Cloudflare WAF vs Google Cloud Armor

Cloudflare WAF9.4Visit Google Cloud Armor8.8Visit

Higher score Cloudflare WAF #1 in Web Application Firewall Software 9.4/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 3 of 4 features Visit Cloudflare

vs

Google Cloud Armor #6 in Web Application Firewall Software 8.8/10 Paid ✓ 4 of 4 features Visit Google Cloud

• Cloudflare WAF fits best

  Teams wanting broad WAF coverage with a free plan

• Google Cloud Armor fits best

  Google Cloud users needing managed edge protection

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Side by side

Feature	Cloudflare WAF 9.4/10 Visit ↗	Google Cloud Armor 8.8/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score	9.4	8.8
Ranking	#1 in Web Application Firewall Software	#6 in Web Application Firewall Software
Best for	Teams wanting broad WAF coverage with a free plan	Google Cloud users needing managed edge protection
Pricing model	Free plan + paid	Paid
Starting price	$20/mo	—
Free plan	✓ (best)	—
Free trial	—	—
Deployment	Cloud	Cloud
Platforms	Web	Web
Support	Community, Tickets, Live chat, Phone, Docs	Community, Docs
Integrations	1 integrations	6 integrations
Built for	Solo, Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise	Mid-market, Enterprise
Features Cloudflare WAF 3/4 · Google Cloud Armor 4/4
Managed rule sets	✓	✓
API protection	✓	✓
Bot management	—	✓ (best)
Rate limiting	✓	✓
Specs
Deployment model	Edge	Edge
Log retention	30 days	Not checked yet
Our review
Pros	Free plan includes managed rules and one rate-limiting rule Edge inspection covers web applications and APIs Terraform management, analytics, and virtual patching support	Managed rules update for CVEs and zero-day vulnerabilities Protects backend services and APIs with custom policy rules Adds bot management, rate limiting, geo controls, and monitoring
Cons	Bot management is a separate Cloudflare product Paid managed rules begin with the Pro plan Business pricing starts at $200 per month billed annually	Paid service with usage-based pricing Bot management is unavailable in Cloud Armor Standard Enterprise plans apply data processing fees
Our verdict	Cloudflare WAF is a cloud-delivered web application firewall for websites and APIs. It inspects HTTP and HTTPS requests at Cloudflare’s edge, applying managed rulesets, custom rules, and protections for attacks such as SQL injection and… Read the review →	Google Cloud Armor is a cloud network-security service for protecting applications, APIs, and backend services at Google’s network edge. It is aimed at teams running workloads on Google Cloud, as well as organizations connecting hybrid or… Read the review →

Strengths and trade-offs

• Cloudflare WAF — where it wins

  • Free plan includes managed rules and one rate-limiting rule
  • Edge inspection covers web applications and APIs
  • Terraform management, analytics, and virtual patching support

  Where it doesn't

  • Bot management is a separate Cloudflare product
  • Paid managed rules begin with the Pro plan
  • Business pricing starts at $200 per month billed annually

• Google Cloud Armor — where it wins

  • Managed rules update for CVEs and zero-day vulnerabilities
  • Protects backend services and APIs with custom policy rules
  • Adds bot management, rate limiting, geo controls, and monitoring

  Where it doesn't

  • Paid service with usage-based pricing
  • Bot management is unavailable in Cloud Armor Standard
  • Enterprise plans apply data processing fees

• Cloudflare WAF9.4/10 · Free plan

  Broad edge WAF coverage with a free plan and Terraform management.

  Visit CloudflareFull verdict →
• Google Cloud Armor8.8/10 · Paid

  A Google Cloud edge WAF with managed rules, API protection, bots, and rate controls.

  Visit Google CloudFull verdict →