Cloudflare acts as a protective “filter layer” for Internet connectivity. It is widely adopted by global services, yet is also viewed as one of the potential bottlenecks of today’s digital infrastructure.

On the evening of November 18, 2025, users across many regions of the world experienced difficulties accessing major platforms such as xAI, Grok, X, Discord, OpenAI ChatGPT, Shopify, and thousands of smaller websites. Cloudflare later confirmed that the cause was a misconfiguration in a Bot Management module update, which mistakenly blocked legitimate traffic. The issue was resolved within 45 minutes, but it raised new concerns about the role of Cloudflare and similar service providers in the global network architecture.

According to Bloomberg, Cloudflare is a Content Delivery Network (CDN) that manages web traffic for millions of websites and apps, processing an average of 81 million HTTP requests per second. It continues to grow rapidly, adding tens of thousands of new customers every day.

While similar providers exist—such as Akamai, Fastly, and Imperva—Cloudflare is the largest Internet infrastructure provider, powering roughly 20% of global traffic and helping protect websites from cyberattacks while optimizing page load speed.

Angelique Medina, Head of Internet Intelligence at Cisco ThousandEyes, explained to Mashable that CDNs are distributed infrastructures designed to accelerate content delivery and enhance user experience by caching and serving content from locations closer to users.

“They serve as a gateway to websites and applications, where users connect to Cloudflare’s servers instead of the customers’ origin servers,” she said. “When that gate becomes unavailable, users lose access. Since Cloudflare serves a massive number of customers, outages can affect huge portions of the Internet, as we’ve seen”.

Cloudflare was founded in 2009 by Matthew Prince, Lee Holloway, and Michelle Zatlyn. The initial idea dates back to 2004 with Project Honey Pot—an open-source tool to identify the sources of spam emails. The platform quickly expanded to protect websites against cyberattacks and improve performance. Cloudflare officially launched in 2010, focusing on solving major Internet challenges at the time, such as slow speeds and emerging security threats.

Today, 30% of Fortune 500 companies use Cloudflare, according to Wappalyzer and TheirStack. W3Techs data shows that Cloudflare powers 20.4% of all global websites. In the Reverse Proxy/CDN segment, Cloudflare captures up to 80% market share. AI companies such as OpenAI, Discord, IBM, and Zendesk rely on it; e-commerce players include Shopify, DoorDash, and Canva; entertainment platforms include Spotify and Riot Games’ League of Legends; social networks include X and Medium.

How Cloudflare Works

Cloudflare operates using a global edge network with more than 330 data centers across 125 countries.

In the early Internet era, user requests went directly to origin servers, creating bottlenecks and frequent downtime. Cloudflare mitigates this by placing servers closer to users, reducing latency.

Cloudflare uses a Reverse Proxy mechanism, which distinguishes it from traditional routing. When a user visits a website protected by Cloudflare, the request is routed through Cloudflare’s network rather than directly to the origin server. Within milliseconds, the system inspects and filters traffic, blocks DDoS attacks by absorbing and dispersing malicious traffic, and shields websites from bad bots and security vulnerabilities such as SQL injection attacks.

Imagine an airline passenger: instead of walking straight to the aircraft, they must pass through security screening. Cloudflare performs this screening for data. If a “terrorist” (hacker, bot, malware) is detected, security stops them immediately. Only legitimate passengers proceed—ensuring the aircraft (origin server) is never overloaded or attacked directly.

Cloudflare also optimizes loading speed by using its edge network for caching. If requested content already exists in the edge cache, it is delivered instantly without contacting the origin. If not, Cloudflare retrieves it from the origin using private networks or optimized routing instead of congested public Internet paths. SSL/TLS encryption is used for secure connections, and developers can run custom code on Cloudflare Workers to personalize user experiences without performance loss.

Anycast—the secret weapon behind Cloudflare’s speed—routes users to the nearest data center. Instead of routing a user in Japan to a server in the U.S., Anycast directs them to the closest Cloudflare node, often within the same metropolitan area.

