Cloudflare vs Akamai
Cloudflare publishes four plans, from a free one to a contract, and you can be live the same day by pointing your nameservers at it. Akamai publishes no delivery price at all: its web performance product starts with a trial form and a call from an Akamai team member, and delivery is split across several separate products. The real difference is how you buy and how you set up, not which network is bigger. Both companies are listed under the United States.
Sebastiaan SmitsFounderVendors can pay for more visibility on this website, for example a higher place in a ranking or more room on a page. Commercial relationships can also affect which products we feature and how prominently. Every vendor link is marked the same, whatever the arrangement behind it. How that works.
Choose Cloudflare ifyou want a CDN you can start on a free or published plan without talking to anyone, and you are fine moving your DNS to Cloudflare or paying for Business to avoid that.
Choose Akamai ifyou are an enterprise with sales-led procurement, a team that will configure properties in rules, and a need for separate products for video, downloads and storage.
Cloudflare and Akamai side by side
| Cloudflare | Akamai | |
|---|---|---|
| Our CDN providers rank | #8 of 12 | #9 of 12 |
| Established in | United States | United States |
| List price, 2 November 2026 | Free tier $0; Pro priced at $20 per month with annual billing or $25 month to month; Business at $200 per month with annual billing or $250 month to month; custom Contract | No price on the Ion page we read; each organisation is quoted, and the trial starts with a sales form |
| Free tier | Yes | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Self-hostable | — | — |
| Built for | Sites wanting DNS, CDN and DDoS protection from one dashboard | Enterprises with sales-led procurement and a team to configure properties |
| Not for | Video or download distributors on the standard plans | Small sites that want to sign up and pay by card |
Both are reviewed in full in our CDN providers ranking: Cloudflare and Akamai.
Where they differ
Cloudflare 2 · Akamai 1 · open 2- 01
What you can learn about cost before a call
Cloudflare's plans page puts the Free plan at $0 a month, with Pro at $20 under annual billing ($25 monthly), Business at $200 under annual billing ($250 monthly), and Contract by quote. On Akamai, neither the Ion page nor the cloud pricing page gives a CDN delivery price; the latter only covers compute and storage. A budget for Akamai starts with a quote.
Edge: Cloudflare
- 02
Getting started
Cloudflare's primary setup is the only one on Free or Pro and makes Cloudflare your authoritative DNS provider. To start an Akamai trial you fill in a form and wait for an Akamai team member to get in touch. Neither is instant for a team with strict DNS rules, but Cloudflare lets you begin without a sales contact.
Edge: Cloudflare
- 03
Keeping your DNS elsewhere
Cloudflare's CNAME (partial) setup keeps DNS with your current provider, but the docs limit it to Business and Enterprise. That is a $200 per month annual commitment at the published rate, or a contract. We read nothing comparable on Akamai's side, and its Ion docs describe building a property with hostnames and rules instead.
Depends on the buyer
- 04
Range of delivery products
Akamai's documentation names API Acceleration, Image & Video Manager, NetStorage, Cloud Wrapper, Download Delivery, Adaptive Media Delivery and Ion as separate products. Cloudflare's service terms, in contrast, say the CDN may be limited for video or a disproportionate share of large files unless paid services are used. For media and large downloads, Akamai's separate products fit the job more directly.
Edge: Akamai
- 05
Guarantees on paper
Free and Pro carry no 100% uptime SLA, which Cloudflare offers from the Business plan upward. Akamai's Ion docs list an Ion service-level agreement, but we read no terms for it. Each guarantee has a condition attached, and neither wins on what we could read.
Depends on the buyer
When neither fits
Bunny CDN publishes a per-gigabyte rate with no sales step. Amazon CloudFront has published flat plans and pay-as-you-go rates, handy if your servers already run on AWS.
Cloudflare or Akamai: questions
3 answersDoes Cloudflare publish its prices and Akamai does not?
Cloudflare's plans page shows Free, Pro and Business prices, with Contract quoted per organisation. Akamai shows no price on the Ion page, and the cloud pricing page lists none for CDN delivery.
Can I keep my DNS at my current provider with Cloudflare?
Only on Business or Enterprise, through a CNAME (partial) setup. On Free and Pro, Cloudflare becomes your authoritative DNS provider.
Is Akamai one product or several?
Its documentation lists several delivery products, including Ion for sites and apps, Adaptive Media Delivery, Download Delivery and NetStorage, each configured separately.
Sources
Checked 2 November 2026- Cloudflare pricing page: prices for all four plans, 100% uptime SLA from Business.
- Cloudflare full-setup DNS docs: Free and Pro offer only primary setup, with Cloudflare as authoritative DNS provider.
- Cloudflare partial-setup DNS docs: CNAME setup open to Business or Enterprise only.
- Cloudflare terms for service-specific use: CDN usage for video or large files may be limited unless paid.
- Akamai Ion product page: no price; free trial requested by form, then an Akamai team member makes contact.
- Akamai content delivery docs: separate delivery products listed.
- Akamai Ion docs: rule-based property configuration, Ion SLA listed.
- Akamai cloud pricing page: cloud services priced there; nothing for CDN delivery.