Amazon CloudFront vs. Cloudflare
Product | Rating | Most Used By | Product Summary | Starting Price |
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Amazon CloudFront | N/A | CloudFront is the content delivery network (CDN) from Amazon Web Services. | $0.02 | |
Cloudflare | N/A | Cloudflare, from the company of the same name in San Francisco, provides DDoS and bot mitigation security for business domains, as well as a content delivery network (CDN) and web application firewall (WAF). | $20 per month |
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Entry-level Setup Fee | No setup fee | No setup fee | ||||||||||||||
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More Pricing Information |
Amazon CloudFront | Cloudflare | |
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Considered Both Products | Amazon CloudFront | Cloudflare |
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Amazon CloudFront | Cloudflare | |
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Highlights |
Research Team Insight Published Amazon CloudFront and Cloudflare are both content delivery networks. Cloudflare is a comprehensive product that includes DDoS protection and web firewall along with a CDN. CloudFront is the CDN portion of Amazon Web Services, and works as an add-on for those who already use AWS. As a single product with many features, Cloudflare is most popular with smaller businesses looking for a single solution for all their website security and performance needs, while Amazon CloudFront is favored by large businesses that need multiple, fully-featured products that work together. FeaturesThough Amazon CloudFront and Cloudflare have similar offerings, there are some significant differences between them. CloudFront is an umbrella product that, depending on your pricing tier, includes DDoS attack mitigation, web firewall, mobile optimization, cache analysis and more, in addition to its CDN which is a standard feature at every tier. Each pricing tier includes guaranteed support via chat or email, and the free tier is robust enough that many small businesses never have to move to a paid plan. The DNS manager makes it fast and simple to move websites to different nameservers. Amazon CloudFront is the CDN portion of Amazon Web Services. Businesses who already use other parts of AWS find that CloudFront integrates seamlessly with their other AWS services. Like Cloudflare, CloudFront has a free tier, but CloudFront pricing tiers are separated by usage, not services offered. Those with relatively low usage on their sites may find this pricing structure to their liking. LimitationsBoth products have drawbacks that are unique to them. Cloudflare can cache aggressively, leaving users confused as to why no new content is available.Additionally, support at the free tier is hit or miss, and the user interface is a bit clunky. Amazon CloudFront works well for large businesses that already use AWS, but for small businesses without AWS it may not make sense to commit to several different services under the AWS umbrella when one will suffice. Additionally, usage-based pricing may result in a large bill when there is an unexpected traffic spike. CloudFront can be difficult to set up and use for folks who are new to CDN. PricingAs mentioned above, Cloudflare and CloudFront are priced quite differently. Cloudflare’s pricing is service based: above the free tier they have Pro at $20 per month and Business at $200 per month, and the Enterprise tier is custom priced. CloudFront has a free tier, and pricing above that tier is based on usage. They also offer custom bundled pricing for customers who are willing to make certain minimum traffic commitments. |
Amazon CloudFront | Cloudflare | |
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Small Businesses | Cloudflare Score 8.8 out of 10 | No answers on this topic |
Medium-sized Companies | Cloudflare Score 8.8 out of 10 | BIG-IP Score 8.8 out of 10 |
Enterprises | Azure CDN Score 8.5 out of 10 | BIG-IP Score 8.8 out of 10 |
All Alternatives | View all alternatives | View all alternatives |
Amazon CloudFront | Cloudflare | |
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Likelihood to Recommend | 9.2 (17 ratings) | 8.6 (159 ratings) |
Likelihood to Renew | - (0 ratings) | 8.8 (4 ratings) |
Usability | 9.0 (1 ratings) | 8.5 (8 ratings) |
Availability | - (0 ratings) | 9.5 (2 ratings) |
Performance | - (0 ratings) | 9.5 (2 ratings) |
Support Rating | 7.0 (4 ratings) | 8.4 (128 ratings) |
Implementation Rating | - (0 ratings) | 8.7 (2 ratings) |
Configurability | - (0 ratings) | 9.0 (1 ratings) |
Ease of integration | - (0 ratings) | 8.2 (2 ratings) |
Product Scalability | - (0 ratings) | 9.5 (2 ratings) |
Vendor post-sale | - (0 ratings) | 7.0 (1 ratings) |
Vendor pre-sale | - (0 ratings) | 8.0 (1 ratings) |
Amazon CloudFront | Cloudflare | |
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Likelihood to Recommend | Amazon AWS | Cloudflare |
Pros | Amazon AWS | Cloudflare |
Cons | Amazon AWS | Cloudflare |
Likelihood to Renew | Amazon AWS No answers on this topic | Cloudflare |
Usability | Amazon AWS | Cloudflare |
Reliability and Availability | Amazon AWS No answers on this topic | Cloudflare |
Performance | Amazon AWS No answers on this topic | Cloudflare |
Support Rating | Amazon AWS | Cloudflare |
Implementation Rating | Amazon AWS No answers on this topic | Cloudflare |
Alternatives Considered | Amazon AWS | Cloudflare |
Scalability | Amazon AWS No answers on this topic | Cloudflare |
Return on Investment | Amazon AWS | Cloudflare |
ScreenShots |