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AWS CloudFront vs Cloudflare

Based on 426 and 2883 real audits

View AWS CloudFront details | View Cloudflare details
MetricAWS CloudFrontCloudflareWinner
Performance3953Cloudflare
Accessibility8989Tie
Best Practices8788Cloudflare
SEO9190AWS CloudFront
Security6672Cloudflare
TTFB263ms357msAWS CloudFront
Composite7377Cloudflare
Performance
AWS CloudFront
39
Cloudflare
53
Accessibility
AWS CloudFront
89
Cloudflare
89
Security
AWS CloudFront
66
Cloudflare
72
SEO
AWS CloudFront
91
Cloudflare
90
Composite
AWS CloudFront
73
Cloudflare
77

Cloudflare outperforms AWS CloudFront in 4 of 7 categories, with a stronger composite score (77 vs 73). AWS CloudFront leads in SEO, TTFB.

When to choose AWS CloudFront

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

When to choose Cloudflare

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

How this comparison was built

Scores are medians across 426 audited AWS CloudFront sites and 2883 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, AWS CloudFront or Cloudflare?
Based on real BeaverCheck audits, Cloudflare sites score higher on Lighthouse performance (53 vs 39 on average).
Which has better security, AWS CloudFront or Cloudflare?
Cloudflare sites score higher on security analysis (72 vs 66 on average).
Which has better accessibility, AWS CloudFront or Cloudflare?
Accessibility scores measured by Lighthouse WCAG 2.1 checks favor AWS CloudFront (89 vs 89). 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, AWS CloudFront or Cloudflare?
AWS CloudFront sites score higher on Lighthouse SEO signals (91 vs 90 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), AWS CloudFront or Cloudflare?
AWS CloudFront sites show lower Time to First Byte (263 ms vs 357 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 AWS CloudFront or Cloudflare for my website?
Both platforms have trade-offs. Cloudflare scores higher on overall composite score while AWS CloudFront 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.
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