2 categories · RankedCloudflare API Shield
Cloudflare API Shield is an API security product from Cloudflare that protects API traffic at the network edge · cloudflare.com ↗
Strongest at small business, contested with 42Crunch. Ranked 18 of 95 for enterprise buyers.
The standing depends on who is buying. Every model is asked the same questions for each company size.
Ranked first, contested: 42Crunch has 10%.
Salt Security is first at 16%. 1 of 14 models made it the first choice when asked directly.
Salt Security is first at 44%.
Why models recommend it
“For most small businesses and startups, Cloudflare offers the best balance of price and power.”Qwen 3.7 Flash · Budget-constrained question · first choice
“I'd recommend starting with Cloudflare's free tier + Kong Gateway (open source)”Kimi K2 · Budget-constrained question · first choice
“I'd suggest starting with Cloudflare API Shield or Kong (open source)”MiniMax M2.5 · Budget-constrained question · first choice
“Cloudflare API Shield is the strongest default choice”Perplexity Sonar · Budget-constrained question · first choice
What gives them pause
“both Cloudflare and Salt operate on volumetric licensing. This can lead to unexpected cost increases”Muse Glimmer 30B · Negative question · warning
Also on the shortlist
The products named in the same answers as Cloudflare API Shield, over the 106 answers that named it, and how often each was the first choice instead.
| Product | Named together | Picked instead | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 65 | 20 | Compare → | |
| 53 | 3 | Compare → | |
| 52 | 8 | View → | |
| 48 | 5 | Compare → | |
| 44 | 4 | Compare → | |
| 40 | 4 | View → | |
| 30 | 9 | Compare → | |
| 27 | 1 | View → | |
| 26 | 1 | View → | |
| 25 | 4 | Compare → |
What the models named instead of Cloudflare API Shield →
A side-by-side page exists where both products are among a category's top eight.
At a glance
Stated on Cloudflare API Shield's own site, not checked by Gane.
- For
- Enterprise customers
- Price stated
- Enterprise-only paid add-on
- Free plan or trial
- Enterprise customers can preview this product as a non-contract service, which provides full access, free of metered usage fees, limits, and certain other restrictions.
- Customers named
- Discord
- Also from Cloudflare
- Cloudflare 1.1.1.1 for Families, Cloudflare AI Gateway, Cloudflare API Gateway, Cloudflare API Security, Cloudflare Access, Cloudflare Access / Cloudflare One and 43 more
How this is measured
Fourteen AI models from 12 labs are asked the same buying questions six ways, for three company sizes. Standings refresh every edition.
Gane sells AI visibility software. No company can pay to change a result.
Read the method →Sources returned with these answers
Fourteen of the fourteen models returned a source list in this edition: five return the pages they cited and nine the search results they consulted. These counts come from 94 of the 106 answers that named Cloudflare API Shield and are not a share of its labels.
Domains cited
241 of the 284 domain citations in answers naming Cloudflare API Shield came from a third party's page. Twenty-two were to the publisher's own pages (the Gane Index), which the models cite like any other source; they are not counted as a third party.
Pages cited
Pages are listed as the models cited them.
By model
| Model | First choice | Alternative | Mention | Warning | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| GPT-5.4 mini | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Gemini 3.5 Flash | 0 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 6 |
| Perplexity Sonar | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Grok 4.20 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| Mistral Small | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Llama 4 Maverick | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Qwen 3.7 Flash | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4 |
| Kimi K2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| GLM 4.7 FlashX | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| MiniMax M2.5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| GPT-6 Luna | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Muse Glimmer 30B | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 4 |