Cloudflare took down our website (robindev.substack.com)

Article summary

Cloudflare took down a website after the company refused to pay $120,000 upfront for an Enterprise plan, which was demanded by Cloudflare's sales team. The website, an online casino, had been using Cloudflare's Business plan for years and was asked to upgrade due to alleged TOS issues. The company claims that Cloudflare's sales tactics were aggressive and extortionate. The website was eventually migrated to a competitor, Fastly.

Main themes

• Cloudflare sales tactics
• Enterprise pricing
• TOS enforcement
• DDoS protection
• Cloud services
• Business practices

What commenters say

• Cloudflare's actions can be seen as extortionate and an abuse of power against customers who refuse to upgrade to more expensive plans.
• The company's sales tactics are overly aggressive and prioritize making a sale over resolving legitimate TOS issues.
• Cloudflare's pricing model is opaque and unfair, with prices varying greatly depending on the customer and their perceived willingness to pay.
• The company's Trust and Safety team should not be involved in sales pitches, and customers should be clearly informed of TOS issues before being asked to upgrade.
• Cloudflare's actions may be motivated by a desire to mitigate reputational risk associated with hosting certain types of businesses, such as online casinos.
• The company's behavior is not unusual in the industry, and similar practices can be seen in other cloud services and payment processors.
• Customers should be cautious when using Cloudflare's services and be prepared to migrate to a competitor if they are unhappy with the company's practices.
• Cloudflare's actions may be a legitimate response to the customer's alleged TOS violations, but the execution was poorly handled and communicated.