What is Cloudflare?

Cloudflare is a company that offers a range of services and features focused on control, security, speed, and cost. Their solutions cater to enterprises, technology leaders, and global organizations. In this article, we will share key facts about Cloudflare that you need to know, including their recognition in Gartner's Magic Quadrant for SSE, Forrester's Strong Performer in SSE Solutions, and IDC's MarketScape for Zero Trust Network Access.

What's Cloudflare's Pricing?

Cloudflare offers a Free plan, a Pro plan at $20 per month when billed annually or $25 per month when billed monthly, and a Business plan at $200 per month when billed annually or $250 per month when billed monthly. You can also request a demo for the Enterprise plan or contact sales for more details.

Cloudflare's Reviews

Users have shared positive feedback about Cloudflare Application Security and Performance, highlighting its strong security features, performance optimization, and ease of use. However, a few users mentioned concerns regarding pricing and technical complexity. Overall, Cloudflare Application Security and Performance has received an impressive rating of 4.5 out of 5. To read more about user experiences and reviews, visit the G2 website.

5 Alternatives to Cloudflare

1. Twingate

Twingate is a network security solution designed to replace traditional VPNs for remote access, offering a zero-trust security model and seamless deployment alongside existing infrastructure. With a focus on ease of use and scalability, Twingate aims to provide a secure and maintainable solution for businesses of all sizes.

• Use cases: Twingate is suitable for businesses looking to secure remote access to their private resources, implement granular access controls, and monitor network activity. It can be deployed on various networks, such as AWS, GCP, Azure, or a Linux server.

• Features: Twingate offers powerful access controls, lightning-fast speed, device intelligence, universal MFA, and seamless compliance. It also integrates with other software and services like CrowdStrike, Intune, Google Workspace, and Pulumi.

• Price: Twingate's pricing plans include Starter (Free), Teams ($5 per user per month), Business ($10 per user per month), and TwingateEnterprise (Custom pricing). Yearly plans offer a 15% discount.

• Reviews: Twingate has a 4.7 out of 5-star rating on G2. Users generally praise its ease of use, security features, and pricing, while some mention issues with the support team and the mobile version of the software.

2. Zscaler

Zscaler is a cybersecurity and zero trust leader, offering a cloud-native platform designed to secure users, workloads, and IoT/OT devices. With a focus on seamless, secure, and reliable access to applications and data, Zscaler aims to provide a comprehensive solution for businesses of all sizes.

• Use cases: Zscaler's solutions cater to securing users, building and running secure cloud apps, enabling zero trust cloud connectivity, protecting workloads from data center to cloud, and providing zero trust connectivity for IoT and OT devices.

• Features: Zscaler offers a Zero Trust Exchange Platform, business analytics, cyberthreat protection, data protection, and zero trust networking.

• Price: Pricing information is not explicitly mentioned on the Zscaler website. Users may need to contact the company for pricing details or request a custom demo.

• Reviews: Zscaler Cloud Platform has a 4.5 out of 5-star rating on G2. Users generally praise its robust security capabilities, scalability, and ease of use, while some mention issues with slow system operation and inconsistent SSL support for some URLs.

3. AWS VPN

AWS VPN is a service offered by Amazon Web Services that enables secure connections between on-premises networks, remote workers, and the cloud. With a focus on scalability and integration with mobile authentication systems, AWS VPN aims to provide a secure and efficient solution for businesses of all sizes.

• Use cases: AWS VPN is suitable for quickly scaling remote access, integrating with mobile authentication systems, controlling application migrations, and securing communication between remote locations.

• Features: AWS VPN offers AWS Client VPN, a fully managed elastic VPN service, and AWS Site-to-Site VPN, which creates secure connections between data centers or branch offices and AWS cloud resources.

• Price: Pricing for AWS VPN includes hourly fees for VPN connections, data transfer charges, Global Accelerator fees, and Data Transfer Premium fees. Detailed pricing information can be found on the AWS VPN Pricing page.

• Reviews: AWS VPN has a 4.6 out of 5-star rating on G2. Users generally praise its connectivity, security features, and ease of use, while some mention concerns about pricing and technical complexity.

4. Netbird

NetBird is an open-source network security solution that enables users to connect and secure their IT infrastructure quickly and easily. Combining a configuration-free peer-to-peer private network with a centralized access control system, NetBird aims to provide enterprise-grade network security at a fraction of the cost for businesses of all sizes.

• Use cases: NetBird is designed for teams and organizations that need to connect and secure their IT infrastructure, offering secure remote access and site-to-site connectivity.

• Features: NetBird includes high-performance peer-to-peer networking based on WireGuard®, encryption, SSO with Google Workspaces, Azure, Okta, access controls, private DNS, network routes, and management activity logging.

• Price: NetBird offers a Free plan ($0 per user per month), a Team plan ($5 per user per month), and a Business plan ($12 per user per month). A custom Enterprise plan is also available upon request.

• Reviews: NetBird has a 5.0 out of 5-star rating on G2. Users praise its ease of installation, open-source nature, and continuous updates, while noting that it may not be as advanced as more mature offerings in the market.

5. Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks is a cybersecurity company that offers AI-driven security operations and a range of next-gen solutions for cloud security, automation-driven security operations, ML-powered network security, secure hybrid workforces, and threat intelligence and security consulting.

• Use cases: Palo Alto Networks' solutions cater to securing cloud environments, automating security operations, stopping zero-day threats, securing hybrid workforces, and providing threat intelligence and security consulting.

• Features: While specific features are not listed on the website, Palo Alto Networks integrates best-in-breed capabilities, uses automation-driven security operations, and implements Zero Trust principles to provide comprehensive cybersecurity solutions.

• Price: Pricing information is not available on the Palo Alto Networks website. Users may need to contact the company for pricing details or request a custom demo.

• Reviews: Prisma SASE, a Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) platform by Palo Alto Networks, has a 4.5 out of 5-star rating on G2. Users generally praise its features and ease of use, while some mention issues with customer support and the product being a bit expensive.