Softwr

Cloud · head to head

Akamai vs Cloudflare R2

Akamai logo

Akamai

Cloud

Leading content delivery and security platform

From
$1000/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Cloudflare R2 logo

Cloudflare R2

File Storage

S3-compatible object storage that charges nothing for egress to the internet

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Cloudflare R2 has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Akamai no public pricing available; custom quotes required; Cloudflare R2 there is no archive tier below Infrequent Access, so genuinely cold data costs roughly ten to fifteen times what it would cost in a deep archive class and there is nowhere cheaper to lifecycle it to.
  • They diverge on capability: Akamai covers CDN, Cloudflare R2 covers Zero egress billing.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Akamai and Cloudflare R2 actually diverge.

Attributes where Akamai and Cloudflare R2 differ
AttributeAkamaiCloudflare R2
Starting price$1000/monthFree
Pricing modelquotePer gigabyte stored per month
Free tierNoYes
CategoryCloudFile Storage
Founded1998Unknown

Identical on both: platforms (Web, Api), user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Akamai

  • CDN
  • DDoS Protection
  • Web Application Firewall
  • Bot Management
  • Image Optimization
  • Video Platform
  • API Gateway
  • Analytics

Only in Cloudflare R2

  • Zero egress billing
  • S3 API compatibility
  • Worker binding
  • Jurisdictional restriction
  • Infrequent Access tier
  • Custom domain serving

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Akamai

  • Content delivery and web performance through Ion and adaptive media deliverynot Cloudflare R2
  • DDoS protection, bot management and API securitynot Cloudflare R2
  • Running compute, Kubernetes and managed databases on Akamai's cloudnot Cloudflare R2
  • Edge compute with EdgeWorkersnot Cloudflare R2
  • Zero trust access for enterprise applicationsnot Cloudflare R2

Cloudflare R2

  • Serving a large media or asset library to the public where transfer out, not storage, is the dominant costnot Akamai
  • Hosting a container or artefact registry that thousands of CI runners pull from every daynot Akamai
  • Distributing model weights or open datasets that are downloaded far more often than they are updatednot Akamai
  • Moving off S3 specifically to stop paying data transfer charges on a read heavy bucketnot Akamai

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Akamai

  • No public pricing available; custom quotes required
  • Sales-focused pricing model

Cloudflare R2

  • There is no archive tier below Infrequent Access, so genuinely cold data costs roughly ten to fifteen times what it would cost in a deep archive class and there is nowhere cheaper to lifecycle it to.
  • Class A operations are billed at 4.50 USD per million, so a workload that writes millions of small objects can spend more on operations than on the storage those objects occupy.
  • Infrequent Access carries both a retrieval fee and a thirty day minimum storage duration, so data that is deleted or re-read sooner ends up more expensive than if it had stayed on Standard.
  • You choose a location hint rather than a region, so you cannot prove to an auditor which datacentre holds an object unless you use a jurisdiction restricted bucket, and jurisdictions are limited.
  • Support level follows your Cloudflare account plan rather than the storage spend, so a team on a low tier account gets ticket support with no storage specific SLA, and an R2 incident is a Cloudflare incident you cannot fail over from because the free egress only exists inside Cloudflare.

Pricing, plan by plan

Akamai

$1000/month
  • CDN$1000/month
    • Content delivery
    • Global edge network
    • Real-time analytics
  • Security Suite$2000/month
    • DDoS protection
    • WAF
    • Bot management

Cloudflare R2

Free
  • Free tierFree
    • 10 GB stored per month
    • 1 million Class A operations
    • 10 million Class B operations
  • Standard$0.015/month
    • Per gigabyte stored per month
    • 4.50 USD per million Class A operations
    • 0.36 USD per million Class B operations
  • Infrequent Access$0.01/month
    • Per gigabyte stored per month
    • Per gigabyte data retrieval fee
    • Thirty day minimum storage duration

Which should you pick?

Choose Akamai if

  • You need cdn.
  • You work on Web, Api.
  • You also want ddos protection.
Akamai review

Choose Cloudflare R2 if

  • You need zero egress billing.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, API.
  • You also want s3 api compatibility.
Cloudflare R2 review

Questions people ask

Is Akamai or Cloudflare R2 better?
Neither clearly leads. Akamai starts at $1000/month and Cloudflare R2 at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Akamai or Cloudflare R2?
Cloudflare R2 has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $1000/month for Akamai and Free for Cloudflare R2.
Does Akamai or Cloudflare R2 run on more platforms?
Akamai runs on Web, Api. Cloudflare R2 runs on Web, API.
Can I use Cloudflare R2 for free?
Yes. Cloudflare R2 has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Akamai starts at $1000/month.
What is Akamai best used for?
Akamai is most often used for content delivery and web performance through ion and adaptive media delivery, ddos protection, bot management and api security, running compute, kubernetes and managed databases on akamai's cloud, edge compute with edgeworkers. Of those, content delivery and web performance through ion and adaptive media delivery and ddos protection, bot management and api security are not what Cloudflare R2 is typically brought in for.
What can Akamai do that Cloudflare R2 cannot?
Akamai covers CDN, DDoS Protection, Web Application Firewall, Bot Management. Cloudflare R2 covers Zero egress billing, S3 API compatibility, Worker binding, Jurisdictional restriction.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Akamai: How is Akamai pricing structured?

Akamai emphasizes straightforward pricing with no hidden fees, no egress surprises, and no vendor lock-in, but specific pricing is not published. Regional pricing pages exist for North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, South America, and other areas, with customers directed to contact sales.

Source
Cloudflare R2: Is egress really free, with no hidden transfer charge?

Yes for data served out of R2 to the internet. You still pay per operation for the requests that serve it, and if you pull data into R2 from another provider you pay that provider the egress on the way in.

Akamai: Does Akamai offer a free trial?

Akamai offers a promotional trial with $100 in credits for Akamai Cloud, though conditions apply.

Source
Cloudflare R2: How does the total cost compare with S3 for a public download bucket?

Storage is more expensive per terabyte than S3 Infrequent Access, but S3 charges roughly 90 USD per terabyte served. Any bucket that serves more than about a fifth of its stored volume each month is cheaper on R2.

Cloudflare R2: Can I use R2 without using the rest of Cloudflare?

Yes, it works through the plain S3 API from anywhere. You lose the Worker binding and the free CDN caching in front of it, which is where a lot of the practical benefit sits.

Cloudflare R2: Does R2 have a cold archive class like Glacier?

No. Infrequent Access is the coldest tier, at two thirds of the Standard rate plus retrieval fees.

Share

Related pages

More on Akamai

More on Cloudflare R2

Keep looking

Other head to heads