# Cloudflare, what it is and how websites use it.

Global network for web security and performance. Cloudflare provides CDN, DDoS protection, DNS, SSL, and Workers for edge computing. One of the largest network infrastructures in the world with presence in over 300 cities.

- **Status:** Modern. Dominant player in CDN and web security. Cloudflare Workers and Pages extend the platform with serverless hosting and full-stack deployment.
- **Category:** [Servers & Hosting](https://be1st.ai/technologies/server)
- **First release:** 2009
- **License:** Proprietary
- **Official website:** https://www.cloudflare.com
- **Documentation:** https://developers.cloudflare.com
- **Page:** https://be1st.ai/technologies/server/cloudflare

## Cloudflare on audited websites

3,772 of the 16,845 websites audited by be1st run Cloudflare (22%). That ranks it #1 of the 34 technologies in Servers & Hosting we have seen in audits.

### Websites running Cloudflare vs all websites

- **Web score:** 75 (all websites 72)
- **SEO:** 82 (all websites 79)
- **Security:** 63 (all websites 59)
- **Performance:** 71 (all websites 72)
- **AI Readiness:** 34 (all websites 31)

### Most used in Servers & Hosting

1. [Cloudflare](https://be1st.ai/technologies/server/cloudflare): 22% (3,772)
2. [Vercel](https://be1st.ai/technologies/server/vercel): 22% (3,635)
3. [Google CDN](https://be1st.ai/technologies/server/google-cdn): 16% (2,700)
4. [nginx](https://be1st.ai/technologies/server/nginx): 14% (2,284)
5. [OpenResty](https://be1st.ai/technologies/server/openresty): 10% (1,707)
6. [Apache HTTP Server](https://be1st.ai/technologies/server/apache-http-server): 9.3% (1,574)
7. [jsDelivr](https://be1st.ai/technologies/server/jsdelivr): 7.2% (1,221)
8. [cdnjs](https://be1st.ai/technologies/server/cdnjs): 6.0% (1,019)
9. [Netlify](https://be1st.ai/technologies/server/netlify): 5.8% (971)
10. [AWS CloudFront](https://be1st.ai/technologies/server/aws-cloudfront): 5.1% (859)

## Google searches for “cloudflare”

About 4,090,000 searches a month worldwide (Google Ads estimate). The bars show the 12 months from Oct 2025 to Sep 2026.

- 2025-10: 2,240,000
- 2025-11: 9,140,000
- 2025-12: 4,090,000
- 2026-01: 2,740,000
- 2026-02: 2,740,000
- 2026-03: 3,350,000
- 2026-04: 3,350,000
- 2026-05: 3,350,000
- 2026-06: 3,350,000
- 2026-07: 3,350,000
- 2026-08: 4,090,000
- 2026-09: 4,090,000

Open in search trends: https://be1st.ai/analytics/trends?kw=cloudflare&direction=all

## Other technologies in Servers & Hosting

- [unpkg](https://be1st.ai/technologies/server/unpkg): 2.8% of websites
- [Fastly](https://be1st.ai/technologies/server/fastly): 1.6% of websites
- [BunnyCDN](https://be1st.ai/technologies/server/bunnycdn): 1.2% of websites
- [Microsoft IIS](https://be1st.ai/technologies/server/microsoft-iis): 1.0% of websites
- [LiteSpeed](https://be1st.ai/technologies/server/litespeed): <1% of websites
- [Caddy](https://be1st.ai/technologies/server/caddy): <1% of websites
- [Amazon S3](https://be1st.ai/technologies/server/amazon-s3): <1% of websites
- [Google Cloud](https://be1st.ai/technologies/server/google-cloud): <1% of websites
- [Varnish](https://be1st.ai/technologies/server/varnish): <1% of websites
- [Azure](https://be1st.ai/technologies/server/azure): <1% of websites
- [Hostinger CDN](https://be1st.ai/technologies/server/hostinger-cdn): <1% of websites
- [GitHub Pages](https://be1st.ai/technologies/server/github-pages): <1% of websites

[All 35 in Servers & Hosting](https://be1st.ai/technologies/server)

## Questions about Cloudflare

### What is Cloudflare?

Global network for web security and performance. Cloudflare provides CDN, DDoS protection, DNS, SSL, and Workers for edge computing. One of the largest network infrastructures in the world with presence in over 300 cities. The be1st catalog lists Cloudflare under Servers & Hosting. License of Cloudflare: Proprietary.

### How many websites use Cloudflare?

3,772 of the 16,845 websites audited by be1st run Cloudflare (22%), as of 8 Nov 2026.

### When was Cloudflare first released?

Cloudflare was first released in 2009.

### Is Cloudflare still a modern choice?

Yes. Cloudflare counts as a modern technology. Dominant player in CDN and web security. Cloudflare Workers and Pages extend the platform with serverless hosting and full-stack deployment.

### What are the alternatives to Cloudflare?

Technologies that do the same job as Cloudflare include AWS CloudFront, Fastly, BunnyCDN, and Akamai.

Numbers: latest audit of each of 16,845 websites audited by be1st, as of 8 Nov 2026.