Cloudflare's Terms Lock You Into Arbitration and At-Will Termination

Cloudflare protects internet infrastructure and applications from attacks. We read their terms so you'd know what you're actually signing up for.

Cloudflare provides cybersecurity and content delivery services, but the agreement comes with some hard edges.

🔴 You can't sue Cloudflare in court. The terms require arbitration and ban class actions. Any dispute gets handled in private arbitration instead of a courtroom. You lose the right to join others in a lawsuit.

🔴 Cloudflare can cut off your access whenever it wants. Your license to use the service is limited and revocable. They can terminate without cause, leaving you without protection.

🟡 You're liable for everything your affiliates do. If you use affiliate partners under the agreement, you remain fully responsible for their actions and failures. They act, you pay.

🟡 The actual rules hide in other documents. The terms incorporate Service-Specific Terms and website documentation by reference. You have to hunt down separate pages to know all the rules that apply to you.

🟢 You get genuine access to their infrastructure. Cloudflare grants non-exclusive access to cloud-based solutions including APIs and SDKs. This part is straightforward — you can actually build with their tools.

Arbitration clauses and at-will termination are standard in the industry. That doesn't make them less consequential for your business.

This breakdown is based on Cloudflare's publicly available Terms of Service and/or Privacy Policy. It may contain mistakes. Spot one? Let us know.