Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Netlify VS Cloudflare Pages

Compare Netlify VS Cloudflare Pages and see what are their differences

Netlify logo Netlify

Build, deploy and host your static site or app with a drag and drop interface and automatic delpoys from GitHub or Bitbucket

Cloudflare Pages logo Cloudflare Pages

Deploy blazing fast static sites and serverless functions.
  • Netlify Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-23
  • Cloudflare Pages Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-19

Netlify features and specs

  • Deployment Speed
    Netlify offers very fast and easy deployment processes, often requiring just a push to a Git repository.
  • Built-in CDN
    Netlify includes a global Content Delivery Network (CDN) to speed up the delivery of websites and applications.
  • Serverless Functions
    Netlify provides serverless functions allowing developers to run backend code without managing servers.
  • Automated Builds
    Automated build processes are integrated, supporting continuous integration and deployment (CI/CD).
  • Custom Domains and SSL
    Easily manage custom domains and automatically provision and renew SSL certificates.
  • Integrated Form Handling
    Netlify offers form handling capabilities out-of-the-box, simplifying the process of collecting form data.
  • Plugins and Integrations
    Extensible with a wide range of plugins and integrations including analytics, CMS, and other third-party services.
  • Developer-Friendly
    Offers a wide range of developer-friendly features, such as split testing, instant rollbacks, and APIs for customization.
  • Free Tier
    Generous free tier that allows for hosting of personal projects and small websites at no cost.

Possible disadvantages of Netlify

  • Pricing
    While there's a free tier, more advanced features and higher usage can become expensive on a paid plan.
  • Function Limits
    Serverless functions have execution and duration limits, which may not be suitable for all applications.
  • Platform-Specific
    Deployment and feature configurations can be platform-specific, which may require learning new processes that differ from other providers.
  • Build Minutes
    The free tier includes limited build minutes, which can be a constraint for projects that require frequent deployments.
  • Vendor Lock-In
    Using Netlify-specific features (like certain build plugins) can make it harder to migrate to another hosting provider.
  • Limited Backend Services
    Primarily designed for frontend applications, so it may not be as robust for extensive backend services compared to traditional servers.
  • Steep Learning Curve
    Some advanced features may have a steep learning curve for beginners.
  • Build Times
    Build times can be slow for very large sites or monorepos, impacting continuous deployment speed.
  • Support
    Customer support responses can be slow on the lower-tier plans.

Cloudflare Pages features and specs

  • Speed and Performance
    Cloudflare Pages automatically optimizes content delivery using Cloudflare's global CDN, ensuring fast page load times regardless of user location.
  • Security
    Built-in security features like DDoS protection, SSL/TLS encryption, and firewall rules ensure that your applications are secure from common web threats.
  • Developer-Friendly
    Supports modern web development frameworks and seamless integration with Git repositories for continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD).
  • Scalability
    Automatically scales to handle varying levels of web traffic without the necessity for manual intervention.
  • Ease of Use
    Offers a straightforward setup process and an intuitive dashboard, making it accessible even for developers with limited experience in deploying web applications.
  • Free Tier
    Provides a free tier with generous limits, making it a cost-effective option for startups and small projects.
  • Integrations
    Easily integrates with other Cloudflare services, such as Workers, for building and deploying full-stack applications.

Possible disadvantages of Cloudflare Pages

  • Vendor Lock-In
    Reliance on Cloudflare's specific ecosystem can make migrating to another service complex and costly.
  • Limited Server-Side Capabilities
    Primarily geared towards static site hosting with limited options for server-side processing compared to traditional hosting solutions.
  • Learning Curve
    Although user-friendly, there's still a learning curve for those unfamiliar with concepts like CDNs, DNS settings, and CI/CD pipelines.
  • Customization Constraints
    Some advanced use-cases may require workarounds or custom solutions not natively supported by the platform.
  • Pricing for High Traffic
    While the free tier is generous, costs can quickly escalate for high-traffic websites requiring extended features and bandwidth.

Netlify videos

Netlify Platform Tutorial Review

More videos:

  • Review - Deploy Websites In Seconds With Netlify
  • Review - Deploy Your Website In Minutes With Netlify

Cloudflare Pages videos

A First Look at Cloudflare Pages

More videos:

  • Tutorial - Cloudflare Pages Tutorial - Deploy Your Static Site in ~90 Seconds
  • Review - CLOUDFLARE PAGES: First look at Cloudflare's JAMstack deployment platform

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Netlify and Cloudflare Pages)
Cloud Computing
73 73%
27% 27
Static Site Generators
31 31%
69% 69
Developer Tools
66 66%
34% 34
CDN
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Netlify and Cloudflare Pages

Netlify Reviews

  1. Eleanor Bennett
    · Digital Marketing Specialist at Logit.io ·
    Useful previews

    As someone who is often creating new pages, Netlify's preview makes the review process easier. You can also use the generated URL from Netlify's preview to run an SEO audit prior to going live. This is very useful for spotting bugs or broken redirects.


