Web Security Compared: Cloudflare vs AWS Shield/WAF vs Azure DDoS/WAF vs Google Cloud Armor

Inline security means traffic passes through the security layer as part of its normal path — Cloudflare inspects every request as it traverses the network, with no additional routing or latency. Bolt-on security means adding a separate security service that traffic is routed through — on AWS you configure Shield, then WAF, then Bot Control as distinct services with separate configurations and billing. Inline security is simpler and typically lower-latency; bolt-on offers more granular control.

Cloudflare's managed rulesets benefit from visibility across approximately 20% of all web traffic, giving their ML models and threat intelligence an unusually large dataset. AWS WAF managed rules (from AWS and partners like F5, Imperva) offer the broadest third-party marketplace. Azure WAF provides OWASP Core Rule Set and Microsoft threat intelligence. Google Cloud Armor includes ModSecurity-compatible rules and Google's threat intelligence. Each has strengths, but Cloudflare's traffic visibility provides a unique data advantage.

Cloudflare has a documented track record of deploying WAF rules within hours of major vulnerability disclosures (Log4Shell, Spring4Shell, HTTP/2 Rapid Reset). Their ability to push rules globally in seconds across all customers simultaneously is an architectural advantage. AWS, Azure, and Google typically update managed rulesets within 24-72 hours. For zero-day protection speed, Cloudflare's centralized rule deployment model has a structural advantage.

Cloudflare's free plan includes basic managed WAF rules, DDoS protection, and SSL/TLS — sufficient for personal sites and small projects. The Pro plan (0/month) adds the full Cloudflare Managed Ruleset with OWASP coverage, which is production-quality for most web applications. Business (00/month) adds advanced rate limiting and additional rulesets. Enterprise adds custom WAF rules, advanced bot management, and dedicated support. For most SMBs, the Pro tier provides security that would cost hundreds on other platforms.

Cloudflare offers Super Bot Fight Mode on Pro/Business (ML-based bot scoring, challenge pages) and full Bot Management on Enterprise (behavioral analysis, bot score API, JS fingerprinting). AWS Bot Control costs 0/month plus /million requests for common bots and 0/million for targeted bots. Azure Bot Manager is part of Front Door Premium. Google reCAPTCHA Enterprise is the primary bot mitigation tool for GCP. Cloudflare's advantage is its massive training dataset from network-wide traffic visibility.

Yes, and this is a common architecture. Many organizations use Cloudflare's CDN, DDoS, and WAF in front of AWS-hosted origins (EC2, ALB, S3). You point DNS to Cloudflare, which proxies traffic to your AWS origin. The trade-off: you pay AWS egress for traffic from origin to Cloudflare, but you get Cloudflare's security stack (often cheaper than Shield Advanced + WAF + Bot Control) and /bin/sh CDN bandwidth. This is one of the most pragmatic hybrid security architectures.

AWS Shield protects against DDoS attacks at the network and transport layers (L3/L4). Shield Standard is free and automatic. Shield Advanced (,000/month) adds L7 DDoS protection, 24/7 DDoS Response Team access, and cost protection against scaling charges during attacks. AWS WAF is a separate product that inspects HTTP requests against rules — it handles application-layer threats like SQL injection, XSS, and bot traffic. You need both for comprehensive protection. Cloudflare combines both into a single integrated service.

Cloudflare offers basic rate limiting on Pro plans and advanced rate limiting on Business/Enterprise with flexible matching on path, method, headers, cookies, and query strings. AWS WAF rate-based rules support up to 10,000 requests per 5-minute window per IP, configurable per rule. Azure Front Door provides rate limiting via WAF custom rules. Google Cloud Armor supports rate limiting per IP and per path. Cloudflare's rate limiting is the most flexible in terms of matching criteria and the easiest to configure.

Yes. DDoS protection and WAF serve different purposes. DDoS protection absorbs volumetric and protocol-level attacks that aim to overwhelm your infrastructure. WAF inspects individual HTTP requests for application-layer attacks — SQL injection, XSS, remote code execution, and other OWASP Top 10 vulnerabilities. An attacker can exploit a SQL injection vulnerability with a single request that no DDoS mitigation would catch. Cloudflare includes both, but they protect against different threat categories.