Cloudflare
What Cloudflare actually does
Cloudflare operates a global anycast network spanning 300+ cities. Originally known for CDN and DDoS protection, the company has expanded aggressively into enterprise security. Cloudflare One is the zero-trust platform — it includes Access (ZTNA), Gateway (SWG), Browser Isolation, CASB, DLP, and email security (acquired via Area 1 Security).
The application security side includes WAF, bot management, API Shield, and DDoS protection (both L3/L4 and L7). Cloudflare’s DDoS mitigation is unmetered on all plans — you do not pay more when you are under attack. This is a significant differentiator from vendors that charge for DDoS scrubbing bandwidth.
The developer platform (Workers, Pages, R2, D1) is increasingly relevant to security teams because it means applications built on Cloudflare inherit security controls natively. Magic Transit extends DDoS protection to on-premises networks. Magic WAN provides SD-WAN-like connectivity. The breadth of the platform is growing fast, sometimes faster than the enterprise features mature.
Who it’s best for
- Organizations of any size needing DDoS protection — Cloudflare’s free and Pro tiers are genuinely useful
- Companies starting their zero-trust journey that want affordable ZTNA without a massive contract
- Developer-forward organizations that want security integrated into their development platform
- Mid-market companies that find Zscaler and Netskope too expensive for basic SWG and ZTNA
- Teams that value transparent, published pricing over enterprise sales negotiations
Pricing reality check
Cloudflare is unusually transparent about pricing. The free tier includes basic DDoS protection, CDN, and DNS. Pro is $20/domain/month. Business is $200/domain/month. Enterprise is custom. Cloudflare One (zero trust) has a free tier for up to 50 users, then per-user pricing starts at roughly $7/user/month for the standard plan.
This pricing aggressively undercuts Zscaler ($15-$25/user/month) and Netskope ($15-$30/user/month) for comparable SSE functionality. The catch is feature depth — Cloudflare’s CASB and DLP are newer and less granular than Netskope’s. For basic SWG, ZTNA, and email link isolation, the value is excellent. Enterprise contracts unlock additional features, dedicated support, and SLAs.
Alternatives to consider
Zscaler — More mature SSE platform with deeper SWG policy controls and a larger enterprise install base. Choose Zscaler if you need the deepest possible web security policy engine and have the budget.
Akamai — Larger CDN with stronger application delivery heritage. Better for organizations with extreme content delivery performance requirements alongside security.
Netskope — Significantly stronger CASB and DLP. If cloud data protection is the priority, Netskope’s application-level granularity exceeds what Cloudflare offers today.
Fastly — Strong edge computing platform with solid WAF (powered by Signal Sciences). Better for developer teams that prioritize edge compute performance over security breadth.
The Charting Cyber take
Buy Cloudflare when you want strong security at honest prices. DDoS protection with unmetered mitigation is a standout. The zero-trust platform (Cloudflare One) is increasingly capable and priced to win mid-market deals that Zscaler and Netskope cannot serve economically. If you are a smaller security team, Cloudflare’s self-service model and transparent pricing eliminate the enterprise sales dance.
Skip it if you need deep, granular CASB policies or mature DLP. Cloudflare’s SSE features are improving rapidly but are still a generation behind Netskope and Zscaler in policy sophistication. Also think carefully about single-vendor concentration — running your CDN, DNS, WAF, DDoS, and zero-trust on one platform is operationally simple but creates a single point of failure. The Cloudflare outages of 2022 and 2023 affected customers across all services simultaneously.