Cloudflare overview
Cloudflare operates one of the largest networks for delivering and protecting internet traffic. Websites, applications and corporate networks route their traffic through its servers in more than 330 cities, where Cloudflare caches content with the Cloudflare CDN, filters out attacks and speeds up connections. The same network hosts the Cloudflare Workers developer platform, the Cloudflare One zero trust security platform and the free 1.1.1.1 DNS resolver used by consumers.
Matthew Prince and Michelle Zatlyn developed the idea at Harvard Business School and founded Cloudflare in 2009 with Lee Holloway, a programmer who had worked with Prince on Project Honey Pot, an open-source effort to track online spammers that partly inspired the company. Cloudflare launched publicly at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference in 2010. Its free plan, which let site owners join by pointing their domain’s nameservers to Cloudflare, helped it spread to millions of websites.
The company kept adding services to the same infrastructure: free SSL certificates for all customers in 2014, free protection for journalists and activists through Project Galileo, the Workers serverless platform in 2017 and the 1.1.1.1 resolver in 2018. It went public on the New York Stock Exchange in September 2019 at $15 a share. In 2020 it introduced Cloudflare One as a replacement for corporate VPNs and hardware firewalls, and acquisitions including Area 1 Security, Replicate and VoidZero later extended it into email security, AI model hosting and JavaScript developer tools.
Sitting in front of so much of the web has made Cloudflare’s decisions and failures highly visible. The company describes itself as a neutral infrastructure provider but has ended service to sites including The Daily Stormer, 8chan and Kiwi Farms after public pressure, and outages in November and December 2025 knocked many popular websites and apps offline. In July 2025 it made blocking AI crawlers the default setting and introduced pay per crawl, a way for publishers to charge AI companies for access. In May 2026 it announced a restructuring that cut about 20% of its workforce as it shifted to what it called an agentic AI-first operating model. Revenue was about $2.17 billion in 2025.
Software by Cloudflare
4 products profiled, from Cloudflare CDN (2010) to Cloudflare One (2020).
- Cloudflare CDNGlobal content delivery network with built-in DDoS protection Cloud & Infrastructure 2010 Freemium
- Cloudflare WorkersServerless platform for running code across Cloudflare’s global network Developer Tools 2018 Usage-based
- Cloudflare OneCloudflare’s SASE platform for zero trust access and network security Cybersecurity 2020 Freemium
- 1.1.1.1Cloudflare’s free, privacy-focused public DNS resolver and app Cybersecurity 2018 Freemium
Cloudflare history and milestones
- 2009
Matthew Prince, Michelle Zatlyn and Lee Holloway found Cloudflare, incorporating it in Delaware in July.
- 2010
Cloudflare launches publicly at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference.
- 2014
Cloudflare begins providing free SSL encryption to all customers and starts Project Galileo for at-risk public interest sites.
- 2017
Cloudflare announces Workers, a platform for running developers’ code across its network.
- 2018
Cloudflare launches the free 1.1.1.1 public DNS resolver in partnership with APNIC.
- 2019
Cloudflare goes public on the New York Stock Exchange at $15 a share under the ticker NET.
- 2020
Cloudflare introduces Cloudflare One, its zero trust network and security platform.
- 2022
Cloudflare acquires email security company Area 1 Security.
- 2025
Cloudflare makes blocking AI crawlers the default, launches pay per crawl and suffers major outages in November and December.
- 2026
Cloudflare acquires VoidZero, the company behind Vite, and cuts about 20% of its workforce in an AI-focused restructuring.
Who founded Cloudflare?
Matthew Prince
Co-founder; CEO since 2009 and co-chair
Matthew Prince grew up in Park City, Utah, studied English and computer science at Trinity College in Hartford and earned a law degree from the University of Chicago. While teaching cyberlaw, he co-founded Unspam Technologies, which ran Project Honey Pot to track email spammers, and he later earned an MBA at Harvard Business School, where he and Michelle Zatlyn developed the plan for Cloudflare.
Prince has been Cloudflare’s chief executive since July 2009. He chaired its board from 2009 until February 2025, when he and Zatlyn became co-chairs, and his high-vote Class B shares give him the largest single share of the company’s voting power.
Michelle Zatlyn
Co-founder; president and co-chair
Michelle Zatlyn grew up in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry and business at McGill University and worked at Toshiba and on the founding team of the Toronto startup I Love Rewards, later Achievers, before studying at Harvard Business School, where she and Matthew Prince planned Cloudflare.
