CISO Tribune

Vendor comparison · 2 companies

Cloudflare vs NETSCOUT

Cloudflare sells one platform for apps, agents and workforce. NETSCOUT sells observability, cybersecurity, and AIOps solutions powered by the NETSCOUT Data Platform. CISO Tribune files both under DDoS protection. This page sets the two records side by side: what each sells, where it is based, who owns and funds it, the customers it names and its recent news, each fact numbered to its source.

Change the companies

Up to four companies side by side.

  • Cloudflare
  • NETSCOUT
Cloudflare vs NETSCOUT: Products, Customers and Funding Compared
CloudflareCloudflare sells one platform for apps, agents and workforce.cloudflare.comNETSCOUTNETSCOUT sells observability, cybersecurity, and AIOps solutions powered by the NETSCOUT Data Platform.netscout.com
What it sells
  • DDoS Protection[11][12][13][25][26]DDoS protection backed by 500 Tbps of network capacity.
  • Magic Transit[12][13]DDoS protection for networks at layers 3 and 4.
  • Spectrum[12][13]DDoS protection for TCP/UDP applications.
  • Bot Management[11][21][22][25]Custom machine learning models for each bot management customer.
  • RealtimeKit[24]A toolkit for real-time audio and video communication.
  • Arbor Edge Defense (AED)[7]Arbor Edge Defense (AED) is an inline security appliance deployed at the network perimeter.
  • Arbor Sightline Mobile[7]Arbor Sightline Mobile identifies security threats and traffic anomalies in 4G and 5G networks.
  • ATLAS Intelligence Feed (AIF)[7]ATLAS Intelligence Feed (AIF) provides threat intelligence on DDoS threats.
  • nGenius Collector[7]The nGenius Collector is an appliance that collects flow-based data from enabled instrumentation.
  • NETSCOUT Visibility as a Service[8]NETSCOUT Visibility as a Service (VaaS) pairs a customer team with expert engineers.
Categories
Headquarters
San Francisco, United States[3][28]Westford, United States
Founded
2009[4]Not stated on its pages
Ownership and funding
Public (NYSE: NET)[2][10][19][20][28][31][32]Public (NASDAQ: NTCT)[2][4][5]
Named customers
  • Canva[5]
  • Discord[6]
  • Shopify[7]
  • Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory[8]
Not stated on its pages
Recent news
  • October 9, 2026Cloudflare announced that the Deno team is joining the company, with the stated aim of simplifying self-hosting of Workers and Durable Objects.[18]
  • August 6, 2026Cloudflare reported second-quarter 2026 revenue of $696.1 million, up 36% year over year.[9]
  • June 4, 2026Cloudflare acquired VoidZero, the open source company behind the Vite JavaScript build tooling ecosystem.[10]
  • May 7, 2026Cloudflare reported first-quarter 2026 revenue of $639.8 million, up 34% year over year.[2]
  • April 14, 2026Cloudflare announced Cloudflare Mesh, a private networking solution built for AI agents.[32]
Not stated on its pages
G2 and Gartner Peer Insights
  • G2: Not stated on its pages
  • Gartner Peer Insights: listed, seen November 3, 2026[20]
  • G2: Not stated on its pages
  • Gartner Peer Insights: listed, seen October 26, 2026[5]
Who it fits
From its own pages, Cloudflare sells to organizations from startups to the world's largest enterprises. Cloudflare describes its security platform as serving organizations from startup to enterprise. Cloudflare addresses developers building frontend applications, from static sites to complex web apps. Cloudflare works with managed service partners that serve small to midsize organizations. Cloudflare works with global partners serving the Large Enterprise segment.From its own pages, NETSCOUT sells to both enterprises and service providers. Enterprises are offered DDoS mitigation with on-premises and cloud defense in a hybrid model. Mobile network operators are offered DDoS protection for multi-access edge computing environments. Communication service providers are offered service assurance and security for IoT devices. Financial entities are offered compliance solutions for DORA. NETSCOUT can deploy network detection and response into AWS environments.
Last verified
October 10, 2026November 9, 2026

Where they overlap

  • DDoS protection is the primary category of both Cloudflare and NETSCOUT.
  • Both are headquartered in the United States.
  • Both are public companies.

