We’re happy to announce that we are the fastest network in 48% of the top 1000 networks by 95th percentile TCP connection time between November 2024, and March 2025, up from 44% in September 2024.

In this post, we’re going to share with you how our network performance has changed since our last post in September 2024, and talk about what makes us faster than other networks.  But first, let’s talk a little bit about how we get this data.

It’s happened to all of us — you casually click on a site, and suddenly you’ve reached a Cloudflare-branded error page. While you are shaking your fist at the sky, something interesting is happening on the back end. Cloudflare is using Real User Monitoring (RUM) to collect the data used to compare our performance against other networks. The monitoring we do is slightly different than the RUM Cloudflare offers to customers. When the error page loads, a 100 KB file is fetched and loaded. This file is hosted on networks like Cloudflare, Akamai, Amazon CloudFront, Fastly, and Google Cloud CDN. Your browser processes the performance data, and sends it to Cloudflare, where we use it to get a clear view of how these different networks stack up in terms of speed. 

We’ve been collecting and refining this data since June 2021.  You can read more about how we collect that data here, and we regularly track our performance during Innovation Weeks to hold ourselves accountable to you that we are always in pursuit of being the fastest network in the world.

In order to evaluate Cloudflare’s speed relative to others, we measure performance across the top 1000 “eyeball” networks using the list provided by the Asia Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC). So-called “eyeball” networks are those with a large concentration of subscribers/end users.  This information is important, because it gives us signals for where we can expand our presence or peering, or optimize our traffic engineering. When benchmarking, we assess the 95th percentile TCP connection time. This is the time it takes a user to establish a TCP connection to the server they are trying to reach. This metric helps us illustrate how Cloudflare’s network makes your traffic faster by serving your customers as locally as possible. 

When we look at Cloudflare’s performance across the top 1000 networks, we can see that we’re fastest in 487, or over 48%, of these networks, between November 2024 and March 2025:

In September 2024, we ranked #1 in 44% of these networks:

So why did we jump?  To get a better understanding of why, let’s take a look at the countries where we improved, which will give us a better sense of where to dive in.  This is what our network map looked like in September 2024 (grey countries mean we do not have enough data or users to derive insights):

(September 2024)

Today, using those same 95th percentile TCP connect times, we rank #1 in 48% of networks and the network map looks like this:

(March 2025)

We made most of our gains in Africa, where countries that previously didn’t have enough samples saw an increase in samples, and Cloudflare pulled ahead. This could mean that there was either an increase in Cloudflare users, or an increase in error pages shown. These countries got faster almost exclusively due to the presence of our Edge Partner deployments, which are Cloudflare locations embedded in last mile networks.  In next-generation markets like many African countries, these locations are crucial towards being faster as connectivity to end users tends to fall back to places like South Africa or London if in-country peering does not exist.

But let’s take a look at a couple of other places and see why we got faster.

In Canada, we were not the fastest in September 2024, but we are the fastest today. Today, we are the fastest in 40% of networks, which is the most out of all of our competitors:

But when you look at the overall country numbers, we see that the race for the fastest network is quite close:

The difference between Cloudflare and the third-fastest network is a little over a millisecond!  As we’ve pointed out previously, such fluctuations are quite common, especially at higher percentiles.  But there is still a significant difference between us and the slowest network; we’re around 20% faster.

However, looking at a place like Japan where were not the fastest in September 2024 but are now the fastest, there is a significant difference between Cloudflare and the number two network:

Why is this? We are in more locations in Japan than our competitors and added more Edge Partner deployments in these locations, bringing us even closer to end-users. Edge Partner deployments are collaborations with ISPs, where we take space in their data centers, and peer with them directly. 

Why do we track our network performance like this? The answer is simple: to improve user experience. This data allows us to track a key performance metric for Cloudflare and the other networks. When we see that we’re lagging in a region, it serves as a signal to dig deeper into our network. 

