The Best Cloudflare Alternatives

Choose bunny.net if...

✓you want a simpler CDN with great caching
✓you need an EU-focused hosting and delivery option
✓you prioritize video delivery alongside CDN

Netlify

Choose Netlify if...

✓you want effortless Git-based frontend deployments
✓you rely on deploy previews for fast QA
✓you need domains and SSL handled automatically

Render

Choose Render if...

✓you want long-running services without cold starts
✓you need hosting plus databases in one place
✓you want PaaS simplicity over cloud complexity

DigitalOcean

Choose DigitalOcean if...

✓you want predictable pricing and a clean console
✓you need straightforward VMs for always-on apps
✓you want easy scaling without hyperscaler overhead

Google Cloud Platform

Choose Google Cloud Platform if...

✓you need deep AI and data analytics services
✓you want Cloud Run for containerized serverless apps
✓you require enterprise security and global scale

What to Consider

Cloudflare is the default “front door” for a huge chunk of the internet—best known for a global CDN, fast DNS, and strong DDoS/WAF protection, and increasingly for edge compute. But not everyone wants an everything-platform: alternatives range from simpler CDN-first providers like bunny.net (with a strong EU-friendly angle), to frontend-first deployment platforms like Netlify, to Heroku-style PaaS options like Render, to straightforward developer clouds like DigitalOcean, and even full hyperscalers like Google Cloud Platform for teams that need deep data/AI services.

In evaluating options, we weighed real-world performance and reliability, how quickly teams can ship (Git-based deploys, automation, and sane defaults), pricing predictability for startups vs enterprises, breadth of managed services (databases, queues, observability), and how well each choice fits different architectures—from static sites to long-running backends to AI- and data-heavy workloads.

bunny.net

The simple way to deliver, secure, and build on the web

5.0 · 4 reviews

bunny.net is a strong Cloudflare alternative when the priority is a CDN that feels straightforward to buy, configure, and operate. It focuses on fast global delivery with strong caching, without pushing teams into a huge, all-encompassing platform experience.

Where bunny.net stands out is its “simple, self-serve” approach paired with practical edge features: CDN, security, storage, and compute under one pay-as-you-go model. For teams that don’t need Cloudflare’s full breadth (or want a lighter interface), bunny.net can cover the core delivery and protection layer with less overhead.

It’s also a compelling option for EU-first organizations that care about vendor geography and positioning, especially when “European provider” matters for procurement or customer trust. If video is central to the product, bunny.net’s built-in streaming stack can be a more purpose-built fit than assembling media delivery from general edge components.

Best for

Best for teams that want a simple, high-performance CDN with transparent pricing and optional video features.

Standout features

✓Fast global CDN with strong caching
✓Pay-as-you-go, self-serve platform
✓Video streaming with DRM options
✓WAF, DDoS, and rate limiting
✓EU-friendly provider positioning

Netlify

The platform for shipping web apps fast

5.0 · 45 reviews

Netlify shines when the main problem isn’t edge security primitives, but getting modern web apps shipped quickly with minimal ceremony. It’s built around a tight Git-based workflow that turns commits into deployments automatically, which is often more immediately valuable for frontend teams than Cloudflare’s broader connectivity stack.

The platform’s differentiator is the end-to-end web delivery experience: continuous deployment, global edge hosting, easy domain and SSL management, and a strong set of team-friendly deployment features. That makes it a great alternative when Cloudflare feels like infrastructure building blocks and the goal is a polished “web release pipeline” out of the box.

Netlify is also a natural pick for framework-based sites (including Next.js) where previewing changes is part of the culture. Deploy previews, fast rollbacks, and add-ons like forms and edge functions help teams iterate without stitching together separate hosting, CI, and review tooling.

Best for

Ideal for frontend and full-stack teams that want Git-driven deploys and fast preview workflows.

Standout features

✓Git-based continuous deployment
✓Deploy previews for every pull request
✓Automatic domains and SSL
✓Edge functions and middleware
✓Built-in forms and image CDN

Render

Build, deploy, and scale your apps with unparalleled ease

5.0 · 60 reviews

Render is a great alternative when the application needs to run as a conventional long-lived service rather than edge-isolated code. Instead of optimizing for “compute everywhere,” it optimizes for “production apps without platform engineering,” making it a better fit than Cloudflare for many standard backend architectures.

Its biggest advantage is the simplicity of deploying and operating web services, workers, and databases in one place, with automated builds and deployments from Git. Teams that find function-style constraints limiting often prefer Render’s approach: run real servers, scale as needed, and avoid the operational sprawl of assembling multiple cloud components.

Render also appeals to companies that want predictable, straightforward operations while still getting modern capabilities like zero-downtime deploys, managed TLS, and easy environment management. When the goal is to replace a complex AWS/GCP setup with a simpler PaaS while keeping flexibility, Render is often the cleanest jump.

Best for

Best for startups and developers who want Heroku-like simplicity for long-running backends and workers.

Standout features

✓Long-running web services and background workers
✓Auto-deploy from Git with zero downtime
✓Managed Postgres and Redis options
✓Private networking between services
✓Built-in TLS and global CDN

DigitalOcean

A cloud platform to deploy, manage & scale apps of any size

5.0 · 70 reviews

DigitalOcean is the alternative for teams who want cloud infrastructure that stays understandable: straightforward virtual machines, managed databases, and a console that doesn’t feel like a maze. Compared to Cloudflare’s edge-first model, DigitalOcean is often a better match for always-on services, custom stacks, and workloads that benefit from full server control.

The core differentiator is pricing and operational clarity. DigitalOcean’s approach is transparent and developer-friendly, which appeals to indie hackers and small teams who want to scale gradually without the surprise bills and complexity often associated with hyperscalers.

It also works well as a “recommendable default” for self-hosted products because spinning up servers is quick and repeatable, including via marketplace-style distributions. If Cloudflare is primarily being used for perimeter security and caching, DigitalOcean can run the origin infrastructure cleanly while leaving the edge layer optional.

Best for

Best for developers and SMBs who want predictable pricing and simple VM-based hosting.

Standout features

✓Droplets for simple VM hosting
✓Managed Postgres/MySQL and other databases
✓App Platform with Git deploys
✓Transparent, predictable billing
✓Clean UI and strong documentation

Google Cloud Platform

A suite of cloud computing services by Google

5.0 · 147 reviews