Where they differ, field by field

  • Cloudflare is also filed under WAF and WAAP, SASE and SSE and DNS security. NETSCOUT is also filed under Network visibility and traffic brokering and Network detection and response.
  • Cloudflare lists DDoS Protection, Magic Transit, Spectrum, Bot Management and RealtimeKit. NETSCOUT lists Arbor Edge Defense (AED), Arbor Sightline Mobile, ATLAS Intelligence Feed (AIF), nGenius Collector and NETSCOUT Visibility as a Service.
  • Cloudflare is headquartered in San Francisco, United States. NETSCOUT is headquartered in Westford, United States.
  • Cloudflare was founded in 2009.
  • Cloudflare is a public company listed on NYSE as NET. NETSCOUT is a public company listed on NASDAQ as NTCT.
  • Cloudflare publicly names Canva, Discord, Shopify and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

How they differ

CISO Tribune files both Cloudflare and NETSCOUT under DDoS protection as the primary category. Cloudflare sells network-based DDoS Protection, Magic Transit for layer 3 and 4 network protection, and Spectrum for TCP/UDP applications. NETSCOUT sells Arbor Edge Defense, an inline appliance placed between the internet router and firewall that provides stateless, on-premise DDoS protection. NETSCOUT also lists Adaptive DDoS Protection, which combines on-prem and cloud defense in a hybrid model.

Beyond DDoS, Cloudflare sells Bot Management and RealtimeKit, a toolkit for real-time audio and video communication, and it also serves developers who build applications. CISO Tribune also files Cloudflare under WAF and WAAP, SASE and SSE, and DNS security. NETSCOUT sells Arbor Sightline Mobile for 4G and 5G networks, the nGenius Collector for flow-based data, and Visibility as a Service, which pairs a customer team with expert engineers. CISO Tribune files NETSCOUT under network visibility and traffic brokering and network detection and response as well.

Cloudflare is headquartered in San Francisco, was founded in 2009, and is listed on NYSE as NET. NETSCOUT is headquartered in Westford and is listed on NASDAQ as NTCT. Cloudflare publicly names Canva, Discord, Shopify and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory as customers. NETSCOUT says it sells to enterprises and service providers, including mobile network operators and financial entities. On October 9, 2026, Cloudflare announced that the Deno team is joining the company. On August 6, 2026, Cloudflare reported second-quarter 2026 revenue of $696.1 million, up 36% year over year.

What it sells: Cloudflare

What DDoS Protection does[11][12][13][25][26]
Cloudflare says its DDoS protection absorbs the largest attacks with 500 Tbps of network capacity. Cloudflare offers 24/7 email and phone support, including an Under Attack hotline.
What Spectrum does[12][13]
Cloudflare Spectrum provides DDoS protection for TCP/UDP applications. Spectrum covers applications built with any protocols, including custom protocols.
What Bot Management does[11][21][22][25]
Cloudflare built a platform to deploy custom machine learning models for every bot management customer. Super Bot Fight Mode includes bot protection for Pro, Business and all Enterprise customers.
What RealtimeKit does[24]
RealtimeKit handles WebRTC complexities, connection management and global routing. RealtimeKit Agents supports building voice bots, interactive assistants and automated support systems.

What it sells: NETSCOUT

What Arbor Edge Defense (AED) does[7]
Arbor Edge Defense (AED) is deployed between the internet router and firewall. Arbor Edge Defense (AED) provides stateless, on-premise DDoS protection.
What Arbor Sightline Mobile does[7]
Arbor Sightline Mobile identifies security threats and traffic anomalies in 4G and 5G networks. Arbor Sightline Mobile provides visibility into traffic behavior across a mobile network.
What nGenius Collector does[7]
The nGenius Collector collects flow-based data from enabled instrumentation. The nGenius Collector then analyzes the data and generates insights for use by network teams.
What NETSCOUT Visibility as a Service does[8]
NETSCOUT Visibility as a Service (VaaS) pairs a customer team with expert engineers. The expert engineers configure and manage the customer deployment.

Questions about Cloudflare and NETSCOUT

What do Cloudflare and NETSCOUT sell?
Cloudflare sells DDoS Protection, Magic Transit, Spectrum, Bot Management and RealtimeKit. NETSCOUT sells Arbor Edge Defense (AED), Arbor Sightline Mobile, ATLAS Intelligence Feed (AIF), nGenius Collector and NETSCOUT Visibility as a Service.
Are Cloudflare and NETSCOUT in the same category?
Yes. DDoS protection is the primary category of both on CISO Tribune.
Where are Cloudflare and NETSCOUT headquartered?
Cloudflare is headquartered in San Francisco, United States. NETSCOUT is headquartered in Westford, United States.
When were Cloudflare and NETSCOUT founded?
Cloudflare was founded in 2009.
Who owns Cloudflare and NETSCOUT?
Cloudflare is a public company listed on NYSE as NET. NETSCOUT is a public company listed on NASDAQ as NTCT.
Which customers do Cloudflare and NETSCOUT name?
Cloudflare publicly names Canva, Discord, Shopify and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
Who are Cloudflare and NETSCOUT sold to?
From its own pages, Cloudflare sells to organizations from startups to the world's largest enterprises. From its own pages, NETSCOUT sells to both enterprises and service providers.
What have Cloudflare and NETSCOUT announced recently?
October 9, 2026: Cloudflare announced that the Deno team is joining the company, with the stated aim of simplifying self-hosting of Workers and Durable Objects.