The Internet’s ‘Bottleneck’ Risk

Cloudflare serves as both the shield and accelerator for the Internet, helping solve fundamental issues like slow loading, DDoS attacks, malicious bots, and security vulnerabilities.

In recent years, Cloudflare has expanded beyond CDN services. In its Q3 2025 earnings call, CEO Matthew Prince highlighted the company’s Connectivity Cloud vision—positioning itself as a competitor to cloud giants like AWS and Google Cloud. Cloudflare Workers enable application code to run directly on thousands of global edge servers.

Amid the AI boom, Cloudflare has become an essential guardian for large language models such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and xAI’s Grok—providing infrastructure to manage billions of daily requests, filter unauthorized data harvesting, and protect GPUs from cyberattacks.

However, controlling 1/5 of global Internet traffic also raises concerns about the “Single Point of Failure”. Instead of attacking individual websites, hackers could strike Cloudflare and trigger cascading failures across thousands of services.

According to DEV Community, Cloudflare controls an “outsized” portion of critical Internet services—including DNS, CDN, DDoS protection, APIs, edge computing, and routing optimization (Argo). When Cloudflare experiences issues, everything built upon it shudders.

“It’s not that Cloudflare is too big—it’s that they solve problems at a scale others shy away from,” DEV Community wrote. “When Cloudflare sneezes, the Internet catches a cold”.

Following the November 18 outage, experts worry that the Internet is becoming too centralized around a handful of infrastructure providers like Cloudflare, AWS, Google, and Akamai. “The challenge has gone beyond technical issues,” said Ramutė Varnelytė, CEO of IPXO. “The incident highlights the systemic risk of relying heavily on a small number of providers”.

Medina from Cisco ThousandEyes added that this concentration makes the Internet fragile. While the number of outages hasn't increased, the impact of each one is becoming significantly larger.

Cloudflare also faces controversies around content moderation. As a powerful intermediary, it can “pull the plug” on any website violating its policies—as seen when it terminated services for 8chan in 2019 and Kiwi Farms in 2022. Although these decisions were praised for removing harmful content, free-speech advocates raise a critical question: Who watches the gatekeepers?

Should Small and Medium Businesses Use Cloudflare?

For SMEs, the Cloudflare question is increasingly strategic. While the platform offers enterprise-grade global security, its complexity introduces new considerations:

• Do you genuinely need global-scale DDoS protection, or are your threats more localized?
• Is your website or application mission-critical enough that even one small outage is unacceptable?
• Are you prepared to rely on a centralized provider that could become a single point of failure for your entire digital presence?
• What is your tolerance for third-party policy control (e.g., content moderation, traffic filtering, bot rules)?
• Is the performance uplift worth the cost relative to your customer base’s geography and traffic patterns?

Best-Fit Scenarios for SMEs

Cloudflare is a strong fit for SMEs that:

• Serve customers in multiple countries or require low latency across regions.
• Have experienced DDoS or bot attacks—or operate in industries frequently targeted (finance, e-commerce, media).
• Need affordable CDN + WAF + DNS + caching in a single integrated stack.
• Plan to scale rapidly and want infrastructure that grows without complexity.

The Gray Zone (Where the Decision Isn’t Obvious)

These SMEs fall into the “it depends” category:

• Traffic is moderate, not global, but the business expects to scale in the next 12–24 months.
• Security concerns exist but are not yet critical.
• The website depends heavily on dynamic content where caching benefits are limited.
• Internal teams lack the expertise to fine-tune Cloudflare rules, leading to accidental blocking of legitimate traffic (as happened in the November 18 outage).
• Cost concerns arise when moving from free/Pro plans to Business/Enterprise tiers.

In this gray zone, Cloudflare may offer too much—or too little.

Cost–Benefit Analysis for SMEs

• Global security at a fraction of enterprise cost: Cloudflare provides WAF, DDoS protection, CDN caching, SSL/TLS, rate limiting, and bot filtering bundled together—far cheaper than building these individually.
• Performance improvements: Faster load times boost conversion rates, SEO performance, and user satisfaction.
• Operational resilience: Origin servers face less load, lowering hosting costs and improving uptime.
• Scalable infrastructure: SMEs can expand internationally without changing hosting providers.

