# Cloudflare CDN Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/cloudflare-cdn/ 10 people recommended Cloudflare CDN in Hacker News comments, 2 had mixed feelings and 14 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 7 of 12 months, in 8 threads. It does not meet the Hacker Approved badge rule. **Verdict:** Criticized more than recommended, mainly for its centralizing power and its traffic inspection; those who recommend it cite a free CDN tier with no bandwidth fees, speed and reliability. Summary written by Claude from the comments below. ## What people warn about - Centralization and monopoly concerns (3 comments in the sample): "A monopolist has little reason to care about downstream effects, since customers have nowhere else to turn." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46172009)) "something like that is when this centralization hurts the most" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49610381)) "the irrational belief that everything needs cloudflare" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45966554)) - Unnecessary for most sites (2 comments in the sample): "CDN is something you do once you run out of options, not something you should reach for immediately…" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49607982)) "Cloudflare tells people they need a CDN, and hey, look, what a convenient free CDN right there." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48431740)) - Connection and request handling problems (2 comments in the sample): "Cloudflare CDN wouldn't stop when the client stop, causing the gateway to send the whole file." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45967139)) "It's not every request, it's spurious connection failures." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46334231)) - Traffic inspection and MITM concerns (1 comment in the sample): "I'm more concerned about crimeflare's own incentive to analyze our traffic that people already willingly let them MITM" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49611510)) ## Why people recommend it - Generous free CDN tier (6 comments in the sample): "They also offer a decently-sized free tier, and there's no fees for moving data in or out of their CDN if its in cache." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49565557)) "The fact that Cloudflare offers these services for FREE, is a pretty good (perhaps Faustian) deal." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46667726)) "It would be $0 if they spent 10 minutes just throwing Cloudflare CDN in front." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46962360)) - Fast, cheap and reliable (2 comments in the sample): "Cloudflare is often cheaper, simpler and provides a better service compared to it's competitors" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49608203)) "Extremely fast, extremely cheap and reliable." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47376764)) ## Other CDNs people recommend - [Cloudflare](https://hackerapproved.com/p/cloudflare/): 456 recommend, 195 mixed, 1130 criticize - [Bunny.net](https://hackerapproved.com/p/bunny-net/): 102 recommend, 14 mixed, 50 criticize - [Amazon CloudFront](https://hackerapproved.com/p/amazon-cloudfront/): 18 recommend, 6 mixed, 9 criticize - [Fastly CDN](https://hackerapproved.com/p/fastly/): 8 recommend, 2 mixed, 7 criticize ## Where to get it - [Visit the official site](https://www.cloudflare.com/) ## The badge A product earns the Hacker Approved badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it. Health and money products are never badged. ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "Cloudflare CDN", https://hackerapproved.com/p/cloudflare-cdn/ (10 recommend, 2 mixed, 14 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026). Counts updated 2 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.