Skip to content

Ahrefs vs Cloudflare

Based on 42 and 2430 real audits

View Ahrefs details | View Cloudflare details
MetricAhrefsCloudflareWinner
Performance4251Cloudflare
Accessibility8789Cloudflare
Best Practices8987Ahrefs
SEO9489Ahrefs
Security6770Cloudflare
TTFB342ms313msCloudflare
Composite7576Cloudflare
Performance
Ahrefs
42
Cloudflare
51
Accessibility
Ahrefs
87
Cloudflare
89
Security
Ahrefs
67
Cloudflare
70
SEO
Ahrefs
94
Cloudflare
89
Composite
Ahrefs
75
Cloudflare
76

Cloudflare outperforms Ahrefs in 5 of 7 categories, with a stronger composite score (76 vs 75). Ahrefs leads in best practices, SEO.

When to choose Ahrefs

Choose Ahrefs when your primary concern is SEO and best practices. Its audit data shows consistent strength in these areas across the sampled sites.

When to choose Cloudflare

Choose Cloudflare when your primary concern is server response time and performance. Its audit data shows consistent strength in these areas across the sampled sites.

How this comparison was built

Scores are medians across 42 audited Ahrefs sites and 2430 audited Cloudflare sites in the BeaverCheck database. Every audit runs the same 100+ checks — Lighthouse performance, security headers, accessibility, SEO, server response time — against a real URL. No vendor input, no sponsorship, no affiliate links. Read the full methodology →

FAQ

Which is faster, Ahrefs or Cloudflare?
Based on real BeaverCheck audits, Cloudflare sites score higher on Lighthouse performance (51 vs 42 on average).
Which has better security, Ahrefs or Cloudflare?
Cloudflare sites score higher on security analysis (70 vs 67 on average).
Which has better accessibility, Ahrefs or Cloudflare?
Accessibility scores measured by Lighthouse WCAG 2.1 checks favor Cloudflare (89 vs 87). Both technologies can be made fully accessible with care — the difference reflects common patterns in the sampled sites, not inherent platform limits.
Which is better for SEO, Ahrefs or Cloudflare?
Ahrefs sites score higher on Lighthouse SEO signals (94 vs 89 on average), which cover meta tags, crawlability, mobile friendliness, and structured data. Content strategy and backlinks still matter more than platform choice for ranking.
Which has faster server response (TTFB), Ahrefs or Cloudflare?
Cloudflare sites show lower Time to First Byte (313 ms vs 342 ms on average). TTFB depends heavily on hosting and CDN setup rather than the technology itself, but the sampled sites suggest a meaningful difference in common deployment patterns.
Should I choose Ahrefs or Cloudflare for my website?
Both platforms have trade-offs. Cloudflare scores higher on overall composite score while Ahrefs may excel in metrics you care about most. Run a free BeaverCheck audit on a real site using each to compare the metrics relevant to your use case.
Audit your own site

Send Feedback