CloudFlare is not all roses and candy, nor is it thorn bushes and tofu (my apologies to everyone who loves tofu). On one hand, CloudFlare does offer a degree of DDoS protection, and who doesn’t need that in 2023?
The speed factor
On the other hand, I’ve seen many comments on web hosting forums from members who claim it slowed down their sites. In an industry driven in large part by speed, in terms of CPU power, throughput, port specs and so on, this constitutes a real concern.
The CDN factor
CloudFlare is also a Content Delivery Network. These are designed to speed up delivery of your website content across vast demographics via strategically placed data centers.
The one-two punch
So not only does CloudFlare speed up delivery of your website content to a global audience, it also provides some type of protection against common attacks.
In addition to DDoS protection, it offers safeguards against SQL injection (which is responsible for numerous exploits of data driven systems). This particular type of attack allows cybercriminals to tamper with, disclose or destroy data, spoof identities and allow them to become admins on the database server.
Is CloudFlare for the small business owner, webmaster or enterprise site owner?
The answer is yes, yes and yes. CloudFlare provides each of them an outstanding solution based platform to not only improve delivery performance, but also provides some degree of protection.
Can CloudFlare create some issues?
Unfortunately, yes, issues can arise when setting up CloudFlare. I’m aware of a recent incident whereby CloudFlare was set up by a client and their email stopped working. Ultimately, that turned out to be a DNS issue which was resolved fairly quickly.
Using a cPanel plugin
There is a cPanel plugin available for CloudFlare, so if your provider hasn’t enabled that yet, ask them if they could set that up. It’ll make enabling CloudFlare for your sites so much easier.
From the top, here are some pros and cons of CloudFlare
Pros
- It speeds up delivery of your website content on a global scale
- It offers some degree of protection against DDoS attacks
- It offers some degree of protection against SQL Injection attempts
- It’s well documented
- It helps not only small business owners, but enterprise site owners and everyone in-between
Cons
There are some scenarios where using Cloudflare may negatively affect website performance, such as:
- Slow DNS resolution: In some cases, the DNS resolution process may take longer when using Cloudflare, which can delay the time it takes to load the website.
- Caching issues: If the website being served through Cloudflare has caching issues, it can result in stale or outdated content appearing on the user’s browser, which can lead to slower performance.
- Network latency: Cloudflare has servers located all over the world, but if the website’s visitors are located in a region where there are no cached servers, it can lead to higher network latency, resulting in slower website performance.
One of the features I love about CloudFlare is the ability to monitor your website from a Smartphone. To kick it off, you don’t need to install any hardware or software, and if you’re using the cPanel plugin, it could not be easier to set up.
Distributed Denial of Service attacks are on the rise
DDoS attacks can slow websites and entire networks to a standstill. If you’re running mission critical data on your site, you need every advantage possible to keep your site online.
How can you beat FREE?
The free version of CloudFlare works great, but you always have the option to upgrade their services. My recommendation is to give the free version a run for its money, then decide whether their advanced services are appropriate to your hosting requirements.
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