About Cloudflare

Cloudflare sells one platform for apps, agents and workforce. Cloudflare describes one network for workloads and security, close to users and close to data. Cloudflare says security, connectivity and code run in 335+ cities around the world, within 50ms of 95% of the world's population. Cloudflare says DDoS protection, WAF, bot management and Zero Trust controls are built into the network and run on every request from day one. Cloudflare says every site gets the same DDoS mitigation, the same global CDN and the same network at every tier.[1][11][21]

On DDoS defense, Cloudflare says its DDoS protection absorbs the largest attacks with 500 Tbps of network capacity. Cloudflare Spectrum provides DDoS protection for TCP/UDP applications. Spectrum covers applications built with any protocols, including custom protocols. Magic Transit protects networks, data centers and infrastructure against layer 3 and 4 DDoS attacks. Cloudflare says Anycast absorbs and auto-routes traffic, with mitigations that trigger in seconds and no manual tuning. Cloudflare offers 24/7 email and phone support, including an Under Attack hotline.[12][13][21]

For application security, Cloudflare says customers can deploy WAF, rate-limiting, mTLS and Bot Management with a single DNS change, with no agents and no appliances. Cloudflare says one API and dashboard covers edge rules, logs and analytics, and integrates with CI/CD for policy-as-code. Cloudflare says schema validation and mTLS protect REST/GraphQL traffic and enforce client identity, with no SDK required. Cloudflare offers free, auto-renewed certificates and modern transport. Cloudflare provides real-time dashboards plus raw logs to R2/S3/SIEM. Cloudflare says it can detect Magecart-style client-side tampering before customers' card data leaks. Cloudflare says its security platform protects 20% of the Internet.[21]

On bot defense, Cloudflare built a platform to deploy custom machine learning models for every bot management customer. Cloudflare says Super Bot Fight Mode includes bot protection for Pro, Business and all Enterprise customers, and Enterprise Bot Management is the other bot option named.[22]

For workforce security, Cloudflare says internal apps and developer tools can be protected with identity-based access, device posture checks and single sign-on, with no VPN required. Cloudflare says its Zero Trust platform connects and secures users, devices and data, with the first 50 employees free and a flat per-user rate beyond that.[11][21]

Cloudflare also serves developers who build applications. Cloudflare says customers can bring any JavaScript framework or build tool, connect a git repository and deploy a project to a single Worker serving both front-end and back-end. Cloudflare supports Next.js, Hono, React Router, TanStack, Remix, Astro, Nuxt and RedwoodJS. Cloudflare says it charges only for compute, not wall time, even during long agent workflows or hibernating WebSockets. RealtimeKit handles WebRTC complexities, connection management and global routing. RealtimeKit Agents supports building voice bots, interactive assistants and automated support systems.[11][23][24]

Among customers, Shopify powers commerce for millions of merchants and businesses. Shopify uses the Cloudflare WAF, Bot Management, DDoS Protection and Gateway. Cloudflare says the log-only rules in that setup let Shopify preview the impact of security changes before they reach production. Cloudflare works with partners as well: it expanded its worldwide reseller partnership with Rackspace Technology to include managed services offerings. Cloudflare says the Rackspace service includes onboarding support for Cloudflare Managed DNS, Content Delivery Network, Advanced DDoS Protection and Web Application Firewall.[11][25][26][27]

Cloudflare, Inc says its suite of products protects and accelerates any Internet application online without adding hardware, installing software, or changing a line of code. Cloudflare is headquartered in San Francisco, CA, with offices in Austin, TX, Champaign, IL, New York, NY, San Jose, CA, Seattle, WA, Washington, D.C., Toronto, Dubai, Lisbon, London, Munich, Paris, Beijing, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo. Cloudflare Radar is powered by data from Cloudflare's global network and from aggregated and anonymized data from Cloudflare's 1.1.1.1 public DNS Resolver.[1][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][23][27]

