<img src="https://itxdesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/45884024_s-300x199.jpg" alt="Cloud" width="300" height="199" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-10692" />Since website security is at the top of your list for 2017, it’s a great time to narrow down the best online services that you should be using. The debate today is between CloudFlare and Sucuri, two popular options for your website firewall and other protective services. 

What are the differences between the two and how do they compare? Is one better than the other? Take a closer look at the differences between each of its features and who comes ahead in categories like pricing, malware removal, and features. 

<h2>Who wins in each category? </h2>

When it comes down to it, many will choose CloudFlare or Sucuri based on who is going to perform or offer the things that matter most to a brand. CloudFlare comes ahead when it comes to the content delivery network area, while Sucuri tends to come out ahead on overall features, pricing, and security monitoring. Many WordPress users will choose Sucuri over CloudFlare but there are times when CloudFlare may be the better choice. What are the differences? 

<h2>Pricing considerations</h2>

<img src="https://itxdesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Pricing-300x200.jpg" alt="Pricing" width="300" height="200" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-10691" />While a free program may sounds like an obvious winner, free is not always the best route to go. Pricing is always a consideration for your small business but with CloudFlare’s pricing plans and Sucuri’s great deals, it’s easy to afford one or the other. CloudFlare does offer a free CDN service where you aren’t charged for bandwidth and you can use it free despite traffic volume, but you can also pay for a plan to get access to a website application firewall. 

You can pay for a Pro plan at $20 per month to get improved security against DDoS attacks, bad traffic, and spam, but it won’t include DDoS mitigation and custom SSL like their Business plan does at $200 per month. 

The Sucuri is a popular choice for budgets because you can pay $200 per year to get the website security stack plan, a $40 savings from CloudFlare. There is no free option with Sucuri but the basic plan is still less than CloudFlare and offers everything from malware removal to free LetsEncrypt SSL certificate, and priority for those paying for the higher paying plans. A basic plan may have you waiting for 12 hours for malware removal while those in the business plan may only wait 4 hours and have access to Live Chat. 

<h2>Overall features</h2>

Another consideration is the overall features between the two. Sucuri is known as one of the best when it comes to website security and monitoring while CloudFlare is known for their free CDN service. Sucuri tends to offer a better set of tools and service combined compared to CloudFlare’s offering, with Sucuri scanning your website regularly for file changes, malware, and code injection, cleaning up hacked sites like your WordPress site, they offer website firewall and load balancing services, and they offer integration with the free Let’s Encrypt SSL, all while being known as a comprehensive website monitoring, DDoS protector, malware scanner, and malware removal services out there. 

Cloudflare is unique in offering the free CDN services and they also specialize in DDoS attack mitigation through their Website Application Firewall product. Your site won’t go offline during an attack or during heavy traffic times. You’ll also be able to breathe easy knowing that they will block suspicious traffic before it could even reach your website. Some still prefer Sucuri knowing that CloudFlare doesn’t offer a server scanning service for checking for malware nor a malware removal guarantee. 

<h2>Malware removal </h2>

<img src="https://itxdesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Malware-300x200.png" alt="Malware" width="300" height="200" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-10690" />Overall, WordPress users are most concerned with common threats like malware and service attacks. Cloudflare will provide you a website security firewall with their paid plan but they won’t offer file change direction, blacklist monitoring, malware scanning, or other security features meaning that you’ll need a third-party service for these services. Sucuri will actually combine website application firewall with services like malware protection, monitoring, and clean up services. 

While both services, CloudFlare and Sucuri, offer incredible opportunities for users of websites like WordPress, Sucuri tends to excel at many of the most important security features. You’ll find CloudFlare does great with content delivery network and Sucuri tends to have the best features, security monitoring, and all at a better price. 

Even though you may feel your website is secure enough, you are always vulnerable to DDoS, hacking, and malware attacks. Along with ensuring your admin directory is password protected, your login attempts are limited, and you have two factor authentications, you should get setup with one of these website application firewalls in order to setup firewalls to block potential attacks before they reach your site. This guide will help you decide which service makes sense for you and knowing that both will save you financially, data loss, and poor search rankings. 



