they also deploy machine learning algorithms to improve in almost real-time, helping to prevent cyber attacks. Individuals and small businesses may opt for Cloudflare thanks to its free option for low volume NA/EU traffic, but also thanks to its user friendly interface and overal ease of use.
Akamai focuses on delivering enterprise-level solutions, as one of the largest CDN providers in the field. Similar to Cloudflare it too...
Cloudflare
CDN for professionals
$250,000 in credits for 1 year on Cloudflare
Save up to $250,000
Akamai
Leverage Akamai's advanced network solutions
While Google Cloud and Cloudflare are both leading cloud service providers, understanding their key differences is crucial for making an informed choice for your business. The primary distinction lies in their core focus and use cases.
Google Cloud is a comprehensive cloud computing platform that offers a wide range of services, including virtual machines, container orchestration, data analytics, AI and machine learning tools, and a global network infrastructure. It is designed to support complex, scalable applications and is particularly well-suited for businesses that require high-performance computing, large-scale data management, and seamless integration with other Google services like Google Workspace and BigQuery. Google Cloud is ideal for enterprises that need a robust, versatile cloud solution capable of handling diverse workloads across various industries.
In contrast, Cloudflare specializes in web performance, security, and content delivery network (CDN) services. While it...
Cloudflare
CDN for professionals
$250,000 in credits for 1 year on Cloudflare
Save up to $250,000
Google Cloud (GCP)
Cloud services by Google
20-50% off your monthly spend and $500 in credits on Google Cloud (GCP)
Save up to $300,000
Both AWS CloudFront and CloudFlare will speed up your site. They’re good CDNs, and you won’t regret either choice, especially if you go for the free plan. That being said, we generally recommend CloudFlare to new users.
That’s because CloudFlare is much easier to use. AWS is fine too, but it’s complex. You can tailor its caching behaviours to your site’s size and needs. You can modify access controls, and in general you’ll have to do some work to optimize AWS for your business.
CloudFlare is smoother to setup. For example, you can access all of its DNS options by default. If you picked AWS CloudFront instead, you’d need to integrate with Amazon Route 53 to get the same DNS settings.
It’s also harder to update old sites with CloudFront. HTTP/2 is a new protocol for communication over networks, and both tools have it enabled by default. But CloudFlare makes it much easier to enable it for older sites.
CloudFlare is slightly better for security, too. While AWS CloudFront is secure as well,...
Cloudflare
CDN for professionals
$250,000 in credits for 1 year on Cloudflare
Save up to $250,000
AWS Activate
Amazon's cloud services platform
20-50% off your monthly spend and $2,000 in credits on AWS Activate
Save up to $300,000
Who is Cloudflare best for according to our reviewers?
Online Business Owners: These users find Cloudflare useful for storing additional data for their online businesses. They appreciate the support provided by the Cloudflare team in setting up the service, even if they find it initially confusing
IT Teams: These users find Cloudflare's freemium model beneficial, allowing them to distribute services globally at a fraction of the cost. They appreciate the range of features available, from network and device security to WAFs, easy-to-use page rules, and optimizations for delivery across the network
Website Owners: These users appreciate Cloudflare for its freemium plan and the value it offers. They find the process of setting up the CDN straightforward and the onboarding process and website addition simple and intuitive. They also appreciate the direct integrations with third-party providers like cPanel.
Web Security Managers: Responsible for managing web resource security, these users appreciate Cloudflare for its continuous enhancements and introduction of new features, allowing them to centralize their security needs. They particularly value the CDN and DDOS protection
DNS Managers: These users use Cloudflare for DNS management, WAF, and caching. They find it user-friendly and highly customizable, with easy-to-use documentation and API, and straightforward integration. They value its functionality, performance, and strong services expertise
$250,000 in credits for 1 year on Cloudflare
Get $250,000 in credits for 1 year on Cloudflare and up to $250,000 savings with Secret.
Cloudflare Reviews
4.5
Cloudflare rating
4.7
Ease of use
4.4
Customer service
4.6
Value for money
4.6
Likelihood to recommend
4.7
Features
26 Cloudflare Reviews
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Zachary
Cost-Effective Cloudflare: Reasonable Pricing for a Wide Range of Features
Lastly, the pricing plans offered by Cloudflare are very reasonable considering the wide range of features it offers. It has definitely been a cost-effective solution for me.