Top 15 Cloudflare Alternatives: A Complete Guide
Netlify is a CDN service that also offers edge computing, web security, and VPN solutions. Netlify allows you to deploy and run your web content and applications on its edge network, which has over 70 edge locations in 35 countries. Netlify also provides security features, such as SSL, DDoS protection, WAF, and firewall, to protect your web content and applications.
Exploring alternatives to Vercel: A guide for web developers
Netlify is one of the most popular alternatives to Vercel, offering a comprehensive platform for deploying static sites and modern web applications. With a strong focus on developer experience, Netlify provides powerful features such as serverless functions, continuous deployment, and advanced analytics.
Source: fleek.xyz
Choosing the best Next.js hosting platform
Where Netlify is superior to Vercel is the list of add-ons they offer. Among them, Netlify Forms allow developers to manage forms and submission without extra code. It even integrates with third-party applications such as MailChimp, Zendesk, and more.
Top 10 Netlify Alternatives
Although Netlify is a credible static app hosting and deployment platform for all sizes of businesses. But if you still want alternatives, then you should consider our suggested Netlify alternatives. This guide displays all these alternatives to Netlify in detail with pricing structure and core properties. Hopefully, you will pick a suitable option for your project.
3 best alternatives to the big cloud providers
Very interesting topic! I’m not sure if things like Netlify or Vercel could replace something like Kubernetes on GCP but I believe in the power of Netlify for hosting websites!
Source: dev.to

Cloudflare Pages Reviews

Exploring alternatives to Vercel: A guide for web developers
Cloudflare Pages is a relatively new entrant in the space, but it has quickly gained traction due to Cloudflare’s reputation for performance and security. Cloudflare Pages offers a simple, fast, and scalable platform for deploying static websites.
Source: fleek.xyz

Social recommendations and mentions

Cloudflare Pages might be a bit more popular than Netlify. We know about 142 links to it since March 2021 and only 108 links to Netlify. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Netlify mentions (108)

  • Deploy Your Full-Stack App for Free: Host Backend on Render and Frontend on Netlify in Minutes
    Deploy on Netlify Go to https://netlify.com and log in. Click "Add new site" → "Import an existing project". Connect your GitHub and choose your frontend repo. Fill in the deploy settings: Build Command: npm run build (or flutter build web) Publish Directory: build (for React) or build/web (for Flutter) Add your environment variables (e.g., your backend URL). Click Deploy Site. You’ll get a public frontend URL like:. - Source: dev.to / 18 days ago
  • How Bun can help to revive a Gridsome project
    Starting from this year, builds for this website's code through my Netlify account began failing. - Source: dev.to / about 2 months ago
  • I'm Joining Sentry
    As much as this is exciting news, it does mean that sadly I'm moving on from Netlify. Netlify which has been my home for the last 2 years and who believed in us(and me) before anyone else did. Their support is what made SolidStart possible. I've learned so much about deployment and infrastructure working closely with the Frameworks and Primitives team. I've traveled the world giving talks alongside the Developer... - Source: dev.to / 9 months ago
  • Join us for the Netlify Dynamic Site Challenge: $3,000 in Prizes!
    We are so excited to team up with Netlify to bring you our next DEV challenge. This Challenge is all about dynamic and high-performance digital experiences, across any framework! - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
  • Replatforming from Gatsby to Zola!
    Wait as the Netlify CI/CD robots work their magic to build and push my updated blog site with the shiny new post to the open internet. - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
View more

Cloudflare Pages mentions (142)

  • Show HN: A pure WebGL image editor with filters, crop and perspective correction
    Did you considered using WebGPU, or creating a bridge between WebGPU / WebGL for this? Also, have you considered deploying on Cloudflare Pages [1] (unlimited bandwidth) instead of netlify? [1] - https://pages.cloudflare.com/. - Source: Hacker News / 10 days ago
  • How to build a personal blog without paying a single euro
    In my case, I compared all the previous options and I chose Cloudflare pages, which it seems to me like the best option. - Source: dev.to / 6 months ago
  • Front-End Deployment Insights: Experiences and Metric Evaluations of Leading Cloud Platforms
    The test subjects include Vercel, Cloudflare Pages, GitHub Pages, and the newly discovered EdgeOne Pages from Tencent Cloud. The measurement indicators include global access latency, Google Lighthouse metrics and the smoothness of the deployment process. - Source: dev.to / 5 months ago
  • How to host Browser.application projects
    Browser.application is used when you want to support client-side routing. However, it requires you to be able to configure your web server to redirect requests to your index.html file. Since GitHub Pages doesn't allow you to customize their web server, you're forced to switch to another hosting service like Netlify, Render, or Cloudflare Pages. Thankfully, they all make it easy to do the configuration that's needed. - Source: dev.to / 7 months ago
  • How I host Elm web applications with GitHub Pages
    The good news is that the deploy process doesn't get more complicated than what I've shown you above. The core concept remains the same. You have branches (say a master branch and several feature branches) in which you use to implement your web application and you have branches (say a staging and production branch) you use for deployment. Then, you have to tell your hosting provider, be it GitHub Pages, Netlify,... - Source: dev.to / 7 months ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Netlify and Cloudflare Pages, you can also consider the following products

Vercel - Vercel is the platform for frontend developers, providing the speed and reliability innovators need to create at the moment of inspiration.

GitHub Pages - A free, static web host for open-source projects on GitHub

CloudFlare - Cloudflare is a global network designed to make everything you connect to the Internet secure, private, fast, and reliable.

Heroku - Agile deployment platform for Ruby, Node.js, Clojure, Java, Python, and Scala. Setup takes only minutes and deploys are instant through git. Leave tedious server maintenance to Heroku and focus on your code.

Render - Render is a unified platform to build and run all your apps and websites with free SSL, a global CDN, private networks and auto deploys from Git.

Amazon CloudFront - Amazon CloudFront is a content delivery web service.