AWS Shield vs Cloudflare One comparison

Why PeerSpot?

Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Cloudflare are both solutions in the Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) Protection category. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is ranked #10 with an average rating of 8.8, while Cloudflare is ranked #9 with an average rating of 8.5. Amazon Web Services (AWS) holds a 3.0% mindshare in DDOS, compared to Cloudflare’s 3.7% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Amazon Web Services (AWS) users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Cloudflare users who would recommend it.

AWS Shield

Read 10 AWS Shield reviews

3,083 Views
3,083 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Cloudflare One

Read 23 Cloudflare One reviews

22,588 Views
2,485 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

AWS Shield

Cloudflare One

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 5, 2026

Cloudflare One and AWS Shield are competitive products in the network security domain. AWS Shield seems to have the upper hand because of its robust features, particularly advanced DDoS protection and seamless integration with AWS services.

Features: Cloudflare One offers DNS, CDN, and Zero Trust networking, enhancing security and performance. It has a comprehensive suite of solutions, offering easy configuration and improved scalability. AWS Shield provides excellent DDoS protection, integration with Active Directory, and a real-time attack visibility feature that is particularly beneficial for AWS-hosted applications.

Room for Improvement: Cloudflare One could offer more advanced DDoS protection strategies and improved detailed analytics. The interface could support more customization options, and further enhancement in latency is desirable. AWS Shield has a steep learning curve for non-AWS users, limited features in the Standard tier, and could benefit from enhanced deployment flexibility outside AWS environments.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Cloudflare One is known for its straightforward deployment model and responsive customer support, making it easy for businesses to implement rapidly. AWS Shield is deeply integrated into the AWS ecosystem, which is an advantage for enterprises familiar with AWS but challenging for non-AWS users due to its learning curve.

Pricing and ROI: Cloudflare One is recognized for its cost-effectiveness, offering substantial ROI with extensive security measures at a lower overall cost. It is appealing to businesses seeking value security solutions. Although AWS Shield involves higher initial setup costs, especially at advanced tiers, it justifies the price with the level of protection, making it a valuable investment for companies heavily reliant on AWS infrastructure.

To learn more, read our detailed AWS Shield vs. Cloudflare One Report (Updated: September 2026).

Buyer's Guide

AWS Shield vs. Cloudflare One

September 2026

Download the complete report

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

AWS Shield

Ranking in Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) Protection

10th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Cloudflare One

Ranking in Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) Protection

9th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Email Security (20th), Secure Web Gateways (SWG) (11th), Data Loss Prevention (DLP) (22nd), Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB) (12th), Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (13th), Access Management (11th), Bot Management (3rd), ZTNA as a Service (8th), ZTNA (4th), Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) (10th), Remote Browser Isolation (RBI) (2nd)

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2026, in the Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) Protection category, the mindshare of AWS Shield is 3.0%, down from 5.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cloudflare One is 3.7%, up from 3.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) Protection Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Cloudflare One	3.7%
AWS Shield	3.0%
Other	93.3%

Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) Protection

Featured Reviews

Pranav Telang

DGM at Airtel Digital

Has enabled multi-layered threat mitigation but still lacks deeper visibility for advanced application attacks

AWS Shield has limited coverage as it only protects against common and high-volume network and transport layer attacks, such as SYN floods. It does not provide inherent protection against more sophisticated layer 7 attacks such as HTTP floods. In such cases, integration with WAF is necessary, which results in additional costs for customers. To protect layer 7, layer 4, and layer 3, customers must implement both solutions. The service also has difficulties with static detection thresholds, which may not be sensitive enough to detect smaller application-specific attacks. While AWS Shield is a key security service, AWS should enhance their expert support with 24/7 response for complex attacks, which is currently limited.

Read full review

Cobe Van Coller

Network Architect at IP Dimension

Cloud security has improved remote access and has reduced costs for smaller client sites

I have used Cloudflare One's Identity-Aware Proxy, and it is quite straightforward from what I have seen so far. The app registration on the Azure side integrates fully into Cloudflare, and I am very satisfied with that part because it is easy to set up. The integration of Cloudflare One's Secure Web Gateway and Zero Trust Network Access works without any issues. That part is pretty automatic, and if you complete the rest of the setup, it comes together by itself with no issues from my side. What makes it nice is that we can actually start replacing on-site firewalls at this stage for the smaller clients because it does not matter if they go to a coffee shop or work from home; they are still secured by the same connection. The hops get shorter and you get better latency. We have done testing to see if it is better. One thing that we did notice with our proof of concept with our current client is that they have people connecting from the UK. When they used their previous VPN solution, uploading CAD drawings and other files to the server took a long time. They mentioned that it is much quicker on Cloudflare One's solution. I definitely believe that is part of the improved performance, and I am satisfied with that as well. What is nice about Cloudflare One is that it makes the setup easier and also easier to train technicians to maintain it. Compared to legacy systems, we do not need to get fancy firewalls in place that are costly. That is definitely also a cost-saver with Cloudflare One.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"The automatic detection and mitigation of DDoS attacks in the product operates in real-time and provides satisfactory results."

"The product is easy to use."