October 1, 2024
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Verity S
Top-tier Security and Content Delivery for Websites of All Sizes
I've been using Cloudflare for years and haven't run into any major issues. I'm generally happy with their products and services. They offer many advanced features even for free users, like DNSSEC in Cloudflare DNS, Cloudflare proxy, and 'I'm under attack' mode. Plus, Cloudflare optimizes the content of hosted websites by minifying codes, which makes websites much faster. However, Cloudflare's free and business plans don't let users bring their own SSL certificates, a basic and necessary feature. To upload a custom SSL, you have to buy an enterprise plan at a cost of $200/month, which is quite pricey. I switched to Cloudflare from keyCDN because keyCDN is only a content delivery network and doesn't offer all the features that Cloudflare does.
September 22, 2024
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Deborah E
Great for Businesses of All Sizes!
I think Cloudflare is excellent! Their free tier is incredibly good. I didn't have to pay for anything for nearly 2 years and only paid for some additional features, but all the essentials are free. However, nameservers need to be transferred to Cloudflare. I switched to Cloudflare because it has a really good free tier and I've heard many positive things about it.
September 15, 2024
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Janet Davis
Extremely Pleased with Cloudflare's Performance
I urgently implore your company to comply with U.S. federal law, as I have discovered that you are hosting a Chinese website containing over 1 cat abuse videos. Despite my previous reports and Cloudflare's refusal to take responsibility, it's vital to recognize that your ongoing service to this site aids a criminal organization involved in animal cruelty, minor abuse, fraud, and other crimes. Failure to remove these contents and report to U.S. authorities could lead to legal and criminal repercussions. The hosting of such content breaches the Animal Crush Video Prohibition Act and the PACT Act. Immediate action is needed to suspend these services and prevent further abuse.
September 9, 2024
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Mirabel G
Optimize Your Website's Security and Speed with Cloudflare
With the increasing threat of hacking and phishing scams, I discovered that I could secure my website with minimal effort and cost using Cloudflare. If your webhost lacks security, it's a no-brainer to sign up with Cloudflare for free. Setting up a website with Cloudflare is as simple as changing your website's nameservers and choosing your preferred level of security. The whole site transition can be done in less than an hour. The free plan is genuinely 100% free with no expiration. However, sometimes the firewall can be overly aggressive in filtering traffic, causing occasional user access issues. Another minor drawback is that while you can transfer your domain names to Cloudflare at a near-wholesale cost, you can't register new domains directly. I chose Cloudflare over Fastly because it provided everything I needed at no cost.
September 3, 2024
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Nicole Miller
Superb CDN Provider Offering a Generous Freemium Plan
Overall, my experience with Cloudflare has been extremely positive. I've been using it for so long that I haven't even considered looking for an alternative. I appreciate Cloudflare for several reasons, particularly their freemium plan which offers so much value that it almost seems too good to be true. I'm impressed with their service and network. The process of setting up the CDN is straightforward, and the onboarding process and website addition are simple and intuitive. Over the years, they've only improved their service. They offer direct integrations with third-party providers like cPanel, making website addition as easy as a single click. While their support response times haven't been the fastest, I'm willing to give them some leeway considering the COVID situation. The main reasons I switched to Cloudflare were the pricing and the existing third-party integrations.
August 27, 2024
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Isabella M
Responsive and Helpful: A Review of Cloudflare's Customer Support
I have found Cloudflare's customer support to be very responsive and helpful. They have always provided me with prompt solutions to my queries
August 18, 2024
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Carolyn D
Excellent CDN and Affordable Domain Registrar.
I am upset that Cloudflare continues to host Chinese websites featuring disturbing cat abuse videos, falsely labeled as loving cats. Cloudflare has made no effort to remove these sites, which is a violation of the Animal Crush Video Prohibition Act and the PACT Act in the US. I demand immediate action to suspend these services and prevent further abuse. I will revise my review once Cloudflare addresses this issue.
August 13, 2024
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David Brown
Insightful Analytics with Cloudflare
The analytics provided by Cloudflare are detailed and insightful. They have helped me understand my website's traffic better and make informed decisions
August 4, 2024
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Amber F
Experiencing Cloudflare's Web Security Services: A User's Perspective
I am absolutely thrilled to be using Cloudflare's services! Their commitment to providing top-notch web security is truly commendable. I've noticed that they host a wide range of websites, including some from China, which is a testament to their global reach. However, I did come across a site that seemed to contain inappropriate content. I'm confident that Cloudflare, with its strong ethical stance, would never knowingly support such content. I've reported this to them and I'm eagerly awaiting their response. I'm sure they'll take the necessary steps to address this issue, in compliance with US federal laws such as the Animal Crush Video Ban Act and the PACT Act. I'm really looking forward to seeing how Cloudflare handles this situation. Their swift action will not only uphold their reputation but also prevent any potential misuse of their services. I'm positive that they'll continue to provide us with the secure and responsible service we've come to expect from them.
July 28, 2024
