Cloudflare

What is Cloudflare?

Cloudflare is a cloud platform spanning application development, content delivery, security and enterprise networking. Its CDN and DNS products are one part of that platform. Developers can also build and host applications, store data, process background jobs and serve AI features using Cloudflare services.

There are two useful starting points: improving an application hosted elsewhere, or building an application on Cloudflare itself. A business can combine those approaches. Its public website might use the CDN, its API might run on Workers, and its employees might access an internal dashboard through Cloudflare One.

Developer platform: Workers, Pages and application hosting

Cloudflare Workers runs application code on Cloudflare’s infrastructure. It supports uses such as APIs, server-rendered websites, authentication handlers and request transformations. Workers can serve static assets alongside dynamic code, so the platform is suitable for full applications as well as small functions placed in front of another server.

Cloudflare Pages provides a frontend deployment workflow with builds and preview deployments. Pages Functions adds server-side behaviour using the Workers runtime. Workers and Pages are related hosting options, while the CDN can serve an application whose code runs with an entirely different host.

The broader developer offering includes Containers for containerized workloads and Workers for Platforms for products that let their own customers deploy code. Wrangler, framework integrations, logs and deployment controls support the development lifecycle. Runtime compatibility and resource limits still shape which applications can move without changes.

Databases and storage: D1, R2, KV and Hyperdrive

D1 is a managed SQL database using SQLite semantics. It gives Workers applications relational tables and queries, with migrations and recovery tools. A small publishing service could keep its authors, posts and tags in D1 instead of maintaining a separate database server.

R2 is object storage for files such as uploads, exports and media. Its S3-compatible API also supports tools outside the Workers ecosystem. R2 and D1 solve different problems: one stores objects, while the other queries structured records.

Workers KV provides distributed key-value storage for data such as configuration and frequently read lookups. Hyperdrive helps Workers connect to existing databases through managed connection pooling. Choosing among these services involves the data model, consistency requirements and where the existing database lives; they are not interchangeable storage tiers.

Stateful applications, Queues and Workflows

Durable Objects combines compute with persistent state associated with an object identity. It is useful when requests need a shared coordination point, as in a chat room, multiplayer session or collaborative document. WebSocket support allows an object to coordinate connected clients.

Queues separates producing work from processing it. For example, an upload endpoint can enqueue a message and return while a consumer processes the file. Workflows organizes durable sequences of steps with retries and waiting. An import that downloads records, transforms them and waits for approval needs that orchestration rather than one uninterrupted web request.

AI platform: Workers AI, AI Gateway and Vectorize

Workers AI supplies managed model execution that applications can call through Cloudflare. It can support features such as text generation, embeddings and other tasks offered by its model catalogue. The application remains responsible for selecting an appropriate model and handling its output.

AI Gateway provides a control and observability layer for model requests, including supported routing, caching and rate controls. Vectorize stores and searches vectors for applications such as semantic retrieval. AI Search provides a managed retrieval workflow, while the Agents SDK helps developers build agents with state and interactions. These components address different parts of an AI application; adding an AI feature does not require using every one of them.

How DNS, the CDN and the origin work together

For a proxied hostname, DNS returns Cloudflare addresses. The browser connects to that network, where a request may be answered from cache or forwarded to the configured origin. With DNS-only records, Cloudflare answers the DNS query but web traffic goes to the published destination directly.

Caching depends on the resource and the configured rules. A reusable image and a signed-in account page need different treatment. A CDN cannot safely reuse every response simply because it passes through the same hostname.

Application security: WAF, DDoS, bots and APIs

Cloudflare’s web application firewall evaluates incoming requests using managed and custom rules. Rate limiting constrains request activity, and DDoS protection addresses attacks intended to exhaust resources. Bot controls help distinguish automated traffic, while API Shield provides controls aimed at API traffic.

Turnstile is a separate visitor-verification product that can be embedded in a site. Other application services include certificate management, load balancing and Waiting Room for controlling admission during traffic surges. The exact controls available depend on the product and plan; DNS hosting alone does not enable this whole security stack.

Images, Stream and real-time media

Cloudflare Images covers image storage, transformation and delivery. A product catalogue can use it to serve appropriately sized image variants rather than uploading a separate file for every display size. Image delivery is distinct from storing a general-purpose object in R2.

Stream handles video upload, encoding, delivery and playback, including live and on-demand workflows. Cloudflare’s Realtime services address interactive audio and video applications. A video publisher and a live meeting application have different media requirements, which explains why these offerings sit alongside the general CDN.

Cloudflare One, Zero Trust and network services

Cloudflare One brings together enterprise access and networking services. Access applies identity-based policies to applications. Gateway filters outbound traffic, and Tunnel connects private resources to Cloudflare through outbound connections. Together, these can let a team reach an internal tool without exposing it as an unrestricted public website.

The wider suite includes browser isolation, data loss prevention, SaaS security checks and email security. Cloudflare WAN connects organizational networks; Magic Transit protects network infrastructure, and Spectrum proxies supported TCP and UDP applications. These operate at a different scope from a website’s cache configuration.

DNS, domains and other Cloudflare services

Cloudflare also offers domain registration through Registrar, the public 1.1.1.1 DNS resolver and consumer connectivity through WARP. Authoritative DNS publishes a domain’s records; a recursive resolver looks up records for its users. Those are different roles even when the same company supplies both.

Cloudflare for SaaS supports platforms serving customer-owned hostnames, while Email Routing and Email Service address different email workflows. Product availability and limits vary. Use the official product directory below to explore a particular service rather than treating a website’s Cloudflare fingerprint as an inventory of its account.