Cloudflare
Every request, served from the edge.
Cloudflare runs a global network with 300+ points of presence in 120+ countries. Your site gets served from the PoP nearest to each user — 4ms from Dublin, 3ms from Tokyo, 6ms from São Paulo. Plus DDoS protection, WAF, DNS, Workers edge compute, and R2 storage. For any serious web presence, Cloudflare is infrastructure you almost certainly want.
Cloudflare edge network · 300+ PoPs
Dublin user → Dublin4ms
Dublin
300+
PoPs worldwide
120+
Countries
50ms
Avg latency
99.99%
Uptime
The platform
Cloudflare isn't one product — it's the whole edge.
CDN
Static assets cached at every PoP. Images, CSS, JS delivered from metres away, not continents. Auto-optimises images, Brotli compression, HTTP/3.
DDoS protection
Absorbs massive attacks at the edge before they reach your origin. Included at every tier. The baseline security everyone needs.
WAF (Web App Firewall)
Blocks SQL injection, XSS, known exploits, bot traffic. Managed rulesets + custom rules. Visible in dashboard — see what's being blocked.
DNS
Fastest authoritative DNS on the planet. Free. Paired with SSL management + one-click DNSSEC. Your domain should be here regardless of hosting choice.
Workers (edge compute)
JavaScript/TypeScript/WASM running at every PoP. Rewrite requests, A/B test, run APIs without a server. 10ms cold start.
R2 storage
S3-compatible object storage with zero egress fees. Hosting images, videos, backups — dramatically cheaper than AWS S3 at scale.
D1 + Workers KV
Edge-distributed SQL (D1) and key-value (KV) stores. Low-latency reads from every PoP. Good for edge-first apps.
Pages
Static site hosting with Git integration. Deploy Next.js, Nuxt, Astro, SvelteKit. Free tier covers many small sites fully.
Zero Trust
Access (SSO-based app access), Tunnel (no public IP needed), Gateway (secure browsing). Replaces a corporate VPN; protects internal tools.
The hot product
Workers — serverless code running at every PoP.
Cloudflare Workers runs JavaScript/TypeScript/WASM at 300+ edges with ~10ms cold start. Rewrite requests, build APIs, route traffic — without servers. The category leader for edge compute.
Request rewriting
Modify headers, rewrite URLs, A/B test versions, geo-route based on CF-IPCountry header. Sits between user + origin invisibly.
APIs at the edge
Build full REST APIs that live at every PoP. Hono or itty-router as micro-frameworks. Pair with D1 for data.
Auth middleware
JWT validation, rate limiting, IP-based restrictions — applied at edge before request reaches your origin server.
Image transformation
Resize, re-encode, watermark images on-demand per request. Cache the result. Replaces a dedicated image service.
Webhook fan-out
Receive webhook at edge, send to 3 different systems, deduplicate, handle retries. Stays within Cloudflare — low latency, reliable.
Full apps on Pages + Workers
Next.js/Remix/SvelteKit on Pages; Server-Components + API routes run as Workers. Full modern stack, edge-native.
Pricing tiers
Cloudflare's pricing — genuinely good free tier.
Most Irish SMBs will stay on Free or Pro forever. Business tier matters for regulated work; Enterprise for compliance + white-glove support.
Free
€0
CDN + DDoS + SSL + DNS + 100k Workers req/day
Most SMB sites fully covered
Pro
€20/mo
+ Image optimisation + WAF (basic) + advanced DDoS
Business sites needing better SLA
Business
€200/mo
+ Full WAF + Cloud Access Security Broker + priority support
PCI, compliance, high-traffic
Enterprise
Custom
+ 100% uptime SLA + dedicated IPs + custom contracting
Regulated enterprises
Our usual take: Irish SMBs start on Free. Upgrade to Pro (€20/mo) when they need image-opt or basic WAF. Business tier is worth it when you're processing payments or running regulated workflows.
Honest limits
Where Cloudflare isn't the right answer.
Traditional WordPress setups wanting full page caching
Cloudflare CDN caches static assets well. Full-page HTML caching for logged-in WordPress users needs APO (€5/mo add-on) + correct configuration. Not auto-magic for dynamic sites.
Workers vs Node.js ecosystem
Workers runs a subset of Node APIs. Some npm packages don't work (those using fs, net, or native extensions). If your code depends heavily on Node-specific APIs, AWS Lambda or Railway fit better.
Cold-start-averse enterprise workloads
Workers cold starts are fast (~10ms) but non-zero. For sub-millisecond critical path services, dedicated always-warm infra matters. Usually a non-issue for web apps.
You need deep server-side Node/Python
Cloudflare is edge-first. If your app needs long-running Python (ML inference, heavy data processing), a VPS or container platform fits better than Workers.
Strict data residency outside CF's footprint
CF has EU data residency options, but if you need guarantees that data never leaves Germany (etc.), check coverage. Rare but real for specific compliance contexts.
Over-reliance on one vendor
Every layer on one vendor = concentrated risk. For critical services, architect so DNS + compute + storage could be moved without outage. Cloudflare's strong but not infallible.
Frequently asked
Cloudflare questions.
Yes — Cloudflare is a layer in front of your hosting (the "origin"). Requests hit CF first; cached assets served from edge, dynamic requests proxied to your origin (Kinsta, cPanel, your VPS, etc.). Cloudflare replaces/augments CDN + WAF + DNS, not the server your app runs on. Workers can replace origin for edge-first apps.
Get your site on the Cloudflare edge.
45-minute technical review. We audit your current stack, recommend CF services that would help, sketch the migration. Most clients see 30-60% faster page loads just from the CDN + WAF alignment.