I
IAkamai vs Cloudflare
Pricing, features, platforms and who each one suits — side by side.
A
Choose Akamai if…
- you need an API to build on
- you're in its core audience: enterprises, media and streaming companies
C
Choose Cloudflare if…
- you want a free plan to start with
- you're in its core audience: website owners, developers
Side by side
Feature Akamai Cloudflare
Pricing modelPaidFreemium
Starting price—$5/mo
Free plan
Free trial
API
Open source
PlatformsWeb, APIWeb
CategoryCDN & edgeDDoS protection & WAF
CompanyAkamai TechnologiesCloudflare, Inc.
Full feature lists
A Akamai
- Adaptive Media Delivery for streaming and large files
- EdgeWorkers for serverless code at the edge
- Web application and API security
- Edge DNS
- Zero Trust Network Access
- Guardicore microsegmentation
- Akamai Cloud compute with Linode API and CLI
- Terraform and Postman support
C Cloudflare
- Unmetered DDoS protection on all plans
- Web application firewall and bot protection
- Global CDN and DNS in 335+ cities
- Universal SSL certificates
- Zero Trust access, SWG and DEX
- Workers serverless functions billed by CPU time
- R2 object storage without egress fees
- D1 SQL, Workers KV and Durable Objects
What you'd pay
The cheapest plan that fits, per month, billed yearly where the plan offers it.
| Team size | Akamai | Cloudflare |
|---|---|---|
| 1 person | $100 Managed Services (Infrastructure management) | $7 Zero Trust Pay-as-you-go |
| 5 people | $100 Managed Services (Infrastructure management) | $20 Pro |
| 20 people | $100 Managed Services (Infrastructure management) | $20 Pro |
Work it out for your team
- CloudflareZero Trust Pay-as-you-go$7/mo
- AkamaiManaged Services (Infrastructure management)$100/mo
The cheapest paid plan with a published price that fits. Custom and sales-quoted plans aren't included.
All plans and prices
Akamai
Compute (1 GB VM, pay-as-you-go)$0.0075/hr
Managed Services (Infrastructure management)$100 per compute instance, per month
Cloudflare
Free (Network & CDN)$0
Pro$20/mo billed annually or $25/mo billed monthly
Business$200/mo billed annually or $250/mo billed monthly
ContractCustom
Zero Trust Free$0
Zero Trust Pay-as-you-go$7/user/month
Workers Paid$0.30 / million requests + $0.02 / million CPU ms
Strengths and limitations
Akamai
- Covers delivery, security and cloud compute on one platform
- Automation through APIs, CLI, Terraform and Postman
- Zero trust and segmentation products alongside the WAF
- The large product range is complex to configure for small projects
Cloudflare
- Free plan includes unmetered DDoS protection, CDN and SSL
- Zero Trust free for up to 50 users
- Workers billed for CPU time, not idle wall time
- R2 storage has no egress fees
- Uptime SLA only on Business plan and above
- PCI DSS compliance requires Business plan
- Free Zero Trust plan keeps logs only 24 hours
More comparisons
Other options to consider
Facts from each vendor's public pages, prices checked Nov 10, 2026. Editorial policy