"If most of your internet presence from your application side is in AWS, AWS Shield is a great option."

"The solution operates smoothly at its baseline level, and we do not encounter any issues at that level."

"It is integrated with AWS. So, it gives you a good first step."

"AWS Shield is aligned with the web application firewall (WAF), and they work seamlessly together, primarily working with Elastic Load Balancer, CloudFront, and Route 53 for CDN and DNS services protection."

"It is quite scalable, and we have not faced any issues with its scalability."

"I am impressed with the product's multiple features like security."

More AWS Shield pros

"It is a stable solution."

"For Cloudflare Access, I am using the free plan...The most valuable feature is their protection."

"Cloudflare Zero Trust Platform removes the risk of exposing the applications to the public."

"Cloudflare DDoS mitigates DDoS attacks."

"It's the endpoint exposition. We don't need to expose our VPN server to the internet and need a zero-test solution. I can apply some conditional access to the endpoint that's connecting to our network to check their security policies or the security condition of their workstation. Once the workstation is trying to connect to my internal network, then I would like to check the discrete condition of these endpoints that are trying to access my internal network. We created some conditional access. We have CrowdStrike, to check if the CrowdStrike is installed, to check if it's updated, and to check for Windows updates. We created some conditional policies to check it."

"The tool also offers good scalability, and the dashboard, along with real-time analytics, is very good."

"It will take the blow rather than our applications should an attack occur."

"The blocking feature is very good."

More Cloudflare One pros

Cons

"The management of it is a bit hard. If you don't engineer it on the front side, it is hard to go back in and change it. It could be improved in terms of architecture requirements and then ongoing support requirements as a secondary component to it. People tend to set up things like this, and they just expect it to work without the care and feeding that needs to go back into it either from an application team or a network environment team."

"The product is expensive."

"The product should give users more flexibility to customize their security policies according to their requirements."

"The product needs to improve its logs and reports to make it read better."

"We end up having to pay extra for features that AWS adds that we don't need."

"AWS Shield Standard requires improvement, particularly regarding its dashboard since it currently provides limited coverage against comprehensive DDoS attacks."

"AWS Shield has limited coverage as it only protects against common and high-volume network and transport layer attacks, such as SYN floods."

"The time taken to detect anomalies must be reduced."

More AWS Shield cons

"The initial onboarding was causing us some confusion."

"From a logging perspective, it is still a bit difficult to see exactly what users are being blocked with the current views."

"The onboarding process can be improved a little bit."

"The response time for support must be reduced."

"The pricing is an area that can be improved. Pricing, as far as I recall, was the source of our problems."

"There are premium tier live service and lower tier live service, so we opted for the lower tier. But there is no medium tier where we pay a little extra and get a bit more service. So if that can be improved."

"Feedback could be enhanced. While I work efficiently with Clover as a partner in Mexico City, sometimes the information and requests are easier to manage with more concrete solutions."

"When there are any dynamic changes in complex applications, the tool takes a lot of time, making its analytics-related area a major matter of concern where improvements are needed."

More Cloudflare One cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The cost depends on traffic each month, so on average, it costs us between US$200 and US$300 per month."

"The tool's pricing is good."

"We pay $3000 per month for the solution."

"It depends on your subscription level and the volume that you're spending with AWS. So, it is very relative to the consumption alignment in your subscription level. It is a well-constructed, scalable pricing option, but it is relative to how much you're spending on AWS. Because the more you spend, typically, the more you get off on services like this. I find it to be comparable to other solutions."

"The tool is cheap."

"My company has to make yearly payments towards the licensing costs attached to the solution. There are no hidden charges apart from the licensing costs of the solution."

"Cloudflare Zero Trust Platform's pricing is good."

"The pricing of the solution is cheap. The licensing cost is also very low. I rate the cost and pricing a three out of ten."

"The price tag is no longer $200,000, but rather $300,000 to $400,000. It's twice."

"The solution is not that expensive."

"The solution's pricing lacks transparency."

"The prices are slightly expensive."

"The pricing is somewhere in the middle. I would rate the pricing a seven out of ten."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Comms Service Provider

18%

Computer Software Company

Construction Company

Financial Services Firm

Construction Company

18%

Comms Service Provider

11%

Outsourcing Company

Financial Services Firm

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	3
Midsize Enterprise	1
Large Enterprise	7

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	10
Large Enterprise	13

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for AWS Shield?

The pricing structure for AWS Shield is fair, yet it depends on the specific protections chosen. Enabling Shield Advanced on multiple services such as CloudFront, network load balancer, or Route 53...

See all answers

What needs improvement with AWS Shield?

Services always benefit from improvements, including AWS Shield. With respect to the Web Application Firewall, current rule-based setups may not be adequately defined or classified. Enhancement of ...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for AWS Shield?

What do you use it for? How do you use it?

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cloudflare Zero Trust Platform?

Pricing is competitive. Akamai is more expensive, in my view.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Cloudflare Zero Trust Platform?

In my opinion, Cloudflare One can be improved mainly through compatibility, as the integration should be much simpler because it is currently too closed and too proprietary. Regarding additional fe...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Cloudflare Zero Trust Platform?

