# Cloudflare vs IBM Cloud

| Attribute | Cloudflare | IBM Cloud |
|---|---|---|
| **vioscaleAI score** | 80.3 (72% (medium)) | 76.7 (71% (medium)) |
| content.faq | `[{"answer":"Cloudflare operates an edge network spanning 335+ cities worldwide, offering integrated services for application security, CDN performance, DDoS protection, and serverless computing. The platform enables businesses to build, secure, and scale applications without managing underlying infrastructure. It is indexed under Cloud Infrastructure.","source":"https://www.cloudflare.com/plans/","question":"What is Cloudflare?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Cloudflare offers a free tier, so you can start without paying. Paid plans start at $20 per month. Prices are published openly on the vendor's own pricing page. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://www.cloudflare.com/plans/","question":"Is Cloudflare free?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Cloudflare supports the web and a command-line interface. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.","source":"https://www.cloudflare.com/plans/","question":"What platforms does Cloudflare support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have only confirmed a cloud / SaaS deployment for Cloudflare, so it appears to be vendor-hosted. If a self-hosted option exists we have not found it documented publicly.","source":"https://www.cloudflare.com/plans/","question":"Can Cloudflare be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have independently confirmed SOC 2, ISO 27001 and GDPR for Cloudflare. Certifications we do not list are ones we have not been able to verify from public sources, which is not the same as Cloudflare not holding them. Always confirm compliance directly before you rely on it.","source":"https://www.cloudflare.com/trust-hub/gdpr/","question":"What security certifications does Cloudflare have?","confidence":0.7},{"answer":"Cloudflare is available worldwide. Its primary markets are the United States, the United Kingdom and the EU. The vendor is headquartered in the United States.","source":"https://www.cloudflare.com/plans/","question":"Where is Cloudflare available?","confidence":0.75}]` | `[{"answer":"A cloud infrastructure and services platform designed for building and managing applications across on-premises data centers and multiple cloud providers, with built-in security and compliance capabilities for regulated industries. It is indexed under Cloud Infrastructure.","source":"https://www.ibm.com/products/cloud/pricing","question":"What is IBM Cloud?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"IBM Cloud offers a free tier, so you can start without paying. Paid plans are also available: Lite, Pay-as-you-go, Subscription and Enterprise Savings Plan. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://www.ibm.com/products/cloud/pricing","question":"Is IBM Cloud free?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed browser-based access to IBM Cloud. That is the extent of what we could verify from public sources, so it may well offer desktop or mobile clients we have not indexed.","source":"https://www.ibm.com/products/cloud/pricing","question":"What platforms does IBM Cloud support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. IBM Cloud can be deployed cloud / SaaS, hybrid and on-premise, so it does not have to run on the vendor's infrastructure.","source":"https://www.ibm.com/products/cloud/pricing","question":"Can IBM Cloud be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed 34 integrations for IBM Cloud, including Anaplan, Apache, Elasticsearch, IBM Analytics Engine, IBM Blockchain Platform, IBM Cloud Pak for Business Automation, IBM Cloud Pak for Data and IBM Cloud Pak for Integration, plus 26 more. This is what we could verify from public sources, so the vendor may support others we have not indexed.","source":"https://www.ibm.com/cloud","question":"What does IBM Cloud integrate with?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have independently confirmed SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA and GDPR for IBM Cloud. Certifications we do not list are ones we have not been able to verify from public sources, which is not the same as IBM Cloud not holding them. Always confirm compliance directly before you rely on it.","source":"https://www.ibm.com/products/cloud/compliance","question":"What security certifications does IBM Cloud have?","confidence":0.7},{"answer":"IBM Cloud is available worldwide. Its primary market is the United States.","source":"https://www.ibm.com/products/cloud/pricing","question":"Where is IBM Cloud available?","confidence":0.75}]` |
| deployment.options | `{"cloud":true}` | `{"cloud":true,"hybrid":true,"on_prem":true}` |
