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Cloudflare vs Netlify

Two sides of the hosting decision: edge platform and frontend cloud. When each fits, what it costs, who moves from one to the other, and what makers who chose it say.

CloudflareEdge platformllms.txtMCP
NetlifyFrontend cloudllms.txtIn Bolt
Ask your AI about this, with this page as the source:ChatGPT ↗Claude ↗Perplexity ↗

Which fits you

Choose Cloudflare if
  • Your app is a static site or docs and should cost nothing to host

Use it whenYou want the cheapest global hosting and can live with the Workers runtime.

Trade-offThe Workers runtime isn't full Node.js; some libraries need adapting.

Choose Netlify if
  • You built a Next.js or other frontend-heavy app and want preview URLs on every pull request

Use it whenYour site is static or JAMstack on a framework other than Next.js.

Trade-offServer-side features run as functions with time limits; long-running work needs another host.

At a glance

CloudflareNetlify
Used by374 makers' products · 190 open-source projects239 makers' products · 54 open-source projects
Cost at default usagerequests 5 million requests, data transfer out 100 GB, serverless function compute 100 GB-hours$12/mo Workers Paid$27/mo Pro 3,000 credits
Moved to it on GitHubpull requests since Oct 2024125 from Netlify15 from Cloudflare
Downloads18.6M/wk3.1× vs npm323.1k/wk−55% vs npm
PricingGenerous free tier; usage-based paid plans. · paid from $5/mo (Workers Paid)Free tier; paid plans from $9/month, billed by monthly credits. · paid from $9/mo
Free tierYesYes
Open sourceNoNo
Incidents, 90 daysfrom its status page50+11 (4 major)

Cost as you grow

Both cost $0 up to 100k requests; from 500k requests Cloudflare costs less ($5.12 vs $9.00); and still does at 500M requests ($871 vs $2,659). They're different kinds of tool — edge platform and frontend cloud — so the prices don't buy the same thing.

$0$100$500$1,000$2,0000.10.5151050100500
NetlifyCloudflarex: requests per month (million requests), other usage scaled with it · cheapest usable plan at each point, list prices · try your own numbers
The numbers, plan by plan
Requests per monthCloudflareNetlify
0.1$0 Workers Free$0 Free
0.5$5.12 Workers Paid$9.00 Personal
1$5.84 Workers Paid$9.00 Personal
5$12 Workers Paid$27 Pro 3,000 credits
10$19 Workers Paid$53 Pro 5,000 credits
50$88 Workers Paid$259 Pro 20,000 credits
100$175 Workers Paid$526 Pro 20,000 credits
500$871 Workers Paid$2,659 Pro 20,000 credits

From each vendor's pricing page: Cloudflare, Netlify.

Who moves from one to the other

Public pull requests on GitHub since Oct 2024 whose title says "Cloudflare to Netlify" or the reverse — real code changes, by developers in general rather than makers only.

Netlify → Cloudflare125 PRs
All matching pull requests on GitHub ↗
Cloudflare → Netlify15 PRs
All matching pull requests on GitHub ↗

What makers say

Makers on using it for hosting, from Product Hunt and Starter Story interviews, each linked to the source. Products with a page of their own and fuller notes first.

On Cloudflare
Cloudflare handles everything for iVox — DNS, website hosting on Pages, R2 file storage for downloads, and Workers for the license backend. All of it, basically free at indie scale.
iVox, the makerJun 2026 ↗
Cloudflare Workers and Pages let us deploy instantly at the network edge, delivering lightning-fast performance and reliability without the usual complexities of traditional hosting.
Comigo, the makerSep 2026 ↗
Snapset’s website, licensing backend, and email routing all run on Cloudflare. Pages, Workers, and D1 let me keep the infrastructure simple and manage almost everything in one place.
Snapset, the makerSep 2026 ↗
230 more on the Cloudflare page →
On Netlify
Hosts tidymacapp.com and serves the app itself. Deploying is dragging a folder onto a page. For a solo dev shipping a $9 utility, that's exactly the right amount of infrastructure.
Tidy, the makerSep 2026 ↗
Turn has been served from Netlify since v1 and it handles our global user base well. I also love being able to use the A/B testing function of Netlify to test new features.
Turn, the makerSep 2026 ↗
Netlify is great for hosting next.js. I used to love Vercel, but decided to switch due to the recent updates. Overall it has been quick and easy to deploy and have so far not had any issues.
Random Song Generator, the makerSep 2026 ↗
36 more on the Netlify page →

