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Cloudflare pros and cons

Vendor: Cloudflare

4.2 out of 5

71 reviews
95% willing to recommend

1,991 followers

Pros & Cons summary

Cloudflare enhances website security and performance with features like TLS-authenticated end-to-end SSL, web application firewalls, built-in SSL certificates, and robust DDoS protection. It simplifies HTTP to HTTPS redirection through customizable page rules and supports high availability via round-robin DNS and seamless Heroku integration. While its global DNS swiftly updates records, areas for improvement include API integrations, detailed reporting, and documentation. Additionally, pricing transparency and universal log collection are needed for enterprise clients.

Buyer's Guide

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

Prominent pros & cons

PROS

Cloudflare simplifies HTTP to HTTPS redirection and offers easy customization of Page Rules.

Cloudflare provides self-hosted services like Rocket.Chat and Node-RED in high-availability mode through round robin DNS.

Cloudflare is beneficial for enterprises with features like DNS, automatic SSL certificate provisioning, and DDoS protection.

Cloudflare enhances security through its Web Application Firewall and CNAME flattening features.

Cloudflare's API facilitates building a separate environment for testing before production deployment.

CONS

APIs are difficult to work with and require more openness for better integration with other systems.

Cloudflare lacks an on-premise solution and hybrid deployments would better accommodate more customers.

There should be improved reporting and analytics to offer better explanations and insights.

Pricing and support response time need enhancement, reducing costs and improving customer assistance.

DNS Management requires better tools for enterprise-level customers, with emphasis on logging and record management.

Cloudflare Pros review quotes

Owner at Tech Exchange

Dec 1, 2022

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. You don't necessarily need a certificate if you have a connection between your website and your host, the server, Cloudflare, and the host.

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Senior IT Professional at a non-profit with 11-50 employees

May 30, 2023

The solution automatically detects and responds to certain types of traffic based on geolocation.

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BW

VP/Director of IT

Sep 17, 2020

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

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DW

Darryl Wethington

Senior Cloud Solution Architect at ITSG integrated Technology Solution Group

Jan 18, 2024

The most valuable features of the solution are performance and security.

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Linux System Administrator at Ergode

May 25, 2023

Even when there is a high load on our servers, Cloudflare is able to cache the data and serve it to users, ensuring they can still access the website.

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Principal Cyber Prevent and Defense Engineer at a comms service provider with 1,001-5,000 employees

Sep 10, 2024

The tool is user-friendly.

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reviewer2198715

DevOps Engineer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

Jun 1, 2023

I rate its stability a ten out of ten.

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DP

Network engineer at Ufinet

Oct 24, 2022

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.

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System Analyst at Infrasat

Nov 9, 2022

Its most significant benefit to date is the speed with which it refreshes DNS records on the internet once you change it. If you are changing a website or registering a new record, it is very quick.

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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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Cloudflare Cons review quotes

Owner at Tech Exchange

Dec 1, 2022

It should be easier to collect the logs with companies like Sumo. However, based on my discussions with the salespeople, I understand that's how they make their money. With the enterprise product, they want people doing those kinds of enterprise features to do the logging. They want them to pay a lot of money, and that's where I have an issue with them. That should be a default. You should be able to get the log no matter what. The logging should be universal.

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Senior IT Professional at a non-profit with 11-50 employees

May 30, 2023

The solution could be more user-friendly.

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BW

VP/Director of IT

Sep 17, 2020

Technical support is lacking.

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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: November 2024.

816,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.

DW

Darryl Wethington

Senior Cloud Solution Architect at ITSG integrated Technology Solution Group

Jan 18, 2024

Areas like how assessment, discovery, and payload are dealt with and how it all comes into your organization can be considered when trying to make suggestions to Cloudflare for improvements.

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General Manager at .bKash Limited

Dec 14, 2023

It would be beneficial for us if Cloudflare could offer a scrubbing solution. This would involve taking a snapshot of my website and keeping it live during a DDoS attack, ensuring uninterrupted service for our users. DDoS attacks are typically short in duration, and having Cloudflare maintain the site's availability from its secure network would enhance the overall user experience. I would appreciate it if Cloudflare could consider implementing this feature. Many organizations already utilize similar capabilities in their CDN platforms, where a static snapshot of the web page is displayed during DDoS attacks. In terms of features, Cloudflare needs to enhance its resilience and stay more focused on adopting new technologies. For instance, solutions like F5 XC Box, Access Solution, and Distributed Cloud Solution have impressive features, and Cloudflare should strive to match and exceed those capabilities. There's a need for improvement in areas like AI-based DDoS attacks and Layer 7 WAF features. Cloudflare should prioritize enhancements in areas such as behavioral DDoS and protection against SQL injection attacks, considering the prevalent trend of public exposure to the internet for business reasons. Overall, Cloudflare needs to invest more in advancing its feature set.

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Linux System Administrator at Ergode

May 25, 2023

We have noticed multiple instances where Cloudflare falsely indicates that our servers are down, even when there is no actual load on them. This makes it challenging for us to identify the exact issue.

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Principal Cyber Prevent and Defense Engineer at a comms service provider with 1,001-5,000 employees

Sep 10, 2024

The integration of LLMs on the dashboard is something that is needed in the tool.

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reviewer2198715

DevOps Engineer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

Jun 1, 2023

Even if I wanted to, I wouldn't be able to buy Cloudflare in my country.

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System Analyst at Infrasat

Nov 9, 2022

I believe they currently have this feature, but there will most likely be integration with APIs so we can control some features through API.

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DP

Network engineer at Ufinet

Oct 24, 2022

It would be good if Cloudflare could have more servers for better traffic routing or an increase in the traffic routed. This is what I'd like to improve in Cloudflare.

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