Cloudflare
Cloudflare, Inc. · Other
Cloudflare is a web security and performance platform that shields sites from DDoS attacks, speeds up content delivery, and lets developers run serverless code and AI models on a global edge network.
About Cloudflare
What Is Cloudflare
Cloudflare started in 2009 as a faster, safer way to put any site online. Today it sits in front of millions of web properties as a reverse proxy, so traffic passes through its network before it ever reaches your origin server. That single position lets it block attacks, cache content, and route visitors to the nearest data center.
The draw is simple: the foundational layer costs nothing. A free plan gives you a CDN, unmetered DDoS mitigation, a shared SSL certificate, and fast DNS. Small teams get enterprise-grade defense without a contract.
The limits matter too. The free tier is meant for personal and hobby projects, and the more useful controls sit behind paid plans. Developers who want to run code at the edge pay per request and CPU time, so a runaway loop can turn into a real bill.
Getting Started
- Sign up at dash.cloudflare.com and add your domain.
- Update your nameservers to the pair Cloudflare assigns you, which usually takes a few minutes to propagate.
- Turn on the features you need in the dashboard, such as caching rules, a WAF ruleset, or image optimization.
- Deploy a Worker or connect your origin, then watch live traffic in the analytics view.
Product Information
A quick look at Cloudflare's pricing, supported platforms, and performance.
Best for
The users, tasks, and scenarios where this tool fits best.
Users
- Website owners
- Web developers
- Security teams
Tasks
- Blocking DDoS attacks
- Speeding up global page loads
- Running code without servers
- Calling AI models
Scenarios
- Launching a side project on a tiny budget
- Protecting a store during a traffic spike
- Adding AI to a web app
Key features
Global Content Delivery Network
Cloudflare's CDN caches static and dynamic assets across a network that reaches 300 or more cities. Visitors get files from the nearest location, so a page loads fast no matter where someone signs in from. The free plan includes the CDN, which is the main reason smaller sites switch over.
Unmetered DDoS Protection
Every plan comes with always-on DDoS mitigation that scales with the size of an attack, which is how Cloudflare DDoS protection stays usable without a bandwidth cap. The network absorbs volumetric floods at the edge, so your origin server never sees the junk traffic. For a personal blog and a global store alike, that removes the single biggest reason a site goes dark.
Workers Serverless Runtime
Cloudflare Workers run your JavaScript, TypeScript, or Python code at the edge instead of a single region. Each request returns in milliseconds because it executes close to the user, and you pay per million requests and CPU time rather than for idle servers. It fits APIs, redirects, A/B tests, and lightweight backends, and it anchors the whole edge computing platform.
Workers AI Inference
Workers AI runs 50 or more open models on the same network, from text and chat to image and speech. You call a model with one API request and no GPU cluster to maintain. The free tier offers 10,000 neurons a day, and paid use costs $0.011 per thousand neurons.
Web Application Firewall
The WAF inspects incoming requests and blocks common exploits like SQL injection and cross-site scripting. You can add your own rules for rate limiting and geo blocking, with 70 rules on the free plan and more as you upgrade. It's the layer that turns a raw site into a defended one, and it rounds out the website security stack that starts with the CDN and DNS.
Zero Trust and Access Controls
Cloudflare One applies identity-based access to internal apps, so you stop exposing services to the open internet. Staff sign in through SSO, and you decide who reaches what. The free tier includes core network security products, which suits small teams without a VPN budget.
Pros and cons
Pros
- The free plan covers CDN, SSL, and DDoS protection, which is rare for a full-featured security service.
- The edge network spans 300 or more cities, so latency stays low for visitors far from your origin.
- Workers and Workers AI let you ship code and AI features without renting servers or GPUs.
- One dashboard handles DNS, security, caching, and access control for a whole domain.
- Both self-serve plans and a usage-based developer platform scale from a hobby site to an enterprise app.
Cons
- The most powerful controls, such as advanced bot mitigation and some security features, sit behind paid plans.
- Usage-based pricing on Workers and Workers AI means a coding bug or a loop can produce a surprise bill.
- Setting up custom caching and firewall rules takes some reading, so beginners may lean on defaults for a while.
- The free tier is aimed at non-critical projects, so a business site that needs an uptime guarantee has to pay.
Frequently asked questions
Cloudflare sits between your website and its visitors to block attacks, cache content, and speed up delivery. It also runs a developer platform where you deploy edge code and AI models.
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