Cloudflare on the record

Sources

Cloudflare full record

  1. [1]cloudflare.comCloudflare · cloudflare.com · undated page, accessed September 27, 2026 · Tier A
  2. [2]Cloudflare announces first quarter 2026 financial resultsCloudflare · cloudflare.com · published May 7, 2026 · Tier A
  3. [3]About overviewCloudflare · cloudflare.com · undated page, accessed September 27, 2026 · Tier A
  4. [4]Technologys promise def con china 1 0 highlightsCloudflare · blog.cloudflare.com · published June 5, 2019 · Tier A
  5. [5]CanvaCloudflare · cloudflare.com · undated page, accessed October 10, 2026 · Tier A
  6. [6]DiscordCloudflare · cloudflare.com · undated page, accessed October 10, 2026 · Tier A
  7. [7]ShopifyCloudflare · cloudflare.com · undated page, accessed October 10, 2026 · Tier A
  8. [8]Lawrence berkeley national laboratoryCloudflare · cloudflare.com · undated page, accessed October 10, 2026 · Tier A
  9. [9]Cloudflare announces second quarter 2026 financial resultsCloudflare · cloudflare.com · published August 6, 2026 · Tier A
  10. [10]Cloudflare acquires voidzero to build the future of the ai native webCloudflare · cloudflare.com · published June 4, 2026 · Tier A
  11. [11]Cloudflare: Build for the agent eraCloudflare · undated page, accessed October 23, 2026 · Tier A
  12. [12]Cloudflare DDoS Protection & Mitigation SolutionsCloudflare · undated page, accessed October 23, 2026 · Tier A
  13. [13]Magic Transit - Unmatched DDoS Protection for NetworksCloudflare · undated page, accessed October 23, 2026 · Tier A
  14. [14]US Privacy Law Compliance FAQs | CloudflareCloudflare · undated page, accessed October 23, 2026 · Tier A
  15. [15]Cloudflare Stream - All-in-one Video PlatformCloudflare · undated page, accessed October 23, 2026 · Tier A
  16. [16]Cloudflare Artifacts - Versioned Git-compatible storage for agentsCloudflare · undated page, accessed October 23, 2026 · Tier A
  17. [17]Cloudflare AI Search - Automatic RAG infrastructure and queryingCloudflare · undated page, accessed October 23, 2026 · Tier A
  18. [18]Posts tagged "Acquisitions" — Cloudflare BlogCloudflare Blog · published October 9, 2026 · Tier A
  19. [19]Cloudflare Application Security and Performance Reviews 2026 - G2G2 · undated page, accessed October 23, 2026 · Tier C
  20. [20]Cloudflare Reviews, Ratings & Features 2026 | Gartner Peer InsightsGartner Peer Insights · undated page, accessed October 23, 2026 · Tier C
  21. [21]Web Security Platform - WAF, DDoS Protection, Bot ManagementCloudflare · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  22. [22]Building unique, per-customer defenses against advanced bot threats in the AI era | Cloudflare BlogCloudflare Blog · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  23. [23]Frontend Development PlatformCloudflare · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  24. [24]Cloudflare RealtimeKit - Voice, Video & Multimodal AppsCloudflare · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  25. [25]Shopify & Cloudflare | Customer StoryCloudflare · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  26. [26]Cloudflare and Rackspace Technology Expand Partnership with Managed Services | Cloudflare BlogCloudflare Blog · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  27. [27]Cloudflare Partner Program Now Supports SASE & Zero Trust Managed Services | Cloudflare BlogCloudflare Blog · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  28. [28]About | Cloudflare RadarCloudflare Radar · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  29. [29]Cloudflare to Acquire Replicate to Build the Most Seamless AI Cloud for DevelopersCloudflare · published November 17, 2025 · Tier A
  30. [30]Cloudflare Acquires Astro to Accelerate the Future of High-Performance Web DevelopmentCloudflare · published January 16, 2026 · Tier A
  31. [31]Cloudflare Strengthens Content Offering to AI Companies with Acquisition of Human NativeCloudflare · published January 15, 2026 · Tier A
  32. [32]Cloudflare Launches Mesh to Secure the AI Agent LifecycleCloudflare · published April 14, 2026 · Tier A

NETSCOUT full record

  1. [1]netscout.comNETSCOUT · netscout.com · undated page, accessed September 27, 2026 · Tier A
  2. [2]DefaultNETSCOUT · ir.netscout.com · undated page, accessed September 27, 2026 · Tier A
  3. [3]D128983d8kNETSCOUT via SEC EDGAR · sec.gov · published June 1, 2022 · Tier A
  4. [4]NETSCOUT Observability, Cybersecurity, DDoS, & AIOps SolutionsNETSCOUT · undated page, accessed October 26, 2026 · Tier A
  5. [5]NETSCOUT SYSTEMS Reviews - Gartner Peer InsightsGartner Peer Insights · undated page, accessed October 26, 2026 · Tier C
  6. [6]Shadow AI Detection | NETSCOUTNETSCOUT · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  7. [7]Products | NETSCOUTNETSCOUT · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  8. [8]Solutions | NETSCOUTNETSCOUT · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  9. [9]NETSCOUT Trust Center | Powered by SafeBaseNETSCOUT · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A

Spot a factual error? Request a correction.