Cloudflare and Zscaler compete in the web security and performance category. Cloudflare holds the advantage in ease of integration and DDoS protection, while Zscaler is stronger in internet traffic filtering and security.
Features: Cloudflare provides comprehensive DDoS protection and a web application firewall. It supports global CDN capabilities, which enhance page loading speeds significantly. Cloudflare also integrates seamlessly with tools like Office 365, adding value through ease of implementation. Zscaler Internet Access features robust SSL inspection and advanced URL filtering capabilities, providing a secure browsing environment. Additionally, its SWG traffic management is crucial for maintaining strong security for remote work setups.
Room for Improvement: Cloudflare could benefit from enhancing its automation and dashboard capabilities and needs to improve CDN speeds to compete better. Expansion into AI-driven security features is another potential area of growth. Zscaler requires a more intuitive user interface and improved reporting capabilities, especially for large-scale deployments. Addressing pricing and expanding its presence in regions like China are also key areas for Zscaler's development.
Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Cloudflare primarily operates in the public cloud, offering various support options though response times could be improved. Its documentation is well-regarded but needs enhancements for complex configurations. Zscaler offers flexibility in deployment across public, hybrid, and private clouds. While users recognize Zscaler's technical proficiency, suggestions for improved support efficiency and a more user-friendly interface are common.
Pricing and ROI: Cloudflare offers competitive pricing for small to mid-sized projects, providing substantial benefits in speed and DDoS protection, resulting in a good ROI for smaller businesses. Zscaler targets larger enterprises with its pricing strategy, offering a strong ROI through extensive security features and thorough global coverage. Cloudflare is the preferred choice for smaller budgets, while Zscaler is seen as worth the cost for its advanced capabilities in larger organizations.
WordPress security can be tricky, and that's where Cloudflare can be absolutely helpful for small businesses.
For the small project I was working on, using the basic tier provided a huge improvement at zero cost.
The managed service aspect of Zscaler Internet Access has allowed for reduced staffing costs, resulting in a saving of approximately 20-25% compared to prior expenses.
This would help us address issues promptly, especially during unforeseen events like DDoS attacks.
Cloudflare does not offer hands-on technical support to fix customer problems but rather a self-service model.
The key factor is the language in which the support is offered, which, in this case, is in Thai.
The technical support for Zscaler Internet Access is rated around seven out of ten due to some response time issues and the engagement model.
I find customer support to be quite adequate
It is a SaaS tool, but the fact that they have workloads deployed across the world proves that it is a highly scalable tool.
The tool offers very good performance, even during high-traffic periods.
I rate the solution’s scalability an eight out of ten.
I find Zscaler Internet Access to be highly scalable, which was one of the reasons for choosing it.
Zscaler Internet Access is scalable and has points of presence across the globe to ensure low latency and reliable connections.
For DDoS protection, I would not recommend Cloudflare.
I rate the solution’s stability an eight out of ten.
The service is very stable with no impacts during high-traffic periods.
Zscaler Internet Access is stable and capable of building resilient architectures.
Zscaler Internet Access is very stable, and I would rate its stability as nine out of ten.
There's a need for improvement in areas like AI-based DDoS attacks and Layer 7 WAF features.
Despite these challenges, overall, Cloudflare remains the preferred solution compared to Azure, AWS CloudFront, and Google Cloud Armor.
Cloudflare should add more documentation and pricing to the cloud version.
The response time and engagement model for technical support could be improved to handle complex outages more efficiently.
One feature I am missing is the ability to connect automatically to internal monitoring systems.
That's where Cloudflare shines for smaller businesses – it's ten times cheaper than Akamai.
I find it to be cheap.
I think they should consider reevaluating the pricing for support, as it can be quite high.
Zscaler Internet Access is recognized as an expensive solution.
Zscaler Internet Access is less expensive than competitors like Palo Alto, offering a premium service justified by security enhancements and cost-effective scalability.
The most valuable features of the solution are performance and security.
Techniques like minification and image compression reduce the size of assets, leading to better performance and faster user load times.
The solution has been able to compare it to the market, and I think the product has taken great strides in automating quite a bit of things, and they use a lot of AI.
The most valuable feature for me is the ability to see how my network and traffic looks with modules like analytics and insights.
Some of the most valuable features of Zscaler Internet Access include secure web gateways, URL filtering, data loss prevention, anti-malware defense, file extension blocking, and a comprehensive categorization system.
