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Collaborate with providers to create a Cloudflare alternative.
Hello Cloud & VPS providers,
In my past work, I found that there isn't a good alternative to Cloudflare (Cf) in the market. Cf has developed into a very powerful platform that integrates many services; it is undeniable that it does a great job, and I also enjoy using its services.
In the past, we encountered clients who wanted to self-host a platform as powerful as Cf (mainly for application security and performance).
Although we have strong software engineering capabilities (DNS, CDN, WAF, DDoS, Zero Trust, etc., we have built them all), we know that the strength of Cf lies in its network. To build such a platform, strong software needs to be combined with robust network infrastructure.
Cf was built 15 years ago when the infrastructure was not mature. Nowadays, there is a wealth of cloud infrastructure and numerous VPS providers, and I believe network capabilities have evolved to modern standards.
We see a lot of potential in this market; currently, no one can challenge Cf's position. Through interviews with many clients and partners, we found that there is no alternative to Cf on the market, especially when users deeply utilize application security and performance.
So, I have an idea: can I collaborate with cloud/VPS providers, where the providers are responsible for offering robust infrastructure, while our team excels at building the corresponding software stack? This way, clients can achieve an alternative to Cf based on my software platform combined with the infrastructure of VPS/cloud providers.
The software platform should allow for very simple deployment and management of edge nodes, and it should extend many functions through plugins, such as GeoDNS, Layer 4-7 proxy, CDN, WAF, rate limiting, Bot Management, Secure Tunnel, AI & API gateway, Clientless Zero Trust Access, observability, and more.
The edge infrastructure is responsible for providing a reliable, high-speed network and offering unmetered DDoS protection similar to Cloudflare.
This way, clients can purchase a rich and cost-effective edge node through our platform, and you can also refer clients to our platform to provide services similar to Cf. It’s a win-win situation.
Currently, we have built an MVP version for this, but what we need most is an infrastructure provider that can challenge Cloudflare. If you are interested, we hope to collaborate and reshape a new ecosystem.
I look forward to hearing everyone's thoughts and suggestions. Thank you.
Comments
The only left competitor which I think can compete is Linode/Akamai they have the infrastructure.
Interesting! Can we get the whitepaper and roadmap?
We currently have a Beta version and a simple introduction. We are working hard to build more features. If you are interested, I would be happy to message you privately!
DM me as well. We would definitely be interested in hosting a alpha at 5+ of our sites.
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I would be interested in the end product.
Making a basic cloudflare alternative isn't hard, the only hard part will be marketing, you need good powerful hardware, you need enough capacity. But price wise you will never beat Cloudflare.
I think CF isn’t even profitable? Do they turn a profit?
https://www.cloudflare.net/news/news-details/2025/Cloudflare-Announces-First-Quarter-2025-Financial-Results/default.aspx
CloudFlare is a public company.
Yeah its hard to beat CF when for most people their free plan works and works well.
Not yet but they’re becoming closer and closer while continuously increasing revenue. They’ve survived off of several rounds of funding and going public.
Cloudflare is essentially the middleman to the internet at this point. They’re growing themselves into profitability.
I’m not a financial advisor, I’m just some guy, but if you buy Cloudflare stock and sit on it for 10-20 years, I think you’ll be pretty happy with your investment.
Hah!
Nice joke.
You need at least a billion.
I would very much like this. Preferably a CF alternative that has the option to implement a reverse proxy, and addresses this problem:
"Their ToS specify that you grant them ALL rights to use your material, that is send with their service, in any way. I am not sure which products that all applies to – but still. The point 2.5 about “Costumer Content and Network Data” sounds spooky
https://www.cloudflare.com/terms/
“2.5.1 […] Subject to the terms of this Agreement, you hereby grant us a non-exclusive, fully sublicensable, worldwide, royalty-free right to collect, use, copy, store, transmit, modify and create derivative works of Customer Content, in each case to the extent necessary to provide the Services.”
“Services” is defined at the top of the ToS page.
I can not understand why they want all those rights, sub-licensing for example. Having a tool to shrink images online for example – Okay your service is “modifying” something, I can buy that. But “collect”? “Store”? For how long?"
From here:
https://neil-clarke.com/block-the-bots-that-feed-ai-models-by-scraping-your-website/
It's a lucrative market - especially at the business-level offering enterprise-level cloud and ddos mitigation.
Good luck, but from experience I don’t think it’s likely you’ll succeed.
This is pretty usual legal way to have protection for the company. Of course, corporate lawyers will make it in favor of their client - the company. So, for customer it is pretty much 'take it or leave it' choice.
What is the experience?
Sadly