| description.long | Cloudflare operates a distributed global network offering edge compute, storage, security services (DDoS protection, WAF, bot management, zero-trust access), and infrastructure for websites and AI applications. Services are billed based on actual usage rather than idle time. | A cloud infrastructure and services platform designed for building and managing applications across on-premises data centers and multiple cloud providers, with built-in security and compliance capabilities for regulated industries. |
| features.capabilities | `{"tier":"hyperscaler","marketplace":true,"regions_count":"335+ cities across 125+ countries","object_storage":true,"serverless_faas":true,"managed_databases":true}` | `{"tier":"hyperscaler","bare_metal":true,"block_storage":true,"gpu_instances":true,"regions_count":"Multiple regions","object_storage":true,"serverless_faas":true,"managed_databases":true,"managed_kubernetes":true,"private_networking":true}` |
| integrations.count | 1 | 887 |
| integrations.list | `[{"name":"App Marketplace (developer ecosystem)"}]` | `[{"name":"Anaplan"},{"name":"Apache"},{"name":"Elasticsearch"},{"name":"IBM Analytics Engine"},{"name":"IBM Blockchain Platform"},{"name":"IBM Cloud Pak for Business Automation"},{"name":"IBM Cloud Pak for Data"},{"name":"IBM Cloud Pak for Integration"},{"name":"IBM Cloud Pak for Network Automation"},{"name":"IBM Cloud Pak for AIOps"},{"name":"IBM Db2 Warehouse"},{"name":"IBM InfoSphere Information Server"},{"name":"IBM Master Data Management"},{"name":"IBM Turbonomic"},{"name":"IBM Watson Assistant"},{"name":"IBM Watson Discovery"},{"name":"IBM Watson Knowledge Catalog"},{"name":"IBM Watson Knowledge Studio"},{"name":"IBM Watson Language Translator"},{"name":"IBM Watson Natural Language Classifier"},{"name":"IBM Watson Natural Language Understanding"},{"name":"IBM Watson Speech to Text"},{"name":"IBM Watson Studio"},{"name":"IBM Watson Text to Speech"},{"name":"Kubernetes"},{"name":"Linux"},{"name":"MongoDB"},{"name":"NVIDIA"},{"name":"Oracle"},{"name":"RabbitMQ"},{"name":"Red Hat"},{"name":"Red Hat OpenShift"},{"name":"Redis"},{"name":"SAP"},{"name":"SPSS Statistics"}]` |
| market.availability | `{"primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` | `{"primaryMarkets":["US"],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` |
| platform.support | `{"web":true}` | `{"web":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"hybrid","plans":[{"free":true,"name":"Free","summary":"$0/month","components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":0,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}],"contactSales":false}],"summary":"Free tier. Paid plans starting at $5/month with monthly and annual billing options.","currency":"USD","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://www.cloudflare.com","retrievedAt":"2026-09-21T11:29:18.973Z","billingPeriods":["month","year"]}` | `{"type":"hybrid","plans":[{"free":true,"name":"Lite","contactSales":false},{"free":false,"name":"Pay-as-you-go","commitment":"monthly","contactSales":false},{"free":false,"name":"Subscription","commitment":"annual","contactSales":false},{"free":false,"name":"Enterprise Savings Plan","contactSales":false},{"free":false,"name":"Reserved Capacity","commitment":"annual","contactSales":false}],"summary":"Free Lite tier available. Pay-as-you-go, subscription, and committed spending plans.","currency":"USD","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://www.ibm.com/products/cloud/pricing","retrievedAt":"2026-09-04T13:32:58.578Z","freeTrialDays":30,"billingPeriods":["month"]}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | yes |
| pricing.model | freemium | freemium |
| pricing.price_level | low | low |
| pricing.transparent | yes | yes |
| reliability.sla_pct | 100 | - |
| reliability.status_page | yes | yes |
| security.disclosure_policy | yes | yes |
| security.fedramp | - | yes |
| security.gdpr | yes | yes |
| security.hipaa | - | yes |
| security.iso27001 | yes | yes |
| security.pci | yes | yes |
| security.soc2 | yes | yes |

## Capabilities (Cloud Infrastructure)

| Capability | Cloudflare | IBM Cloud |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Core** |  |  |
| Provider tier | Hyperscaler | Hyperscaler |
| **Reach** |  |  |
| Regions / global footprint | 335+ cities across 125+ countries | Multiple regions |
| **Compute** |  |  |
| Bare-metal servers | - | ✓ |
| GPU / accelerated compute | - | ✓ |
| Spot / preemptible pricing | - | - |
| **Storage** |  |  |
| Object storage | ✓ | ✓ |
| Block storage | - | ✓ |
| **Managed** |  |  |
| Managed Kubernetes | - | ✓ |
| Managed databases | ✓ | ✓ |
| Serverless / FaaS | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Network** |  |  |
| VPC / private networking | - | ✓ |
| **Pricing** |  |  |
| Free / low egress | - | - |
| **Compliance** |  |  |
| Data-residency / sovereign options | - | - |
| **Ecosystem** |  |  |
| Partner marketplace | ✓ | - |

*Source: vioscaleAI. Generated 2026-10-16T16:53:39.335Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*