• Vendor lock-in: Heavy dependence on Cloudflare’s routing and cache rules makes migration difficult.
• Centralized risk: If Cloudflare suffers an outage, your site goes down regardless of your own infrastructure quality.
• Potential misconfiguration: SMEs without DevOps talent may inadvertently block legitimate traffic.
• Upgrading tiers can be expensive: Serious security (e.g., advanced WAF, Bot Management) requires Business/Enterprise plans.
• Policy control: Cloudflare’s moderation decisions could affect certain high-risk or controversial business types.

Cloudflare: A Strategic Choice, Not a Default Requirement for SMEs

Using Cloudflare is less about whether you need it, and more about whether you can operate safely without it.

For many SMEs, Cloudflare’s free or low-cost tiers deliver unmatched value, especially when facing modern security threats.

However, SMEs must also acknowledge the trade-offs: increased dependency on a global gatekeeper, the risk of centralized outages, and the need for careful configuration.

Cloudflare is not a universal answer. It is a strategic choice—one that demands both technical understanding and a cost-benefit mindset.

Cloudflare Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Alternative Solutions for SMEs with Limited Budgets

For small and medium-sized enterprises, investing in Cloudflare’s higher-tier plans can sometimes exceed available budgets. In such cases, cost-effective yet reliable alternatives are crucial. One notable option is Bunny CDN, a global content delivery network offering a flexible pay-as-you-go pricing model while maintaining high performance and reliability.

Bunny CDN provides a worldwide network of Points of Presence (POPs), intelligent image optimization (WebP/AVIF), caching, and essential security features suitable for SMEs. This solution accelerates website load times, reduces latency, and enhances user experience without requiring large upfront investments or complex operational management. As a result, Bunny CDN is particularly well-suited for content websites, small e-commerce platforms, and growing businesses that want to ensure performance and security while keeping costs under control.

Using Bunny CDN as an alternative to Cloudflare not only helps optimize operational costs but also delivers tangible benefits in security, speed, and global scalability—critical factors for businesses navigating digital transformation today.

Cloudflare vs Bunny.net: Choosing the Right Solution for SMEs

For small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), selecting the right content delivery and security solution requires balancing performance, reliability, and cost. Cloudflare offers a comprehensive global infrastructure with advanced security features, DDoS protection, Web Application Firewall (WAF), and edge computing capabilities. Its network supports millions of websites and applications, making it a robust choice for companies with high traffic or global operations.

However, the higher-tier plans of Cloudflare, such as Business or Enterprise, can be expensive for SMEs, with costs ranging from several hundred to thousands of dollars per month. For businesses that do not require enterprise-grade features or face budget constraints, Bunny CDN provides a compelling alternative. Bunny.net delivers global CDN coverage, intelligent caching, image optimization (WebP/AVIF), and essential security features—all with a flexible pay-as-you-go pricing model. This allows SMEs to maintain high website performance and security without incurring large upfront or ongoing expenses.

Key Considerations for SMEs:

• Performance Needs: If global low-latency delivery and handling high traffic volumes are critical, Cloudflare may be the better fit. For moderate traffic and regional reach, Bunny CDN performs exceptionally well.
• Budget Constraints: Bunny CDN is ideal for businesses seeking cost-effective solutions without sacrificing speed or reliability.
• Security Requirements: While Bunny CDN offers essential security features, Cloudflare provides more advanced options such as full Bot Management, advanced WAF rules, and enterprise-grade DDoS protection.

Ultimately, SMEs must weigh their technical requirements, traffic patterns, and budget. Bunny.net emerges as a practical, budget-friendly alternative, providing much of the core functionality of Cloudflare while remaining accessible to smaller organizations. By strategically selecting the right provider, SMEs can achieve optimized website performance, robust security, and scalable infrastructure suited to their growth stage.