Due to an increased emphasis on website security in today’s digital landscape, one of the most common requests we’ve gotten from readers is to do a pros and cons analysis of Sucuri vs CloudFlare to explain which one is better. Sucuri and CloudFlare are online services that offer website firewall, CDN, and DDoS protection services. In this article, we will compare Sucuri vs Cloudflare with pros and cons to find out which one is better.
Even the most secure websites on the internet are vulnerable to distributed denial of service attacks (DDoS), hacking attempts, and malware injection.
As a WordPress site owner you can use some security best practices like password protecting admin directory, limiting login attempts, adding two factor authentication, etc.
However these tips only work on software level which leaves your website mostly open to other types of attacks. These attacks can cause financial damage, data loss, poor search rankings and bad user experience.
Sucuri and CloudFlare offer a website application firewall (WAF).
This means that all your website’s traffic goes through their server scanners. If a request looks malicious, then the firewall would block it before it even reaches your website.
On the surface, these two services look nearly identical, but there are some key differences.
In this comparison, we’ll focus on:
- Features
- Pricing
- Malware Removal Service
By the end, you’ll know exactly which platform is best for you.
Ready? Let’s compare Sucuri vs Cloudflare.
Features
In this section, we will look at the features offered by Sucuri and CloudFlare.
It’s important to note that both services offer different plans that come with different set of features.
As a user, make sure you’re not a victim of their marketing site because not all plans come with all the features.
CloudFlare Features
CloudFlare is best known for their free CDN service. They specialize in mitigating DDOS attacks using their Website Application Firewall product. CloudFlare keep your site available to users during an attack or under heavy traffic when your server is not responsive.
Their website firewall blocks suspicious traffic before it even reaches your website. The firewall also extends to form submissions which protects your website from comment spam and registration spam.
CloudFlare also offers free and custom SSL certificates with all their plans. Free and pro plans only allow you to use CloudFlare issued certificate. For custom certificate you will need to upgrade to their Business or Enterprise plan.
While CloudFlare offer a free option that includes CDN, most other features including their Website Application Firewall require a paid plan.
CloudFlare doesn’t offer server scanning service to detect malware. It also doesn’t offer a malware removal guarantee if you were to be hacked on their watch.
Sucuri Features
Sucuri is one of the most reputable website security and monitoring service. They offer comprehensive website monitoring, scanning for malware, DDoS protection, and malware removal services.
Sucuri offers CloudProxy, a website firewall and load balancing service. It blocks suspicious traffic from reaching your website by effectively blocking DDoS attacks, code injection, bad bots, and other website threats. See our case study of how Sucuri helped us block 450,000 attacks in 3 months.
Sucuri offers integration with the free Let’s Encrypt SSL for their basic plan. You can also use custom SSL certificates with their professional and business plans.
Sucuri scans your website regularly for file changes, code injection, and malware. They clean up hacked sites, with support for all popular CMS software like WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, etc.
Winner: Sucuri is a clear winner because they offer a better combination of tools and services (Website Firewall + Load Balancing + Malware Cleanup / Hack Repair).
Pricing
Pricing is an important factor for many small businesses.
Here, we will compare the different pricing plans offered by CloudFlare and Sucuri, so you know exactly what you’re getting for your money.
FREE is not always better
CloudFlare Pricing Plans
CloudFlare offers a free CDN service for all. They don’t charge you for the bandwidth which means you will be able to use their free CDN regardless of your traffic volume.
However, this free plan does not come with the website application firewall. Your website may benefit from CDN, but it will not be properly protected against DDoS attacks, spam, bad traffic, etc.
For their web application firewall, you need the Pro plan which costs $20 / month (this is what you need for improved security).
This pro plan does not include advanced DDoS mitigation and custom SSL. For those features, you will need their Business plan which costs $200 per month.
Sucuri Pricing Plans
Unlike CloudFlare, Sucuri doesn’t offer a free plan. Their website security stack plan starts at $199.99 for an year, which is cheaper than CloudFlare’s pro plan.
This basic plan includes full website monitoring, website application firewall, DDoS protection, malware removal, and free LetsEncrypt SSL certificate.
Instead of excluding features from lower level plans, Sucuri uses priority as an incentive for their higher paying plans.
For example, malware removal estimated time for basic plan is 12 hours, 6 hours for professional plan, and 4 hours for business plan. However, the actual cleanup timings are way faster than that for all customers.
They offer 24/7 support as part of all plans. Their business plan subscribers can also use the Live Chat support.
Winner:Sucuri is an obvious choice for small businesses when it comes to pricing. CloudFlare Pro costs $240 / year vs Sucuri cost $199 / year and offer more features. To unlock same features, you’d have move up to CloudFlare’s $2400 / year plan. Sucuri’s most expensive plan is at $499 / year.
Malware Removal Service
Apart from denial of service attacks, malware and code injections are the most common threats faced by WordPress site owners.
Let’s see how both services protect your website against those common threats.
CloudFlare – Security and Malware Removal
CloudFlare free version is basically a content delivery network which helps make your website fast.
The website security firewall comes with their paid plan. It includes CloudFlare’s ready to use custom rules set. These rules protect your site from common code injection hacks, XSS JavaScript exploits, and form submissions.
However, they do not offer file change detection, malware scanning, blacklist monitoring, and many other security features. You can add third-party apps for malware scanning, but these services will cost you additional fees.
Sucuri – Security and Malware Removal
Sucuri is a security focused company. They specialize in monitoring websites and protecting them against malware and other attacks.
Sucuri’s website application firewall protects you against DDOS, SQL injections, XSS JavaScript injections, comment and contact form spam.
However, if something crosses all those security barriers and somehow reaches your website, then Sucuri offers to clean up your website (for free).
If you already have a website affected with malware, then Sucuri will clean that up as well.
Winner:Sucuri – For combining website application firewall with monitoring, malware protection, and clean up services.
Conclusion
CloudFlare and Sucuri both offer protection against DDoS attacks on your website. CloudFlare does a little better in the content delivery network area.
Sucuri fares better in the overall features, better security monitoring, and lower prices. If you are using a CMS like WordPress, then Sucuri is what you need.
We hope this article helped you compare pros and cons of Sucuri vs CloudFlare. You may also want to see our list of 7 best WordPress backup plugins.
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