You will often hear Cloudflare being mentioned, but a lot of people don’t fully understand it or its purpose. It is a tool used in online infrastructure, and it’s very important when it comes to websites. It helps with site performance, speeds up access, and also improves the overall user experience.

But what is Cloudflare exactly? Why do so many websites rely on it? Does it have any downsides? We will discuss all of these things in the article below and much more.

What is Cloudflare?

Cloudflare is an American tech company, and it provides services like DNS, a content delivery network (also called CDN), and many other features that make a website fast and safe. There are over 26 million websites that use Cloudflare, which means it handles more than 1 billion IP addresses every day.

Matthew Prince, Lee Holloway, and Michelle Zatlyn founded Cloudflare in 2009. They wanted to create a better internet for everyone. To achieve their goal, they launched many free and paid services. And by 2019, Cloudflare had a turnover of over 287 million dollars.

The founders were also involved in Project Honey Pot. This was an open-source project that collected data from IP addresses to fight spam and fraud. In 2010, they moved from Project Honey Pot to create Cloudflare because they wanted not just to track malicious behavior but to prevent it.

Cloudflare’s goal was to secure websites against threats without slowing them down. They developed advanced caching and removed bad traffic like bots. All of this led to their vision of building a better internet.

Cloudflare offers many services, including:

  • Content Delivery Network (CDN)
  • Domain Name System (DNS)
  • Load Balancing
  • Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP)
  • Caching
  • Video Streaming
  • DDoS protection
  • Web Application Firewall (WAF)
  • SSL/TLS support
  • DNSSEC
  • Analytics
  • Domain registration
  • Workers for developers

Cloudflare integrates easily with platforms like IBM Cloud, WordPress, Google Cloud, Magento, and Kubernetes.

How does Cloudflare work?

To get how Cloudflare works, let’s start with a common website problem.

Usually, when someone visits a site, their browser talks directly to that site’s server. But if a ton of people visit at once, the server can get overwhelmed. That’s when sites slow down or crash, which is not ideal.

Cloudflare helps by putting its own servers in between your site and the people visiting it. These servers are spread out all over the world. So instead of every request going straight to your site’s main server, it first goes to the closest Cloudflare server. That server already has a copy of your site’s content ready to go.

Let’s say your site is based in the UK, but someone from Australia visits it. Without Cloudflare, their request has to travel all the way to the UK and back. With Cloudflare, it gets handled by a nearby server in Australia. Way faster. This takes pressure off your main server and gives visitors a quicker, smoother experience.

Why You Should Use Cloudflare

There are several reasons to consider using Cloudflare. One of the main benefits is faster content load times. This is important for all types of websites, whether it’s a blog, a WordPress site, or an e-commerce store on Shopify.

Speed is important. No one likes to wait for a webpage to load. Edge computing, which brings data closer to users, is becoming more popular. Cloudflare fits well into this trend.

Security is another key advantage. Cloudflare can reduce bot activity, prevent DDoS attacks, and stop comment spam. It helps keep your website online by filtering out bad traffic. This ensures that only legitimate visitors get through. For more on this, check out our guide on DDoS attacks.

Using Cloudflare also reduces server load and bandwidth usage. A CDN in front of your website can handle large amounts of traffic. This lowers the risk of crashes during busy times.

Even if you don’t have a website yet, Cloudflare’s DNS services are useful. Third-party DNS services often focus on security and performance. They can prevent ISP snooping, tracking, and targeted ads.

While third-party DNS services offer some security features, it’s still a good idea to use a VPN for maximum protection. If you’re not familiar with DNS, you can learn more in our guide on DNS records.

Benefits of Cloudflare 

Cloudflare offers multiple benefits like speed, security, and good performance tools—everything a website owner needs. Here is how it helps:

