The security of your data is of utmost priority these days. When we live a significant portion of our life online, the risk of theft, fraud, and hacking are considerably higher.
To tackle these, you need a dependable security system that will only protect your data and privacy. In today’s article, we will share with you one such service that ensures security and improves website performance.
What is Cloudflare?
Cloudflare is a Content Delivery Network that aims to provide better security and performance on the internet. With hundreds of data centers located across the globe, Cloudflare uses UI and API.
It is capable of protecting you against spam, automated bots, SQL injection, and other threats available on the internet.
Cloudflare also helps improve the performance of your website with filtering, caching, and optimization of data. When you log into your Cloudflare account, your device becomes a part of the global network of Cloudflare servers. Optimization of web content through duplication of static content enables faster web content delivery.
Benefits of using Cloudflare
Here are some benefits of using Cloudflare for internet security:
- The CDN increases the speed of loading websites significantly.
- It enables protection against malicious attacks and hacks.
- Cloudflare filters out unwanted bots and spam from your system.
- It has free and universal SSL Certificates that renew automatically.
- The Browser Caching feature reduces the load on your servers.
- Easy Domain Name System included in all the four plans of Cloudflare.
- AMP Real URL allows for faster and priority search results on mobile devices.
- Easy-to-understand analytics for a website is made available.
- DDoS attacks prevention with alerts available for them.
- The primary features are available in the Free version of Cloudflare.
Plans available with Cloudflare
Cloudflare is available in four plan alternatives, Free, Pro, Business, and Enterprise versions. The Free version is available for no cost and has lifetime access. The other variant, the Pro plan, is priced at $20 per month, has additional features not included in the previous option.
The Business plan costs $200 per month and will have features useful for small to medium businesses. The last option is the Enterprises version which has all the features offered by Cloudflare. The cost of this plan is determined based on the usage of services.
Comparison between Cloudflare Free and Cloudflare Pro
In this article, we are discussing the differences between the Free plan and the Pro version. This comparison showcases the significant differences between the two options. Go through each one carefully to understand the primary difference between the two plan options.
| Features Included | Cloudflare Free | Cloudflare Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Domain Name System | Easy to use DNS included | Easy to use DNS included |
| Secure Socket Layers (SSL) Certificates | Automated Universal SSL Certificates included | Automated SSL Certificates included. You also have an option to buy custom certificates. |
| Mitigation against DDS attacks | Unmetered mitigation of DDoS attacks with up to 59 Tb/s capacity | Unmetered mitigation of DDoS attacks with up to 59 Tb/s capacity |
| Page rule | 3 Page rules included in the plan. | 20 Page rules are available with the Pro version. |
| WAF | Not available | Enhanced security with Web Application Firewall (WAF) |
| Mitigation | Not available | Bot report & primary mitigation available in the Pro version |
| DDoS alerts | Not available | DDoS alerts are available |
| Image Optimization | Not available | Image optimization without loss of quality available |
| AMP | Not available | Accelerated mobile page load speed for better performance included with the plan. |
| Analytics | Not available | Privacy-first analytics |
| Ideal for | The Free plan is ideal for Personal projects that are not related to business or any commercial aspect. | The Pro version of Cloudflare is perfect for professional Bloggers and Website owners. |
Reasons to start using Cloudflare
Now that we have explained the features of two popular plans from Cloudflare, it’s time to understand why you should start using it now. We have listed five top benefits of using Cloudflare that you should know.
Enhanced Security of Your Data
Using Cloudflare for your website, you can assure the security of your website and data. Cloudflare has features like Bot Crawlers, SQL Injection, and cross-site scripting that can ensure the safety of your precious data.
Optimization in website performance
The overall performance of your website is also significantly improved with Cloudflare. Image optimization and Browser caching will speed up the performance of your website or blog. The load balancing feature ensures that the load distribution among all the servers is even.
Protection against spam and bots
With Cloudflare, protection against spam and bot is available that decreases the speed of your website. These enable effective filtering of spam, bots, and bad traffic that can pose a threat. This process is also capable of improving the speed of the website.
Prevent DDoS attacks on your website
Cloudflare protects your website against DoS and DDoS attacks. The capacity of Cloudflare is 15 times the most notable DDoS attack ever recorded on a website. It means your data is safe from any online attacks.
AMP for delivering faster mobile content
By using Cloudflare for your website, you can also enjoy a faster performance on a mobile device. The AMP Real URL feature makes use of signed HTTPS to verify the content. It allows better security but also a high priority among the search results.
Conclusion
We are sure that after going through this information, you have a better understanding of this service. The features included in the Free and Pro plans to the benefits of using Cloudflare, everything worth knowing is covered here. So now you can stop procrastinating and start using the services for more security and upgraded performance.
i use pro plan …. Image optimization without loss of quality available and AMP…. not in free plan… cool feature
but 25 dollars per month is too expensive