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Cloudflare vs OpenWeb

Based on 2145 and 1 real audits

View Cloudflare details | View OpenWeb details
MetricCloudflareOpenWebWinner
Performance4925Cloudflare
Accessibility8891OpenWeb
Best Practices8681Cloudflare
SEO8985Cloudflare
Security6867Cloudflare
TTFB298ms32msOpenWeb
Composite7576OpenWeb
Performance
Cloudflare
49
OpenWeb
25
Accessibility
Cloudflare
88
OpenWeb
91
Security
Cloudflare
68
OpenWeb
67
SEO
Cloudflare
89
OpenWeb
85
Composite
Cloudflare
75
OpenWeb
76

Cloudflare outperforms OpenWeb in 4 of 7 categories, with a stronger composite score (75 vs 76). OpenWeb leads in accessibility, TTFB, composite score.

When to choose Cloudflare

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

When to choose OpenWeb

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

How this comparison was built

Scores are medians across 2145 audited Cloudflare sites and 1 audited OpenWeb 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 →

Small sample: one or both technologies have fewer than 10 audited sites. Treat these numbers as directional — medians stabilize around 20–30 audits per side.

FAQ

Which is faster, Cloudflare or OpenWeb?
Based on real BeaverCheck audits, Cloudflare sites score higher on Lighthouse performance (49 vs 25 on average).
Which has better security, Cloudflare or OpenWeb?
Cloudflare sites score higher on security analysis (68 vs 67 on average).
Which has better accessibility, Cloudflare or OpenWeb?
Accessibility scores measured by Lighthouse WCAG 2.1 checks favor OpenWeb (91 vs 88). 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, Cloudflare or OpenWeb?
Cloudflare sites score higher on Lighthouse SEO signals (89 vs 85 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), Cloudflare or OpenWeb?
OpenWeb sites show lower Time to First Byte (32 ms vs 298 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 Cloudflare or OpenWeb for my website?
Both platforms have trade-offs. Cloudflare scores higher on overall composite score while Cloudflare 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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