Amazon Web Services (AWS) vs Cloudflare Comparison
Compare Amazon Web Services (AWS) vs Cloudflare features, pricing, and more.
Last updated: November 2026
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
7.9/10
Amazon's public cloud platform, with over 200 pay-as-you-go services for compute, storage, databases, networking and AI, used by startups through large enterprises and governments.
Cloudflare
7.6/10
Cloudflare is a global edge network. It offers CDN, DNS, DDoS protection and a WAF, plus serverless compute and storage (Workers, R2, D1) for developers and businesses.
Feature-by-Feature Comparison
| Feature | | |
|---|---|---|
| Scores | ||
| Overall Rating | 7.9/10 | 7.6/10 |
| Integration | 10/10 | 8/10 |
| Support | 6/10 | 4/10 |
| Cost | 5/10 | 9/10 |
| Customization | 10/10 | 8/10 |
| Security | 9/10 | 9/10 |
| Reliability | 9/10 | 7/10 |
| Ease of Use | 4/10 | 7/10 |
| Analytics | 8/10 | 7/10 |
| Scalability | 10/10 | 9/10 |
| Pricing | ||
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Cheapest paid plan | Contact for pricing | $5/mo Workers Paid |
| Estimated cost for 10 users | Free Free plan | Free Free |
| Features | ||
| Content Delivery Network | ||
| Managed Databases | ||
| Object Storage | ||
| Serverless Functions | ||
| Uptime SLA | ||
| API and CLI | Not listed | |
| Cloud Compute | Not listed | |
| DDoS Protection | Not listed | |
| Dedicated Servers | Not listed | |
| Free SSL Certificates | Not listed | |
| Managed Kubernetes | Not listed | |
| Multiple Regions | Not listed | |
| Shared Hosting | Not listed | |
| VPS Hosting | Not listed | |
Amazon Web Services (AWS) vs Cloudflare cost by team size
Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Cloudflare cost the same at every team size we checked.
| Team size | Amazon Web Services (AWS) | Cloudflare |
|---|---|---|
| 1 user | FreeFree plan | FreeFree |
| 5 users | FreeFree plan | FreeFree |
| 10 users | FreeFree plan | FreeFree |
| 25 users | FreeFree plan | FreeFree |
| 50 users | FreeFree plan | FreeFree |
The plan that fits each team size, billed monthly, before add-ons and usage charges. Each cost opens that tool's pricing calculator for the team size.
Which One Should You Choose?
Why choose Amazon Web Services (AWS)
- Higher Integration score (10/10 vs 8/10)
- Higher Support score (6/10 vs 4/10)
- Better fit for enterprise (10/10 vs 8/10)
Why choose Cloudflare
- Higher Cost score (9/10 vs 5/10)
- Higher Ease of Use score (7/10 vs 4/10)
- Better fit for small business (7/10 vs 5/10)
Pros & Cons
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Pros
- The service catalogue is unusually broad, with over 200 services across 38 regions, so most infrastructure needs can be met on one platform.
- EC2 has a 99.99% region-level SLA with credits of up to 100%, and instances unavailable for more than six minutes in an hour are not billed for that hour.
- The free plan gives up to $200 in credits, and more than 30 always-free services let new teams experiment at low cost.
- Support scales from a $29 minimum up to dedicated Enterprise and Unified Operations tiers for mission-critical workloads.
- G2 rates it 4.4 across more than 17,000 reviews, and reviewers praise its scalability and global reach.
Cons
- Reviewers widely cite a steep learning curve across the console and services.
- Usage pricing is complex and can produce unexpected bills unless spend is monitored closely.
- Paid support is billed as a percentage of total AWS spend, so support costs rise with usage.
- A July 2025 billing console bug showed customers estimated charges in the billions, which hurt trust in its cost tooling.
Cloudflare
Pros
- The free plan includes unmetered DDoS protection, a CDN, a WAF and universal SSL.
- R2 object storage charges no egress fees.
- Workers has very low entry pricing: a $5 monthly minimum and $0.30 per additional million requests.
- The Business plan adds a 100 percent uptime SLA and PCI DSS compliance for $200 a month billed annually.
Cons
- Reviewers report slow support on Free and Pro, which have no chat or phone support.
- Global outages in November and December 2025 disrupted many sites at the same time.
- Reviewers report billing problems, such as charges after cancelling add-ons.
- It offers no traditional shared hosting, VPS or dedicated servers, so you still need an origin host for conventional workloads.
Not sold on either?
Frequently Asked Questions
Amazon Web Services (AWS) scores higher on our Hosting & Infrastructure criteria: 7.9/10 against 7.6/10 for Cloudflare. The largest gap is in Cost: 5/10 for Amazon Web Services (AWS) and 9/10 for Cloudflare.
Both are free for 10 users.
Yes, both Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Cloudflare have a free plan.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) is the better fit for enterprise: we rate it 10/10 for them, against 8/10 for Cloudflare.
