Cloudflare CDN vs Akamai Pricing (2026)
Compare / Cloudflare CDN vs Akamai
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Team size
25 seats

Cloudflare CDN vs Akamai

CDN (Content Delivery Network) pricing comparison · 2026

Cloudflare CDN has a free plan, then $25–$250/mo, while Akamai is quote-based.

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See pricing on each vendor's site
Above-the-fold path — each link opens the vendor's pricing page in a new tab.
Compare
2 products · CDN (Content Delivery Network)
Side-by-side · live
Cloudflare CDN
Cloudflare CDN pricing starts at $0/month on the Free plan, which includes global CDN deli
verified 10w ago
$299 $3.2K
View pricing →
Akamai
Akamai CDN is an enterprise-grade content delivery network built for large organizations r
verified 11w ago
$299 $3.2K
View pricing →
Recorded annual contract medians
Cloudflare median is $2.9K less than Akamai · different customer contracts; not a quote
Cheapest $299
Spread 91%
Estimated license cost
at 25 seats
List price × seats. Click a tier below to lock it.
Business
$3.0K/yr
year 1 license · flat plan price
Pricing model unknown
Pricing model unknown
no public list price found
What buyers actually pay
median, annual
Vendr deal-flow data. The real benchmark, not list price.
↓ Lowest median
Median annual
$299/yr
Vendr · n=169
Median annual
$3.2K/yr
Vendr · n=37
REF · 01

Sources & confidence

Every dollar amount and contract clause below traces back to a sourced fact. We don't manufacture composite scores.

Where this data comes from
Vendr · TrustRadius · Reddit · BBB · official docs
Sources 24 sourced facts
18 hidden-cost · 2 contract · Vendr median · 3 review platforms
Last verified 2mo ago
Confidence Medium confidence
Sources 5 sourced facts
3 hidden-cost · 1 contract · Vendr median
Last verified 2mo ago
Confidence Medium confidence
REF · 02

Plans at a glance

Every tier per product. Lock one to drive the cost row above and reveal a tier-specific outbound CTA.

Tier ladder
Click a tier to lock the cost row to it. Locking surfaces a tier-specific Visit CTA.
REF · 03

Hidden costs

Each cost is severity-ranked, with the dollar range quoted from its source (Vendr, Reddit, TrustRadius, BBB, official docs) — never our estimate.

Beyond the sticker
Severity-ranked, sourced
5 documented
  • Add-on Stacking
    20-30%
    1 source
  • Argo Smart Routing Usage
    $0.10 per GB
    1 source
  • Workers Usage
    $5/month base, $0.30 per million requests
    1 source
  • Stream Usage
    $1.00 per 1,000 minutes of video stored, $0.01 per minute of video delivered
    1 source
  • Log Explorer/Logpush Usage
    $1/GB ingested, $0.05–$0.10 per GB of logs
    1 source
3 documented
  • Premium Support Tiers
    10–20%
    1 source
  • Origin Shield & Midgress Traffic
    10–20%
    1 source
  • Log Delivery & Analytics
    1 source
REF · 04

Contract terms

The fine print, surfaced. Green = buyer-friendly. Each clause backed by a quoted source.

Cloudflare
Akamai
Auto-renewal
Yes
—
Cancellation
—
—
Commitment
—
Minimum pricing commitment is north of $1,000/month
Price escalation
No published uplift schedule; users report unexpected charges for add-on features enabled without notice, including charges continuing on accounts believed to be closed.
—
Can downgrade
—
—
REF · 05

What users say

Aggregated, with sample sizes. We use whichever review platform has data.

User reviews
TrustRadius · Trustpilot · G2
TrustRadius
8.9out of 5 (558)
Trustpilot
1.2out of 5 (25)
G2
4.5out of 5 (603)
Best for
Personal websites and small projects
Watch out
CAPTCHA and bot verification loops blocking legitimate human users from accessing websites
No public ratings yet
Best for
Large enterprises with high traffic needs
Watch out
Extremely expensive pricing
Decide
Get a quote from each vendor
Each link opens the vendor's pricing page in a new tab.
License cost is computed from publicly listed plans (real math, list price × seats). Median annual cost is from Vendr's deal flow when available — see source badges. Hidden costs and contract terms each cite their own sources. We do not invent composite scores.
CDN (Content Delivery Network)

Cloudflare CDN

Free plan; paid $25–$250
/mo
5 plans · Free tier
Full pricing breakdown →
VS
CDN (Content Delivery Network)

Akamai

Custom pricing
1 plan
Full pricing breakdown →

Cloudflare CDN and Akamai both operate in the cdn (content delivery network) category. This page compares their list pricing.

Plan-by-Plan Pricing

Plan Cloudflare CDN Akamai
Free Free /month Custom
Pro $25 /month —
Business $250 /month —
Enterprise Custom —
Contract Custom —

Market Intelligence

Cloudflare CDN

Median annual cost
$299
Based on
169 deals

Akamai

Median annual cost
$3,200
Based on
37 deals

Hidden Costs

Beyond the sticker price — what catches buyers off guard.

Cloudflare CDN 14 hidden costs

high
Add-on Stacking 20-30%
high
Argo Smart Routing Usage $0.10 per GB
medium
Workers Usage $5/month base, $0.30 per million requests
medium
Stream Usage $1.00 per 1,000 minutes of video stored, $0.01 per minute of video delivered
high
Log Explorer/Logpush Usage $1/GB ingested, $0.05–$0.10 per GB of logs
See all Cloudflare CDN hidden costs →

Akamai 3 hidden costs

low
Premium Support Tiers 10–20%
medium
Origin Shield & Midgress Traffic 10–20%
medium
Log Delivery & Analytics
See all Akamai hidden costs →

Contract Terms

Term Cloudflare CDN Akamai
Auto-renewal Yes —
Cancellation — —
Minimum commitment — Minimum pricing commitment is north of $1,000/month
Price escalation No published uplift schedule; users report unexpected charges for add-on features enabled without notice, including charges continuing on accounts believed to be closed. —

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