A New Framework for Cloudflare’s Technology Partners

Cloudflare has long positioned itself as an interoperable layer on top of the open standards that power the Internet. The company’s integrations with third-party vendors have grown from a handful of initiatives into a sprawling ecosystem spanning analytics, network interconnect, endpoint security, and identity providers. To bring structure to that growth, Cloudflare is formalizing its efforts with the launch of its Technology Partner Program.

From Ad Hoc Alliances to a Structured Program

The new program is an extension of work Cloudflare has already done in the partner space. The Bandwidth Alliance, launched in 2018, brought together 18 cloud and storage providers to eliminate or reduce data egress fees. Since then, Cloudflare has introduced several more targeted partner initiatives, each aimed at making its network easier to slot into a customer’s existing stack:

  • Analytics — integrations that let customers visualize Cloudflare logs and metrics to better understand traffic trends across their properties.
  • Network Interconnect — partnerships with interconnection platforms that provide private, software-defined links with rapid port provisioning.
  • Endpoint Protection — integrations that add identity assurance to corporate application connections without forcing users onto a VPN.
  • Identity Providers — support for single sign-on providers so organizations can use Cloudflare Access with their existing identity infrastructure.

Those programs collectively serve thousands of customers, but each operated with its own rules and goals. The Technology Partner Program is designed to give the growing roster of partners — already more than 40 — a consistent set of benefits and expectations.

Three Pillars of Partnership

The program organizes partner value around three core activities: building, marketing, and selling. Partners get access to resources in each area, with the depth of that access tied to their tier in the program.

  • Build with Cloudflare: Sandbox access to enterprise features and APIs for testing and integration work, plus the ability to collaborate directly with Cloudflare product teams on new solutions.
  • Market with Cloudflare: Support for joint solution briefs and co-hosted events, along with a set of partner tools and resources for bringing integrations to market.
  • Sell with Cloudflare: Coordination between partner sales teams and Cloudflare’s own sales organization to target relevant customer segments.

Two Tiers Based on Integration Maturity

Cloudflare is splitting partners into two categories. The distinction reflects both how far an integration has progressed and how closely the partner’s business aligns with Cloudflare’s product direction.

Strategic partners operate mature integrations across multiple parts of the Cloudflare product suite. These are typically market leaders with significant customer overlap. They are aligned with Cloudflare on sales and marketing initiatives and work with Cloudflare product teams on developing joint innovations.

Integration partners are earlier in their journey with Cloudflare. They either have a functional integration already or are actively building one. These partners get programmatic access to the resources needed to experiment and develop their integrations further.

Applying to the Program

Organizations interested in building joint solutions with Cloudflare can apply through the Technology Partner Program website. Cloudflare says it will respond quickly to discuss how it can support partners in building for mutual customers.