--- title: What is Cloudflare? description: Cloudflare is one of the biggest networks on the Internet, people use Cloudflare for web application security and performance. image: https://www.cloudflare.com/preview.png --- ## So what is Cloudflare? Cloudflare is one of the biggest networks operating on the Internet. People use Cloudflare services for the purposes of increasing the security and performance of their web sites and services. ###### Learning objectives After reading this article you will be able to: * Understand how Cloudflare works Related content On this page ## So what is Cloudflare? Cloudflare is on a mission to help build a better Internet. Cloudflare is one of the world’s largest networks. Today, businesses, non-profits, bloggers, and anyone with an Internet presence boast faster, more secure websites and apps thanks to Cloudflare. ![Cloudflare network map](https://images.ctfassets.net/slt3lc6tev37/3qkAxZ673cqHFDwafV08rB/83350c530e07dad0e8774a70d9c208a0/network-map-spot-hero_3x-8.png) Cloudflare network map Millions of Internet properties are on Cloudflare, and our network is growing by tens of thousands each day. Cloudflare powers Internet requests for millions of websites and serves %{HTTPRequests} million HTTP requests per second on average. Resource Regain control with the Connectivity Cloud [Learn more →](/connectivity-cloud/) ebook Everywhere security for every phase of the attack lifecycle [Read the ebook →](/lp/everywhere-security-ebook/) #### Here’s how it works: In the early days of the Internet, when you wanted to load a website, your request would go from your computer to a server, which would then return the web page you requested. ![Connection Between Computer And Server](https://cloudflare.com/img/learning/what-is-cloudflare/simple-connection.svg) Connection Between Computer And Server Sign Up Security & speed with any Cloudflare plan [Start for free →](/plans/) If too many requests came in at once, that server could be overwhelmed and crash, becoming unresponsive to anyone trying to access the resources it hosted. ![Overwhelmed server](https://cloudflare.com/img/learning/what-is-cloudflare/server-overwhelmed.svg) Overwhelmed server This made it difficult for owners of Internet properties to provide content that was fast, safe, and reliable. Cloudflare was created to ease these difficulties and empower users with the resources to make their sites, apps, and blogs safe and performant. This is done through the use of a powerful [edge network](/learning/cdn/glossary/edge-server/) that provides content and other services as close to you as possible, so you get the information as fast as possible. ![Website with Cloudflare](https://cloudflare.com/img/learning/what-is-cloudflare/with-cloudflare.svg) Website with Cloudflare You see, Einstein figured out some time ago that the speed of light is a hard upper limit on how fast you can communicate; there comes a point when the only thing you can do is move the content and computation closer! That’s why we put data centers in more than 335+ cities all across the world: to give you what you’re looking for quickly! ![Einstein](https://cloudflare.com/img/learning/what-is-cloudflare/einstein.svg) Einstein Cloudflare also provides security by protecting Internet properties from malicious activity like [DDoS attacks](/learning/ddos/what-is-a-ddos-attack/), malicious [bots](https://www.cloudflare.com/learning/bots/what-is-a-bot/), and other nefarious intrusions. ![Cloudflare protection](https://cloudflare.com/img/learning/what-is-cloudflare/cf-shield.svg) Cloudflare protection And allows website owners to easily insert applications into their websites without needing to be a developer. ![Application being dropped onto a website using Cloudflare](https://cloudflare.com/img/learning/what-is-cloudflare/drop-an-application.svg) Application being dropped onto a website using Cloudflare If you’re a developer, we allow you to run Javascript code on our powerful edge network, so that you can get as close to a user as possible. This eliminates delays, and improves the experience for users like you! ![Hello world](https://cloudflare.com/img/learning/what-is-cloudflare/hello-world.svg) Hello world We provide security and performance for millions of Internet properties and offer great functionality such as [SSL](/learning/ssl/what-is-ssl/) and [content distribution](/application-services/products/cdn/) to every website on our network. Our services run silently in the background, keeping many of the websites and services you depend on up and running. Your Internet provider, and anyone else listening in on the Internet, can see every site you visit and every app you use — even if their content is encrypted. Cloudflare offers a [free DNS service called 1.1.1.1](/learning/dns/what-is-1.1.1.1/) that you can use on any device. Cloudflare’s 1.1.1.1 protects your data from being analysed or used for targeting you with ads. Above all, we are mission-driven. That’s why we protect organizations working on behalf of the arts, human rights, civil society, or democracy with [Project Galileo](/galileo/), giving them Cloudflare’s highest level of protection for free. ![Project Galileo](https://cloudflare.com/img/learning/what-is-cloudflare/galileo-telescope.svg) Project Galileo The right to vote is vital to democracy, which is why we also protect official election websites from hacking and fraud through [Project Athenian](/athenian/), also at no cost. ![Project Athenian](https://cloudflare.com/img/learning/what-is-cloudflare/voting-booth.svg) Project Athenian Do you want to improve your website, web application or API? [Get Cloudflare Now](/plans/) [Subscribe to the Cloudflare blog to check in on what we’re up to.](https://blog.cloudflare.com/subscribe/) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Organization","name":"Cloudflare","url":"https://www.cloudflare.com","logo":"https://www.cloudflare.com/logo.svg","sameAs":["https://github.com/cloudflare","https://www.linkedin.com/company/cloudflare","https://x.com/cloudflare"]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"WebSite","name":"Cloudflare","url":"https://www.cloudflare.com","inLanguage":"en","potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":"https://www.cloudflare.com/search?q={search_term_string}","query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"WebPage","name":"What is Cloudflare?","description":"Cloudflare is one of the biggest networks on the Internet, people use Cloudflare for web application security and performance.","url":"https://www.cloudflare.com/learning/security/what-is-cloudflare/","inLanguage":"en"} ```