  • Safer DNS: With DNSSEC, it checks every DNS response to avoid any fake redirects and cache tampering.
  • Built-in Security: It has a Web Application Firewall that helps block common online attacks. This includes SQL injection and cross-site scripting.
  • Faster Loading: It supports HTTP/2, which loads different elements at once. This lets the pages load quicker by default.
  • Free SSL: Cloudflare gives you SSL encryption at no cost. And because of that, your data stays safe between you and your visitors. Your site also gets a small SEO boost.
  • Smaller Images: It can automatically reduce and resize images so pages load faster and don’t eat up as much data.
  • Cleaner Code: It removes any extra characters from your HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Your site loads a lot faster after this.
  • Faster Re-visits: Cloudflare saves parts of your site on visitors’ devices to help it load quicker next time they visit.
  • Live Features: It supports tools like chat, notifications, or live content updates without lag.
  • Traffic Distribution: The traffic is balanced across multiple servers, which helps avoid any crashes when your site gets overloaded.
  • Rate Limiting: If someone tries to overload your site with too many requests, Cloudflare blocks them before they cause issues.
  • Smart Routing: It uses its global network to send data through the fastest route.
  • Page Rules: You can fine-tune settings for certain pages you want. Like boosting security for login pages or speeding up landing pages.
  • AMP Support: If you use Google AMP, Cloudflare keeps your real URLs visible in search results so your brand name doesn’t get replaced.

Speed, security, and reliability—Cloudflare has your website covered! Source: Cloudflare

How to Get Cloudflare

Activating Cloudflare is easy. You don’t need to change any hardware or code. Just follow these steps:

  • Create an Account

Sign up on the Cloudflare website.

  • Select a Plan

Choose a plan that suits your needs. There is a free plan and several paid plans for businesses.

  • Choose Websites to Protect

Update the DNS settings of your websites to point to Cloudflare.

Some web hosts, like HostPapa and DreamHost, offer free Cloudflare integration. If your host supports it, you can enable Cloudflare directly from their control panel.

Cloudflare Costs Explained

Cloudflare offers various features for free, including CDN, basic caching, and DDoS protection.

To access all of Cloudflare’s services, consider upgrading to the Pro version for $20 per month. This upgrade includes automatic image compression, Cloudflare’s WAF, mobile optimization, and more. Additionally, you can purchase add-ons separately.

Here are the subscription options for Cloudflare:

  • Free
  • Pro: $20 per month
  • Business: $200 per month
  • Enterprise: Pricing is available on request

Services

Cloudflare offers a wide range of services. They are aimed at enhancing internet performance and security. Here are some of them:

Cloudflare DNS

One of its core offerings is Cloudflare DNS. It translates domain names into IP addresses. This ensures fast response times and high redundancy. It has advanced security features like DDoS protection and DNSSEC. With a global network spanning over 200 servers, Cloudflare guarantees 100% uptime. This provides strong protection against malicious IP addresses worldwide.

Web Application Firewall (WAF)

Another crucial service is the Web Application Firewall (WAF). It is ideal for organizations seeking to safeguard their websites and applications from cyberattacks. It doesn’t require the alteration of existing infrastructure. Users can customize protection rules via the WAF dashboard. This allows the prompt blocking of suspicious requests. It ensures legitimate traffic reaches its destination. Features like the OWASP Core Ruleset offer standard protection against common web vulnerabilities like SQL injection and XSS.

Content Delivery Network (CDN)

Cloudflare’s Content Delivery Network (CDN) is another cornerstone service. It optimizes website loading speeds by directing users to the nearest Cloudflare server. This minimizes latency and enhances the user experience, which is crucial for globally oriented websites. The CDN includes a powerful caching module. It reduces server load by storing frequently accessed content locally, configurable according to specific caching rules set by users. 

SSL/TLS encryption

Cloudflare adds a layer of security to your site with SSL/TLS encryption, so any info shared on your site stays protected. It also helps your site meet today’s security standards, which can make it more trustworthy, for both users and search engines.

As for speed, Cloudflare’s DNS is fast. In most tests, it’s responded in under 5 milliseconds, which says a lot about how solid it is worldwide.

Serverless Computing

Serverless computing enables developers to create and operate applications without handling the infrastructure beneath them. Cloudflare offers solutions in this field:

Cloudflare workers

These let developers deploy applications using JavaScript, Rust, and C/C++. It improves speed and performance by reducing latency.

Durable objects

This feature supports stateful serverless computing. It enables real-time updates and coordination across devices worldwide.

Other Handy Cloudflare Tools and Services

  • Argo: Speeds up your site by finding the fastest paths across Cloudflare’s network.
  • Stream: Lets you easily upload, stream, and manage videos on your site or app without needing a bunch of extra tools.
  • Access: Lets you control who can access your internal apps without using a VPN. Works with different login systems like Google or Microsoft.
  • Registrar: A safer way to manage your domain names, with extra security built in.
  • Load Balancing: Helps spread traffic across multiple servers so your site stays fast and doesn’t crash when lots of people visit.