This data is a gold mine for the teams tasked with improving Cloudflare’s network. When there are countries where Cloudflare is behind, it gives us signals for where we should expand or investigate. If we’re slow, we may need to invest in additional peering. If a region we have invested in heavily is slower, we may need to investigate our hardware.  The example from Japan shows exactly how this can benefit: we took a location where we were previously on par with our competitors, added peering in new locations, and we pulled ahead. 

On top of this map, we have autonomous system (ASN) level granularity on how we are performing on each one of the top 1000 eyeball networks, and we continuously optimize our traffic flow with each of them.  This allows us to track individual networks that may lag and improve the customer experience in those networks through turning up peering, or even adding new deployments in those regions. 

We’re sharing our updates on our journey to become #1 everywhere so that you can see what goes into running the fastest network in the world. From here, our plan is the same as always: identify where we’re slower, fix it, and then tell you how we’ve gotten faster.

We constantly measure our own network’s performance against other networks, look for ways to improve our performance compared to them, and share the results of our efforts. Since June 2021, we’ve been sharing benchmarking results we’ve run against other networks to see how we compare.

In this post we are going to share the most recent updates since our last post in June, and tell you about our tools and processes that we use to monitor and improve our network performance.

Since June 2021, we’ve been taking a close look at every single network and taking actions for the specific networks where we have some room for improvement. Cloudflare was already the fastest provider for most of the networks around the world (we define a network as country and AS number pair). Taking a closer look at the numbers; in July 2022, Cloudflare was ranked #1 in 33% of the networks and was within 2 ms (95th percentile TCP Connection Time) or 5% of the #1 provider for 8% of the networks that we measured. For reference, our closest competitor on that front was the fastest for 20% of networks.

As of August 30, 2023, Cloudflare is the fastest provider for 44% of networks—and was within 2 ms (95th percentile TCP Connection Time) or 5% of the fastest provider for 10% of the networks that we measured—whereas our closest competitor is now the fastest for 19% of networks.

Below is the change in percentage of networks in which each provider is the fastest plotted over time.

Cloudflare is maintaining our steady growth in the percentage of networks where we’re the fastest. Despite the slight tick down the past couple of months, the trendline is still positive and with a higher rate of increase than other networks.

Now that we’ve reviewed how we stack up compared to other networks, let’s dig a little more into the other metrics we use to make us the fastest.

To provide insight into network performance, we use Real User Measurements (RUM) and fetch a small file from Cloudflare, Akamai, Amazon CloudFront, Fastly and Google Cloud CDN. Browsers around the world report the performance of those providers from the perspective of the end-user network they are on. The goal is to provide an accurate picture of where different providers are faster, and more importantly, where Cloudflare can improve. You can read more about the methodology in the original Speed Week blog post here.

Using the RUM data, we are able to measure various performance metrics, such as TCP Connection Time, Time to First Byte (TTFB), Time to Last Byte (TTLB), for ourselves and other networks.

Let’s take a look at some of the metrics we monitor and what’s changed since our last blog in June.

The first metric we closely monitor is the percent of networks that we are ranked #1 in terms of TCP Connection Time. That's a key performance indicator that we evaluate ourselves against. This first line of the table shows that Cloudflare was ranked #1 in 45% of networks in June 2023 and 44% in August 2023. Here’s the full picture of how we looked in June versus how we look today.

Overall, these metrics align with what we saw above: Cloudflare is still the fastest provider in the most last mile networks, and while there has been slight changes in the month-to-month fluctuations, the overall trend shows us as being the fastest.

The second metric we monitor is our overall performance in each country. This gives us visibility into the countries or regions that we need to pay closer attention to and take action towards improving our performance. Those actions will be listed later. Orange indicates the countries that Cloudflare is the fastest provider based on the TCP Connection Time. Here’s how we look as of September 2023:

For comparison, this is what that map looks like from June 2023:

We’ve become faster in Iran and Paraguay, and in the few cases where we are no longer number 1, we are within 2ms of the fastest provider. In Brazil and Norway for example, we trail Fastly by only 1ms. In various countries in Africa, Amazon CloudFront pulled ahead but only by 2ms. We aim to fix that in the coming weeks and months and return to the #1 spot there also.