Cloudflare is a highly-regarded Content Delivery Network (CDN) and a Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) protection solution. The robust global connectivity cloud platform that is Cloudflare ensures users are able to connect to the Internet quickly, securely, and reliably. Cloudflare is one of the world's largest networks in the marketplace today. Using Cloudflare, businesses, educational entities, NGOs, vloggers, bloggers, and anyone else with an internet presence can experience more secure, faster websites and applications.
Currently, there are millions of Internet locations on Cloudflare, and the Cloudflare network
continues to grow every day by the thousands. The solution is able to fulfill the requests for
millions of websites seamlessly and serves on average 45 million HTTP requests per second.
Cloudflare has safe, secure data centers in close to 300 cities worldwide to ensure every
client request is filled as quickly as possible. It is Cloudflare’s edge network that makes this
possible by keeping content and other services as close to each client as possible, so the
information requests are always only seconds away.
Many organizations that work in democracy, civil society, human rights, or the arts are able to
access Cloudflare's highest levels of protection for free via Project Galileo. Additionally, official
election websites can be secured from hacking and fraud through Cloudflare’s Project
Athenian, also at no additional cost.
Cloudflare can also help organizations of all sizes develop a robust zero-trust strategy to
ensure the highest levels of productivity and profitability. Employees, stakeholders, and end users have a greater level of satisfaction and overall improved user experience, which can, in
turn, result in higher revenues and overall ROI. Zero-trust and BYOD (bring your own device)
access ensure end users and employees always have the best resources and technology
available to them at all times.
Cloudflare benefits
Cloudflare has many benefits. Some of its most valuable benefits include:
- Faster load times
- Robust DNS security
- Intuitive cloud Web Application Firewall (WAF)
- Free universal SSL
- Image enhancement
- Automatic browser caching
- Next-generation cloud load balancer
- Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP)
- Rate limiting
- Minification
- Zero-trust capabilities
- Cost-effective
- Reduced carbon footprint
Reviews from real users
“Many websites require an SSL certificate because they sell stuff and want SSL. Cloudflare
comes with an SSL certificate built in. It's automatic. You sign yourself up for Cloudflare, and
an SSL certificate automatically protects your website. If you have a connection between your
website and your host, the server, Cloudflare, and the host, you don't necessarily need a
certificate.” Spencer M., Owner at Tech Exchange
“What I like best about Cloudflare is that my company can use it to trace and manage
applications and monitor traffic. The solution tells you if there's a spike in traffic. Cloudflare
also sends you a link to check your equipment and deployment and track it through peering,
so it's a valuable tool.” Daniel P., Network Engineer at Ufinet
“The most valuable feature of Cloudflare is the GUI. You are able to control the solution very
well through the interface. There is a lot of functionality that is embedded in the service.” PeerSpot user, Competence Center Manager at a tech services company
Zscaler Internet Access is a cloud-native security service edge (SSE) platform. Its main purpose is to provide AI-powered protection for all users, all applications, and all locations. The solution replaces other legacy network security solutions to stop advanced attacks and prevent data loss by using a comprehensive zero trust approach.
Zscaler Internet Access Features
Zscaler Internet Access has many valuable key features. Some of the most useful ones include:
Zscaler Internet Access Benefits
There are several benefits to implementing Zscaler Internet Access. Some of the biggest advantages the solution offers include:
Reviews from Real Users
Below are some reviews and helpful feedback written by Zscaler Internet Access users.
A Service Manager at a construction company says, "There are a bunch of different capabilities that are valuable within the platform. We use quite a lot of them, but not everything. The ones that are most important to us are the URL Filtering and the application control. For our needs, the cloud-native proxy architecture is a very good solution. This architecture helps with cyber threats because we inspect most of the traffic and we can see that a lot of threats are stopped directly in the secure web gateway."
Owen N., Security Architect at Claro Enterprise Solutions, explains that the solution’s most valuable features include “The integration of the gateway that inspects all ports and protocols. So, there is threat prevention; The cloud sandbox; VNS security; Access control that will protect URL filtering and the cloud firewall; Data protection that will protect your gateway, like your CASB or your cloud DLP; The capabilities of this will point your traffic to Zscaler Cloud.”
An Architecture Senior Manager at an insurance company mentions, "The data loss prevention feature is the most valuable. It stops our users from inadvertently leaking our customers' data to the Internet or anywhere else it shouldn't go." He also adds, “The solution provides quick access to cloud services, securing our data and allowing us to inspect all our traffic.”
We monitor all Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) Protection reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.
