Overview
CloudFront is the content delivery network of Amazon Web Services. It fronts S3 buckets, load balancers, API Gateway or any public URL, serves cached content from 750+ points of presence, and carries uncached traffic to AWS origins over Amazon's network. Data transfer from AWS origins to CloudFront is free.
There are two ways to pay, chosen per distribution. Flat-rate plans, launched in November 2025, bundle the CDN with AWS WAF, DDoS protection, Route 53 DNS, CloudWatch Logs ingestion, edge compute and S3 storage credits for $0, $15, $200 or $1,000 a month with no overage charges. Pay-as-you-go bills per GB and per request by region and keeps its permanent free tier of 1 TB and 10 million requests a month.
Before choosing, compare features: logging starts at Pro, bot management, custom caching rules and an uptime SLA start at Business, and origin failover needs Premium. Pay-as-you-go gives access to every feature but costs vary with traffic and each AWS service is billed separately.
Pricing and plans
checked 28 Sept 2026Free tier · card required
Free flat-rate plan: 1M requests and 100 GB transfer a month with CDN, 5 WAF rules, DDoS protection and DNS (up to 3 per account). Pay-as-you-go also has a permanent 1 TB free tier.
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0/mo | 1M requests, 100 GB, 5 WAF rules, 5 GB S3 credit |
| Pro | $15/mo | 10M requests, 50 TB, 25 WAF rules, logging, 50 GB S3 |
| Business | $200/mo | 125M requests, 50 TB, 50 WAF rules, bot management, uptime SLA, 1 TB S3 |
| Premium | $1,000/mo | 500M requests, 50 TB (configurable), origin failover, 5 TB S3 |
| Pay-as-you-go | From $0.085/GB | First 1 TB and 10M requests free each month; regional tiers |
| Custom | Custom | No usage limit; contact AWS |
What it does
- Flat-rate plans
- Free, Pro, Business and Premium plans bundle CDN, WAF, DDoS protection, DNS, logs and S3 credits with no overage charges.
- AWS WAF
- Included in flat-rate plans with 5, 25, 50 or 75 rules; bot management from Business.
- Edge compute
- CloudFront Functions and Lambda@Edge run code at the edge; Lambda@Edge is billed separately.
- Free origin transfer
- Data transfer from AWS origins such as S3 and ALB to CloudFront is not charged.
- VPC origins
- Keep applications in private subnets reachable only through CloudFront (Business and above on flat-rate plans).
- API and IaC
- Since September 2026 flat-rate plans can be managed through the CLI, SDKs, CloudFormation and CDK.
Strengths and limitations
Strengths
- Flat-rate plans remove overage risk and bundle WAF and DNS at $15 or $200 a month.
- Large network of 750+ PoPs.
- No charge for transfer from AWS origins to CloudFront.
- Permanent pay-as-you-go free tier of 1 TB and 10M requests a month.
- Wide set of AWS compliance programmes, including SOC 2, ISO 27001, PCI DSS and FedRAMP.
Limitations
- No uptime SLA on the Free and Pro flat-rate plans.
- Logging is not included in the Free plan, and custom caching rules need Business.
- Sustained traffic far above a plan's allowance can be served from fewer or more distant edge locations.
- Pay-as-you-go costs vary by region and are spread across several AWS services.
Who it suits
Good for
- Applications already hosted on AWS
- Small sites wanting a free CDN with WAF and DNS included
- Teams that want a fixed monthly CDN and security bill
Look elsewhere if
- Teams avoiding AWS accounts and billing
- Projects needing an SLA for under $200 a month
Pricing history
-
CloudFront adds flat-rate plans with no overages
Announced 2025-11-18: alongside pay-as-you-go, CloudFront distributions can use Free ($0), Pro ($15), Business ($200) or Premium ($1,000) monthly plans bundling WAF, DDoS protection, Route 53 DNS, logs and S3 credits with no overage charges. Source ↗
Alternatives to Amazon CloudFront
| Tool | From | Free option | Stages |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cloudflare CDN, DNS, WAF and DDoS protection | $20/mo | Free tier | |
| DNSimple DNS hosting and domain management | $0.5/mo | ||
| Gcore CDN Pay-as-you-go CDN with DNS and WAF | Usage-based | Free tier | |
| Amazon Route 53 Managed DNS and traffic routing | $0.5/mo | ||
| Azure DNS Managed public and private DNS | $0.5/mo | ||
| Bunny CDN Pay-as-you-go CDN with DNS and WAF | Usage-based |
Questions
Does CloudFront have a free tier?
Yes. The Free flat-rate plan covers 1M requests and 100 GB a month, and pay-as-you-go distributions get 1 TB and 10M requests free every month.
What do CloudFront flat-rate plans cost?
Free $0, Pro $15, Business $200 and Premium $1,000 per distribution per month, with no overage charges.
Is WAF included with CloudFront?
On flat-rate plans AWS WAF is included, with 5 to 75 rules depending on the tier. On pay-as-you-go it is billed separately.
Is data transfer from S3 to CloudFront free?
Yes. AWS states that data transfer from AWS origins to CloudFront is free.
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