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Grade: A — Score: 95/100
Cloudflare's technology leverages a global cloud network to enhance the performance and security of websites, applications, and networks. The platform integrates over 60 cloud services, enabling organizations to connect their users, applications, and infrastructure efficiently.
With Cloudflare One, users can implement a composable and programmable SASE architecture that accelerates innovation while ensuring zero trust access. This unified design simplifies workflows and enhances the security posture of organizations adopting AI technologies.
By utilizing Cloudflare Zero Trust, businesses can mitigate risks associated with cyber threats, ensuring that their AI applications and agents are protected from abuse and unauthorized access. This proactive approach to security is essential in today's digital landscape.
Free Plan: $0 forever
Pay-as-you-go: $7/user/month
Contract Plan: Annual custom price per user
Consider switching to Zscaler: Zscaler offers similar SASE solutions with a focus on secure access and cloud connectivity.
Zscaler is the largest pure-play SSE vendor with a more mature DLP, CASB, and threat intelligence stack, serving 40% of the Fortune 500. Cloudflare differentiates with lower user-perceived latency (its anycast network spans 300+ cities vs. Zscaler's 150+ data centers), a simpler deployment model for VPN replacement, and a Free plan covering 50 users that Zscaler does not offer. Cloudflare's Pay-as-you-go plan at $7/user/month is self-service, while Zscaler requires a sales conversation for all plans. However, Cloudflare's full DLP, email security, and RBI are only available as add-ons on the Contract plan.
Palo Alto Prisma Access integrates deeply with the Cortex XDR/XSIAM ecosystem for unified security operations and offers App-ID for application-layer protocol visibility that Cloudflare does not match. Prisma Access pricing is estimated at $14-$22/user/month, significantly more than Cloudflare's $7/user/month Pay-as-you-go tier. Cloudflare is a better fit for organizations prioritizing fast VPN replacement with simpler policy configuration, while Prisma Access suits enterprises with existing Palo Alto firewall deployments that want consistent security policies across on-premises and cloud.
Yes. The Free plan is a permanent tier (not a time-limited trial) that supports up to 50 users at no cost. It includes full ZTNA, Secure Web Gateway (DNS and HTTP filtering), Digital Experience Monitoring, device client, application connector software, CASB with 2 read-only API integrations, and DLP with limited predefined profiles. The 50-user limit is the most generous free tier in the SASE market. If you exceed 50 users, you must upgrade to the Pay-as-you-go plan at $7/user/month for all users (there is no partial billing).
Email security, full-featured DLP (custom profiles, custom datasets, OCR), unlimited out-of-band CASB integrations, and network services for SASE (Magic WAN, Magic Firewall) are only available as add-ons on the Contract plan. Remote Browser Isolation is an add-on on both Pay-as-you-go and Contract plans. Contract plans also provide phone support with 1-hour response time, up to 6 months of log retention with Logpush to SIEM/cloud storage, and access to professional services.
No. Cloudflare does not charge for bandwidth, number of app connectors, or volume of threats mitigated on any plan. Pricing is per user only. The Cloudflare Tunnel connector (which connects private networks to Cloudflare without exposing public IPs) has no throughput limitations and does not require VM infrastructure. This makes cost forecasting simpler than competitors that add usage-based surcharges for traffic volume or connector count.
Yes. ZTNA is the primary VPN replacement use case for Cloudflare Zero Trust. Instead of broad network access through a VPN tunnel, Cloudflare Access enforces identity- and context-based policies per application. Users install the WARP client on their devices, and Cloudflare Tunnel connects private resources without public IP exposure. Delivery Hero replaced VPNs for 40,000 employees using Cloudflare, reducing bandwidth costs by 90%. The approach works for self-hosted web apps, SaaS apps, and non-web protocols (SSH, RDP, VNC, arbitrary TCP/UDP).
Cloudflare Zero Trust supports authentication via any SAML 2.0 or OIDC-compliant identity provider, including Microsoft Entra ID (Azure AD), Okta, Google Workspace, OneLogin, and Ping Identity. Multiple identity providers can be used concurrently. Social identity providers (GitHub, Google, Facebook) are also supported, making it possible to grant access to contractors or external users without issuing corporate credentials. This IdP flexibility is available on all plans, including Free.
Cloudflare One is the full single-vendor SASE platform that bundles the Zero Trust security services (ZTNA, SWG, CASB, DLP, RBI, email security, DEM) with network services (Magic WAN for SD-WAN replacement, Magic Firewall for cloud-based firewall). Cloudflare Zero Trust refers specifically to the workspace security component. Organizations that only need to secure user access to applications use Zero Trust. Organizations that also need to connect and secure branch offices, data centers, and cloud networks use Cloudflare One, which requires a Contract plan.