The third set of metrics we use are TCP Connection Time and TTLB. The number of networks where we are #1 in terms of 95th percentile TCP Connection Time is one of our key performance indicators. We actively monitor and work on improving that metric so that we are #1 in the most metrics for 95th percentile TCP Connection Time. For September 2023, we are still #1 in the most networks for TCP Connection Time, more than double the next best provider.

The way we achieve these great results is by having our engineering teams constantly investigate the underlying reasons for degraded performance if there are any, and we track open work items until they are resolved.

We’re sharing our updates on our journey to become #1 everywhere so that you can see what goes into running the fastest network in the world. From here, our plan is the same as always: identify where we’re slower, fix it, and then tell you how we’ve gotten faster.

We constantly measure our own and other networks' performance, and look for ways to improve our performance; and share our results.

In this post we are going to share the most recent updates, and tell you about our tools and processes that we use to monitor and improve our network performance.

In July, 2022, we started taking a more granular look down to every single network and taking actions for the specific networks where we have some room for improvement. Cloudflare was already the fastest provider for most of the networks around the world (we define a network as country and AS number pair). Taking a closer look at the numbers, Cloudflare was ranked #1 in 33% of the networks and was within 2 ms or 5% of the #1 provider for 8% of the networks that we measured in terms of the 95th percentile TCP Connection Time. For reference, our closest competitor on that front was the fastest for 20% of networks.

As of May 31, 2023 those numbers have improved significantly. Today, Cloudflare is the fastest provider for 46% of networks—and was within 2 ms (95th percentile TCP Connection Time) or 5% of the fastest provider for 10% of the networks that we measured—whereas our closest competitor is now the fastest for 18% of networks.

Below is the change in percentage of networks that each provider is the fastest over time for Cloudflare and other services.

We use Real User Measurements (RUM) and fetch a small file from Cloudflare, Akamai, CloudFront, Fastly and Google Cloud CDN. Browsers around the world report the performance of those providers from the perspective of the end-user network they are on. The goal is to provide an accurate picture of where different providers are faster, and more importantly, where Cloudflare can improve. You can read more about the methodology in the original Speed Week blog post here.

Using the RUM data, we are able to measure various performance metrics, such as TCP Connection Time, Time to First Byte (TTFB), Time to Last Byte (TTLB), for ourselves and other networks.

One of the most important tools that we use for measuring and improving our performance is what we call Performance Benchmarks Dashboard. That's the dashboard where we can analyze the data that we collect in different dimensions.

Here are the metrics that we monitor based on some of the dimensions.

The first metric we closely monitor is the percent of networks that we are ranked #1 in terms of TCP Connection Time. That's a key performance indicator that we evaluate ourselves against.

The second metric we monitor is our overall performance in each country. This gives us visibility into the countries or regions that we need to pay closer attention to and take action towards improving our performance. Those actions will be listed later. Orange indicates the countries that Cloudflare is the fastest provider based on the TCP Connection Time.

The third set of metrics we use are TCP Connection Time and TTLB. The number of networks where we are #1 in terms of 95th percentile TCP Connection Time is one of our key performance indicators. We actively monitor and work on improving that metric. More on that later.

Using all the metrics listed above, the Performance Benchmarks Dashboard helps us to find networks where we can improve our performance. Our engineering teams monitor that dashboard and investigate the underlying reasons for degraded performance if there are any and the action items are displayed on the dashboard until they are resolved.

Once we identify a particular network to improve, we investigate the root cause and document the action items to improve our performance. Those actions generally fall under three categories.

The first category is establishing peering with that network in a specific location so that users can take the optimum path. That’s a critical component of a better Internet! Here is our more detailed blog post about that from earlier this week.

The second category is expanding our compute capacity in a specific data center so that we can serve the users at the closest data center.

And finally, we apply traffic engineering actions to make sure that the network is served in the optimum way. Traffic engineering actions are generally manual configurations that we apply, in case the path that’s chosen by the routing protocols is not the most performant path.

The data we collect gives us a granular view of every network that connects to Cloudflare and we constantly optimize our infrastructure to improve Cloudflare’s performance. We won’t rest until we’re #1 everywhere.