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Side-by-side comparison · Databases & Backend

Clerk vs Cloudflare

Everything that matters when choosing between them, in one place: our rating, what each can do, what they cost, and the trade-offs.

Clerk

4.4

From $20/mo

Best overall

Cloudflare

4.5

From $20/mo

Comparing 2 tools. Add one more if you like.

At a glance

Easiest to use

Pick it if: Anyone building a web or mobile app who needs user accounts and logins without writing them from scratch.

Best overallBest value

Pick it if: Any business with a website that wants it faster and safer for free, and builders who want cheap hosting for apps and AI features.

Overview

AttributeClerkCloudflare
In one lineReady-made sign-up, login and user accounts you can add to an app in minutes.Makes your website faster and safer, and hosts sites, apps and AI features cheaply.
Pricing modelFreemiumFreemium
Starting price$20/mo$20/mo
Free plan Yes Yes
Works with Claude Code Yes Yes

Rating breakdown

Our scores out of 5. The higher bar in each row is highlighted.

AttributeClerkCloudflare
Overall rating4.44.5Winner
Ease of useHow quickly someone non-technical gets value from it.
4.5
3.0
FeaturesHow completely it covers its own job, and how well the pieces fit together.
4.5
5.0
Output qualityHow good the results are before you fix them.
4.5
4.5
Value for moneyWhat you get for the price, including the free plan.
4.0
5.0
Speed & reliabilityHow fast it is and how often it falls over.
4.5
5.0

Feature comparison

A tick means it does this today. A dash means we haven't checked.

AttributeClerkCloudflare
Access & platform
Free plan Yes Yes
Mobile app No No
Desktop app No No
Browser extension No No
API access Yes Yes
Teams & business
Team workspace Yes Yes
Enterprise plan or SSO Yes Yes
Connects to other apps Yes Yes
Open source or self-hosted No No
AI abilities
Works with your files No Yes
Understands images––
Makes images No–
Makes video No No
Writes code No Yes
Runs agents or automations– Yes
Learns your brand or style––
Works in many languages Yes Yes
Capabilities score6/ 179/ 17

Pricing

Plans as listed on each vendor's site when we last checked. Confirm before you buy.

AttributeClerkCloudflare
Plans

Hobby

Free

New apps and side projects.

FreeOur pick

Free

Almost every small business website.

ProOur pick

$20/mo billed yearly, or $25 monthly

Apps with paying customers.

Pro

$20/mo billed yearly, or $25 monthly

Professional sites that want faster images and support tickets.

Business

$250/mo billed yearly, or $300 monthly

Growing companies that need compliance paperwork.

Workers Paid

From $5/mo plus usage

Builders hosting apps on Cloudflare.

Enterprise

Custom

Large companies with strict security needs.

Business

$200/mo billed yearly, or $250 monthly

Online businesses that need an uptime guarantee.

Enterprise

Custom

Mission-critical sites and large companies.

Which plan to pickBuild on Hobby. It's enough until you have customers who care about the Clerk branding or need multi-factor login, then move to Pro. Business only matters when a customer asks for a SOC 2 report.Put your site on the free plan. It covers speed, SSL and security for most small businesses. If you host an app on Workers, the $5 a month Workers Paid plan lifts the limits. Pro and Business only make sense when you need their image tools, support or uptime guarantee.

Key features

AttributeClerkCloudflare
Standout features
  • Prebuilt screens
  • Every login method
  • Organisations
  • Bot and fraud protection
  • Clerk Billing
  • CDN and DNS
  • Security
  • AI Crawl Control
  • Workers and Pages
  • Workers AI
  • D1 and R2

Pros and cons

AttributeClerkCloudflare
Pros
  • Fastest way to add polished logins to an app
  • 50,000 free monthly users per app
  • Covers social, passwordless, passkeys and SMS
  • Team accounts and billing built in
  • AI coding tools know it well
  • Free plan covers speed, SSL and security for most sites
  • Very cheap hosting, storage and AI for builders
  • One of the biggest, fastest networks in the world
  • Tools to see and block AI crawlers
  • Official MCP servers so Claude can manage your account
Cons
  • Removing branding and multi-factor login need Pro
  • Enterprise SSO connections cost $75 a month each after the first
  • Your user accounts live with Clerk, so moving away takes work
  • SMS codes cost extra per message
  • Huge dashboard with hundreds of settings
  • Developer products assume you write code
  • Changing DNS settings wrong can take a site offline
  • Support on the free plan is forums only

Who each one is for

AttributeClerkCloudflare
Best for
  • Adding sign-up and login to an app
  • Google, Apple and passwordless sign-in
  • Apps where customers have team accounts
  • Charging subscriptions inside your app
  • Making any website faster and safer for free
  • Blocking or managing AI crawlers
  • Cheap hosting for apps and static sites
  • Running open AI models in your app
You'll find it used by
  • Indie builders
  • Startups
  • SaaS companies
  • Developers
  • Small businesses
  • Developers
  • Agencies
  • Online stores
  • Large companies

Questions people ask

Which is better, Clerk or Cloudflare?

Cloudflare scores highest overall in our ratings (Clerk 4.4/5 and Cloudflare 4.5/5). Clerk is best for adding sign-up and login to an app and Google, Apple and passwordless sign-in. Cloudflare is best for making any website faster and safer for free and blocking or managing AI crawlers.

Which is cheaper, Clerk or Cloudflare?

Clerk: There's a free plan, and paid plans start at $20/mo. Cloudflare: There's a free plan, and paid plans start at $20/mo.

Which is easier to use, Clerk or Cloudflare?

Clerk rates highest for ease of use in our scores. Anyone building a web or mobile app who needs user accounts and logins without writing them from scratch.

How we compare

Ratings are our own, from using each tool, across ease of use, features, output quality, value for money, speed & reliability.

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