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Cloudflare pros and cons

Vendor: Cloudflare

4.3 out of 5

77 reviews
96% willing to recommend

Pros & Cons summary

Cloudflare offers simplified HTTP to HTTPS redirects with Page Rules and a robust DNS service known for global reach and fast updates. It provides security features like a web application firewall, though areas like API integration and technical support need improvement. Limitations exist in DNS management on the free plan. Despite pricing concerns, it integrates smoothly with services like Heroku and offers SSL management, appealing to users seeking basic security and performance at no cost.

Buyer's Guide

Get pricing advice, tips, use cases and valuable features from real users of this product.

Prominent pros & cons

PROS

Cloudflare provides robust DDoS protection, preventing attacks and ensuring website security.

It offers an easy integration of end-to-end SSL and TLS for securing servers.

Users benefit from centralized DNS management, which is both secure and rapid in updating records.

The service enables high-availability self-hosting of applications using round robin DNS and efficient load balancing.

Cloudflare includes a built-in SSL certificate that automatically secures websites with ease.

CONS

APIs are difficult to work with and lack openness for better integration with existing solutions.

Reporting does not provide sufficient explanations of events, lacking clarity and detail.

Configuration documentation is highly technical, posing challenges for non-technical users.

On-premise or hybrid deployment options are absent, limiting flexibility for diverse customer needs.

Technical support is lacking and tends to rely on a self-service model rather than providing hands-on assistance.

Cloudflare Pros review quotes

MP

Senior Site Infrastructure Engineer at Kurungsiku

May 12, 2017

Easier http to https redirect using page rules

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Senior SEO Strategist at a healthcare company with 201-500 employees

Mar 28, 2018

The simplicity of the overall dashboard makes it a great product for a user like me who has less understanding of the internet than a developer or other more technical people. It gives me peace of mind. I also love the easy customization of the Page Rules.

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Senior Dev Ops Engineer at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees

Apr 8, 2018

When using services like Heroku, Cloudflare is very useful for CNAME flattening. I also use it for their end-to-end SSL with TLS authentication on nginx for securing servers.

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BA

BrahmanggiAditya

Technical Engineer at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

Apr 2, 2019

The most valuable feature of Cloudflare is that it has a free version. They give us the free version with the anti-DDoS features and also the load balancing solution.

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Works at bitmart

May 6, 2019

The technical support is good.

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reviewer1330161

Information Technology Engineer at a tech vendor with 11-50 employees

Apr 26, 2020

It is easier to configure and develop documentation to see how we have configured firewalls.

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reviewer1245303

Senior Consultant CDN at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees

May 28, 2020

The most valuable feature is the web application firewall.

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reviewer1329336

Network Security Engineer at a computer software company with 201-500 employees

Jun 25, 2020

The solution is very good at mitigating threats.

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VP/Director of IT at a tech vendor with 51-200 employees

Sep 17, 2020

New and innovative way to protect the client's data.

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AP

CTO at QROK GmbH

Apr 6, 2021

It's very user-friendly.

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Cloudflare Cons review quotes

MP

Senior Site Infrastructure Engineer at Kurungsiku

May 12, 2017

DNS Management.

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Senior SEO Strategist at a healthcare company with 201-500 employees

Mar 28, 2018

One area of improvement is in the Access Rules. Hypothetically, if we wanted to block or challenge traffic outside of the United States, the only way to currently do that (as far as I know) is to enter every single country outside of the United States. That could be a labor intensive job. A solution could be to enable users to create a rule where traffic is only allowed within a certain country.

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Senior Dev Ops Engineer at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees

Apr 8, 2018

Sometimes their more advanced caching tools can cause higher first-byte times and problems with JavaScript.

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Free Report: Cloudflare Reviews and More

Learn what your peers think about Cloudflare. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: January 2026.

879,927 professionals have used our research since 2012.

BA

BrahmanggiAditya

Technical Engineer at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

Apr 2, 2019

If they improve on the placement of their data centers, it would be better. I'm living in a remote area. I would like to connect to them without any kind of lag.

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Works at bitmart

May 6, 2019

The product support needs to be accessible from more places, a wider area of coverage.

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reviewer1330161

Information Technology Engineer at a tech vendor with 11-50 employees

Apr 26, 2020

It should have easier documentation for the configuration. It's very technical and people who aren't technical should also be able to do the configuration.

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reviewer1245303

Senior Consultant CDN at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees

May 28, 2020

There should be a specific price list for enterprise-level customers.

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reviewer1329336

Network Security Engineer at a computer software company with 201-500 employees

Jun 25, 2020

The solution could use more analytics on the backend to give us more insights into everything. More reports would be helpful.

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VP/Director of IT at a tech vendor with 51-200 employees

Sep 17, 2020

Technical support is lacking.

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AP

CTO at QROK GmbH

Apr 6, 2021

There are some issues with the CDN services.

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Show 10 more reviews (out of 49)

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