A faster, safer web starts with Cloudflare. Is your site protected? Source: Dribble

Cloudflare’s Zero Trust Approach

Cloudflare takes a “zero trust” approach to security. This means they don’t assume anything or anyone is safe by default. Everything has to be verified every time. Here’s a quick look at how they do it:

Application Security

No one gets automatic access. Not even inside the company. Everyone has to log in securely, no matter where they are in the world. This keeps third-party users in check and gives admins a clear view of what’s happening behind the scenes.

Secure Web Gateway

It works like a smart filter that watches how your team uses the internet. It blocks dangerous sites, follows your organization’s rules, and helps keep cloud apps secure with better visibility and threat detection.

Remote Browser Isolation

Instead of running risky sites on your own device, Cloudflare runs the browser in the cloud and streams the results to you. It’s safer, faster, and keeps your computer out of harm’s way.

Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB)

This tool keeps an eye on your cloud apps. This helps you prevent insider leaks, spot shady activity, and stay compliant with data rules.

Data Loss Prevention (DLP)

DLP tools monitor your data while it moves in and out of apps like Google Drive or Slack. You can stop sensitive info from slipping out, get alerts in real-time, and apply easy-to-use security templates.

Cloudflare API + Authentication

Cloudflare gives developers a powerful API to manage and automate site settings. To keep everything secure, they use different authentication methods like:

  • X-Auth-Email and X-Auth-Key for basic ID and key verification
  • Bearer tokens for safer, token-based logins
  • And user-specific service keys for extra protection

These tools make sure that only the right people and systems have access, keeping your site and data locked down.

Websites Using Cloudflare

Many well-known websites utilize Cloudflare’s services. Some notable examples include: 

  • Hubspot
  • Medium
  • Gitlab
  • Udemy
  • Upwork
  • Fiverr
  • Adyen
  • TheNextWeb
  • Yelp

Security Concerns and Criticisms

Cloudflare has always focused on making the internet better, but it has had a few issues over the years.

Like in 2017, there was a bug called Cloudbleed that caused some data from websites using Cloudflare to leak. It happened because of an error that showed up in their system that used to handle web pages. That leaked data ended up showing in some of the search results on Google and Bing. This affected around 150 websites, and even the popular ones like Discord and Patreon.

Back in 2012, hackers found a way to hijack 4chan’s domain. They used Cloudflare’s DNS setup, and while it was also linked to Google’s systems, it showed that DNS security still had some weak spots.

Then there was this whole debate about content moderation in 2017. Cloudflare took down the Daily Stormer, a hate site, after receiving a ton of backlash. Even their CEO admitted that doing something like this on a site was difficult. He also said that there is no real guidebook on how and where to draw the line.

Cloudflare is useful, no doubt, but it’s not perfect. Still, if you want to improve your speed and protect your site from attacks, just using Cloudflare might be a good option. There is a free plan for people who are just starting out. 

Looking to speed up your site and keep it secure without getting overwhelmed by all the technological advancements? We’ve broken it down in simple terms over at EvolveDash. Head there for more no-fluff guides and tips that actually make sense.

FAQs

  1. Does Cloudflare affect SEO?

Yes, and in a good way. It helps your website load faster while also keeping it secure. And these are the two things Google looks at when it comes to ranking pages. Features like caching and CDN can slow down load time, and you can use Cloudflare’s SSL to help with site trust.

  1. Can Cloudflare block all cyberattacks?

It handles the major threats like DDoS, bots, and SQL injections. But again, no tool is perfect. New and complex attacks can still get through from weak spots, and that is exactly why it’s better to keep your software updated. Also, make sure to use strong passwords.

  1. Is Cloudflare just for large companies?

No. Small sites and blogs can use it as well because their free plan is specially made for beginners. Whenever you grow over time, you can upgrade to a paid plan to access more features.

  1. Can Cloudflare slow my site down?

Quite the opposite, actually. It speeds things up with caching and a global network. But if you don’t set it up properly, it could slow things down a bit. But it’s nothing that can’t be fixed.

  1. Will Cloudflare work with my current hosting provider?

Yes, it works with most hosting platforms. All you need to do is update your DNS settings. Many hosts even offer one-click setups, so it’s quick and painless.