Loved and watch-outs

Themes that recur in makers' words and Hacker News comments, each linked to what it summarises.

Cloudflare
Most loved
  • Workers, D1, R2, Durable Objects and more combine as bindings on one platform instead of separate vendors. PHPH 2PH 3PH 4
  • The free tier bundles DNS, CDN, TLS and abuse protection in one dashboard. PHPH 2
  • Wrangler deploys to the global edge in seconds, with preview links per pull request. PHPH 2PH 3
Watch-outs
  • Bot checks and default AI-crawler blocking get in the way of legitimate users and automation. HNHN 2HN 3HN 4
  • The dashboard is slow and buggy, with login and passkey problems. HNHN 2
  • It has cut off customers abruptly, and billing support was slow and unhelpful when production went down. HNHN 2HN 3
On Product Hunt: 5.0★, 241 reviews · mentioned most: fast performance, reliable security, global CDN
Netlify
Most loved
  • Connecting a GitHub repo gives automatic builds and deploys on every commit. PHPH 2HN
  • The free tier covers low-traffic static sites. PHHNHN 2
  • Built-in forms, pull request previews, SSL, CDN and instant rollbacks remove extra setup. HNPH
Watch-outs
  • Free-tier sites get paused at usage limits, and large surprise bills have happened. HNHN 2HN 3
  • Price increases and weak bot-traffic protection push small customers to look elsewhere. HNHN 2
  • Scammers abuse netlify.app subdomains, so some sites and DNS blocklists block them. HNHN 2HN 3
On Product Hunt: 5.0★, 57 reviews · mentioned most: easy deployment, Git integration, automatic builds

Who uses each

Cloudflare374 makers' products
2dto3DAgent 37 Cloudagent-managerAgentCenter for OpenClawAgentXAgnost AIAI Santa ClausAINaveAntiquotedApple Dev Docs Translation & EnhancerAppllamaAskReferral+362 more
Netlify239 makers' products
AritectAviquillBank Statement ConverterBurnLinkClaio.aiDEV CommunityDiracDoverEddie AIEyedropperFlexi DomainGreta+227 more
Used by both — often one replacing the other, or each for a different part of the product
BurnLinkDEV CommunityRandom Song GeneratorTI84 calculator onlineHey NoahPrismaFigmaSketch

What makers pair each with

With Cloudflare
Payments
Frontend Framework
Transactional Email
LLM API
With Netlify
Frontend Framework
Transactional Email
Web Analytics
Database

Neither quite right?

See the whole hosting decision →
VercelFrontend cloudNext.js apps — zero-config deploys and preview URLs.vs Cloudflare →vs Netlify →
RailwayPaaSServers, workers and databases deployed together, with almost no configuration.vs Cloudflare →vs Netlify →
RenderPaaSA Heroku-style platform for web services, cron jobs and Postgres.vs Netlify →
Fly.ioContainer platformDocker apps that should run close to users in many regions.
Amazon Web ServicesHyperscaler cloudThe widest catalog of building blocks — Lambda, containers, managed databases, queues — to assemble your own infrastructure.vs Cloudflare →
Hetzner CloudYour own serverA lot of CPU and RAM per euro, in European, US and Singapore regions.
CoolifyYour own serverA Heroku- or Vercel-style dashboard on your own server, with many one-click services.