AWS WAF vs Cloudflare
A detailed comparison to help you choose between AWS WAF and Cloudflare.
Quick Verdict
4.0/5
AWS WAF
0 reviews
4.3/5
Cloudflare
0 reviews
Cloudflare is rated higher (4.3 vs 4.0). AWS WAF is Amazon's web application firewall that can be attached to CloudFront, ALB, or API Gateway. Pay per rule ($1/rule/month) and per million requests ($0.60). Integrates with AWS Shield. Global network that speeds up and protects websites with CDN caching, DDoS protection, free SSL and DNS. Free plan; Pro costs $20/month billed annually ($25 monthly).
 AWS WAF Amazon WAF integrated with CloudFront and ALB | Cloudflare Global CDN and DDoS protection with object storage | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Rating | 4.0 (0 reviews) | 4.3 (0 reviews)✓ |
| Pricing model | usage-based | freemium |
| Starting price | From $5/mo✓ | From $20/mo |
| Best for | AWS-invested applications that need a managed, OWASP-focused WAF tightly integrated with CloudFront or ALB, with rules deployed as code | Websites and SaaS front ends that want a free or flat-priced global CDN with DDoS protection and TLS included — and can accept proxying all traffic through one vendor. |
| Features | ||
| IPv6 | ||
| DDoS protection | ||
| Automated backups | ||
| Snapshots | ||
| Managed option | ||
| Bare metal | ||
| GPU available | ||
| S3-compatible | ||
| Hourly billing | ✓ | |
| Free tier | ✓ | |
| Data-center locations | ||
| Regions | — | Global — 300+ cities |
| Tags | ||
| Tags | api accessus datacentereu datacenterapac datacenter | free tiers3 compatibleddos protectioneu datacenterus datacenterapac datacenterapi accessipv6terraform provider |
| Visit AWS WAF → | Visit Cloudflare → | |
AWS WAF
Pros
- + Edge-level blocking on CloudFront stops bad traffic before it reaches the origin
- + Transparent metered pricing with AWS's own worked cost examples published
- + AWS managed rule groups (OWASP CRS, SQLi, IP reputation) cost $1 each per month
- + Written SLA: 99.95% monthly uptime per region with defined service credits
- + Full API/CloudFormation coverage and deep CloudWatch and logging integration
Cons
- - Useless outside AWS — only protects CloudFront, ALB, API Gateway and AppSync resources
- - Web ACL Capacity Unit overages and Bot Control per-request fees can multiply the bill
- - Rule authoring is verbose JSON; serious use needs AWS and infrastructure-as-code skills
- - No free tier and no bundled DDoS cost protection without the separate Shield Advanced subscription
Cloudflare
Pros
- + Unmetered bandwidth and requests on every plan, including Free
- + Free managed WAF ruleset, Universal SSL and unmetered DDoS protection by default
- + 330+ city network with Anycast routing and no region pricing
- + Flat per-domain pricing is easy to budget; no egress surprises
- + Terraform provider and full API for configuration as code
Cons
- - No uptime SLA below the Business plan
- - Per-domain billing gets expensive for domain portfolios
- - Advanced WAF tuning and rate limiting are plan-gated
- - Proxy architecture is a concentration risk during network-level incidents
- - Large feature surface means caching misconfigurations can go unnoticed
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