At Cloudflare she led user experience from 2009, served as chief operating officer from 2016 to 2025 and became president in 2020. The board named her co-chair in February 2025. She also sits on the board of Atlassian.
Lee Holloway
Co-founder; led Cloudflare’s early engineering until 2015
Lee Holloway worked with Matthew Prince on Project Honey Pot before the two founded Cloudflare with Michelle Zatlyn in 2009. He designed the architecture of Cloudflare’s network and recruited and led its early engineering team.
Holloway stepped down from Cloudflare in 2015 after developing frontotemporal dementia, a rare neurological disease. When the company prepared its 2019 initial public offering, it named the confidential process Project Holloway in recognition of his contribution.
How Cloudflare makes money
Cloudflare earns money from subscriptions and usage fees. Small and medium-sized businesses typically pay month to month for Pro or Business plans, while larger organizations sign Enterprise contracts. Developer products such as Workers and R2 storage are billed by usage, and zero trust security services are sold per user. Millions of websites also use Cloudflare’s free plans, which the company sees as a way to build network scale and convert free users into paying customers.
Because Cloudflare runs every service on every server in its network, it can add products without building separate infrastructure, and it uses otherwise idle capacity to support its free tier. Revenue was about $2.17 billion in 2025, when the company had roughly 332,000 paying customers, and it reached $696.1 million in the second quarter of 2026, up 36% from a year earlier.
Who owns and runs Cloudflare?
Co-founder Matthew Prince has been chief executive since 2009, and co-founder Michelle Zatlyn is president; the two have been co-chairs of the board since February 2025. Thomas Seifert is chief financial officer, and Scott Sandell of venture firm NEA is lead independent director. Cloudflare is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, but Prince and Zatlyn hold Class B shares carrying 10 votes each that gave them a majority of the voting power in 2026, when shareholders also approved adding a class of non-voting shares.
- Matthew PrinceCo-founder, CEO and co-chair
- Michelle ZatlynCo-founder, president and co-chair
- Thomas SeifertChief financial officer
- Alissa StarzakChief legal officer
- Scott SandellLead independent director
Cloudflare: frequently asked questions
Who founded Cloudflare?
Cloudflare was founded in 2009 by Matthew Prince, Michelle Zatlyn and Lee Holloway. Prince and Zatlyn developed the idea at Harvard Business School, and Holloway, who had worked with Prince on the anti-spam effort Project Honey Pot, designed the company’s original network architecture.
Who owns Cloudflare?
Cloudflare is a public company listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker NET, so it is owned by its shareholders. Co-founders Matthew Prince and Michelle Zatlyn hold high-vote Class B shares that gave them a majority of the company’s voting power in 2026, although they own a much smaller share of its stock.
Who is the CEO of Cloudflare?
Matthew Prince is the CEO of Cloudflare. He co-founded the company in 2009 and has led it as chief executive ever since. He also serves as co-chair of the board alongside co-founder and president Michelle Zatlyn, an arrangement that began in February 2025.
Where is Cloudflare headquartered?
Cloudflare is headquartered at 101 Townsend Street in San Francisco, California. Its infrastructure extends far beyond its offices, with servers in more than 330 cities in over 125 countries, and it also has offices in other cities, including London and Singapore.
What software does Cloudflare make?
Cloudflare offers application services such as its CDN, DDoS protection, web application firewall and DNS; Cloudflare One for zero trust access and network security; developer products including Workers, R2 storage and Workers AI; and consumer services such as the 1.1.1.1 DNS resolver and the WARP secure connection app.
Is Cloudflare free to use?
Cloudflare offers free plans for many services, including caching and DDoS protection for websites, the 1.1.1.1 DNS resolver and a free tier of Workers for developers. Businesses pay for advanced features through Pro, Business and Enterprise plans, per-user zero trust subscriptions or usage-based developer pricing.
Sources
- Cloudflare annual report on Form 10-K, 2025 sec.gov
- Cloudflare 2026 proxy statement sec.gov
- Cloudflare announces second quarter 2026 results sec.gov
- Cloudflare registration statement on Form S-1, 2019 sec.gov
- Cloudflare outage on November 18, 2025 blog.cloudflare.com
- Cloudflare, Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org
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