Cloudflare One's primary use case for my organization is to protect servers and to provide remote access with the VPN, strong authentication, and DDoS protection. The integration of Secure Web Gate...

See all answers

Comparisons

Akamai App and API Protector vs AWS Shield

Compared 31% of the time

Cloudflare vs AWS Shield

Compared 11% of the time

Azure DDoS Protection vs AWS Shield

Compared 9% of the time

Radware DDoS vs AWS Shield

Compared 7% of the time

Prolexic vs AWS Shield

Compared 4% of the time

More AWS Shield Competitors

Cato SASE Cloud Platform vs Cloudflare One

Compared 3% of the time

Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange Platform vs Cloudflare One

Compared 3% of the time

Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks vs Cloudflare One

Compared 3% of the time

Twingate vs Cloudflare One

Compared 3% of the time

Fortinet FortiGate vs Cloudflare One

Compared 2% of the time

More Cloudflare One Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

AWS Shield

September 2026

Download AWS Shield product report

Buyer's Guide

Cloudflare One

September 2026

Download Cloudflare One product report

Also Known As

No data available

Cloudflare Area 1 Email Security, Cloudflare Bot Management, Cloudflare Gateway, Cloudflare Zero Trust Platform, Cloudflare DDoS, Cloudflare SASE & SSE Platform

Overview

AWS Shield offers robust DDoS protection with seamless integration into AWS services, providing users with enhanced security without impacting performance. Its intuitive dashboard and integration with tools like WAF and CloudWatch make it a go-to for many organizations seeking reliable protection.

AWS Shield provides real-time attack visibility and transparency, excelling in DDoS protection while maintaining application and network layer security. The Advanced tier offers automated threat detection, tailored defense strategies, and a responsive DDoS team. However, challenges include high costs, limited customization, and a need for better traffic insights. Organizations must often rely on additional AWS services for comprehensive network security. The solution is primarily used to protect against DDoS attacks and secure web applications, offering Layer 3 and 4 security. While the Standard tier offers basic security at no cost, the Advanced tier provides enhanced protection against severe attacks such as SYN floods, albeit with a monthly fee.

What are AWS Shield's most important features?

Ease of Use: Simple integration and intuitive monitoring dashboard.
Real-Time Attack Visibility: Immediate insights into attack metrics without performance impact.
Seamless AWS Integration: Works smoothly with WAF and CloudWatch for comprehensive protection.
Advanced Defense Strategies: Customizable strategies with automatic threat detection.

What benefits or ROI should users consider?

Enhanced Security: Robust DDoS mitigation for continuous protection.
Performance Maintenance: Protects services during high-traffic events without degradation.
Comprehensive Monitoring: Intuitive dashboard for easy attack tracking and management.
Cost-Effective Tiered Offerings: The choice between no-cost basic or feature-rich advanced options.

In industries like finance and e-commerce, AWS Shield's capabilities ensure continual uptime and protection against potential DDoS threats, vital during high-traffic periods. Its use in media and entertainment allows secure streaming and content delivery, while health sectors benefit from secure and reliable patient data access and protection.

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Cloudflare One is a comprehensive platform for security, performance, and connectivity. It provides features like rate limiting, DDoS protection, and application access, tailored to enhance user experience while securing internet access and accelerating communications.

Designed to integrate security measures with ease of use and scalability, Cloudflare One offers a secure web gateway and zero trust network access. These features ensure seamless setup and operation, making connectivity reliable and protected. Users appreciate its integrated console, intuitive interface, and the ability to manage risk effectively. It offers straightforward deployment, improves latency, and boasts cost-effectiveness. While its onboarding process and documentation need enhancement, its value in content delivery and application shielding is notable. Despite challenges in integrating Cloudflare Access with existing VPNs and the need for better automation and support, it remains vital for DNS and infrastructure protection.

What features make Cloudflare One stand out?

Rate Limiting: Controls the traffic rate to prevent abuse.
DDoS Protection: Shields applications from distributed denial-of-service attacks.
Secure Web Gateway: Provides secure internet access with seamless operation.
Zero Trust Network Access: Ensures secure, application-based connectivity without relying on traditional VPNs.
Access for Connectivity: Facilitates access to internal applications securely.

What benefits should users look for in reviews?

Security: Robust measures for DNS and browsing protection.
Performance: Enhanced site accessibility and communication speed.
Cost-Effectiveness: Offers competitive pricing for its features.
Ease of Deployment: Straightforward and efficient setup process.

In industries like finance, retail, and technology, Cloudflare One is crucial for enabling secure remote access and protecting web applications against dynamic threats. It supports compliance access policies and enhances content delivery, playing a key role in safeguarding digital infrastructure.

Cloudflare

Sample Customers

netflix, dow jones, mapbox, pearson, rovio, youview, moviestar planet, asurion, payplug, hour of code

23andMe

Buyer's Guide

AWS Shield vs. Cloudflare One

September 2026

Free Report: AWS Shield vs. Cloudflare One

Find out what your peers are saying about AWS Shield vs. Cloudflare One and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.

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