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Why we build on Cloudflare Workers, not generic hosting
When clients ask why we host on Cloudflare instead of Bluehost or SiteGround or whichever shared host their previous developer used, the short answer is...
Traditional hosting vs Workers
Traditional shared hosting: your site lives on one server in one data centre. Visitors from elsewhere wait for the round-trip. Traffic spikes overload the server. You manage updates, security, scaling.
Cloudflare Workers: your site (or app) runs on Cloudflare’s edge network: 300+ data centres worldwide. Each request is served from the closest one. Capacity scales automatically. Cloudflare handles updates and security at the platform level.
The difference is night and day for performance, especially for international audiences. An Australian user accessing a US-hosted shared server has 200ms+ of latency baked in. Workers serves them from Sydney edge in single-digit milliseconds.
What we use Workers for
Static site hosting
Cloudflare Pages (built on Workers) hosts our Flare Sites and most static client sites. Free up to generous limits, then pennies. SSL automatic. Custom domains free.
Dynamic apps
Our custom apps run on Workers with D1 (SQLite-based database), R2 (object storage), Durable Objects (real-time state), Workflows (long-running operations). Full backend without managing servers.
AI inference
Workers AI runs Llama, Mistral, and other open models at the edge. Pennies per call. Used in client apps for AI-assisted features without paying OpenAI prices.
WordPress acceleration
Even for WordPress sites, we put Cloudflare in front. Caching, WAF, DDoS protection, image optimisation, all at the edge.
What we don’t use Workers for
Heavy WordPress sites. WordPress itself runs on PHP, not Workers. We host WP on Cloudflare-fronted dedicated infrastructure. Workers is the front door, not the engine.
Long-running background processes. Workers has CPU-time limits per request. For background jobs, we use Workflows (which handle the orchestration) plus dedicated workers.
Specialty databases. D1 is great for most apps. For specialised needs (full-text search, vector search, analytics), we use specialty Cloudflare services or pair with Postgres.
Cost reality
Most small business sites cost less than $5/month on Cloudflare. Many are free. The pricing model is “pay for what you use” with very generous free tiers.
Compare to typical shared hosting: $20-50/month. Compare to a VPS: $40-100/month. For sites with fewer than 10,000 visitors a month, Cloudflare is dramatically cheaper.
Where shared hosting wins: sites with very specific PHP/MySQL needs that don’t fit Cloudflare’s model. Specialty CMS that need root access. Legacy applications with database requirements that don’t map to D1.
What this means for clients
Most clients never see “Cloudflare Workers” on their bill. We package the hosting into the regular hosting fee ($90/mo for Flare Sites, $50-200/mo for WordPress on JezPress) and run it on Workers underneath.
What they get: dramatically faster sites, better security, automatic scaling. What they don’t need to think about: server capacity, SSL renewal, DDoS protection, geographic performance.
This isn’t a sales pitch. It’s genuinely how we run all our hosting now. We dogfood it because it’s actually better.