Cloudflare Adds Services-First Paths to Partner Program

Cloudflare has expanded its Channel and Alliances Partner Program to better support partners that wrap managed and professional services around its products. The revamped program introduces dedicated paths, accreditations, and licensing options for providers delivering SASE and Zero Trust solutions on Cloudflare's platform.

The move comes as Cloudflare reports continued growth in its partner network, with 2021 setting records and 2022 expected to exceed them. The company cites rising demand for services around distributed denial-of-service protection and other security offerings—including a 29% increase in ransom DDoS attacks over the past year and a 175% rise in just the last quarter—as a key driver for the updated program.

New Program Tiers

The program now includes three partner paths:

  • Advanced Managed Services Partners – For providers serving small to midsize organizations. These partners get tools to embed Cloudflare into their service offerings for outcome-based SASE and Zero Trust delivery.
  • Elite Managed Services Partners – Reserved for global partners with large-scale IT consulting and advisory practices. Benefits include dedicated technical and sales resources, a named Partner Success Manager, and executive access for joint go-to-market planning.
  • Services-Only Partnerships – An invite-only track for delivering professional services such as application modernization with Cloudflare Workers, implementation, migration, and security assessments.

Early participants include Rackspace Technology, Blazeclan Technologies, and partners across EMEA, APAC, and China.

Managed Services Accreditation

To align partners with Cloudflare's customer experience standards, the company has introduced a Managed Services Partner accreditation (AMSP). The certification covers best practices for service design, implementation, and ongoing technical and relationship management.

Enablement now includes:

  • A new pathway for MSP partners covering L1/L2 support and account management
  • A customer success enablement track for services partners
  • A specialist accreditation focused on Cloudflare Zero Trust

Support, Licensing, and Platform Updates

Several operational changes support the new services-first approach.

Technical Services Managers and Partner Success. Regional resources are now dedicated to helping partners build and expand services offerings around SASE and Zero Trust.

Tenant API Provisioning. The existing partner platform now allows all partners to provision and deploy Cloudflare's Zero Trust product suite programmatically.

MSP-only Licensing Plan. Cloudflare is developing a licensing option tailored to MSPs and MSSPs, allowing them to resell services powered by the Cloudflare One platform at scale.

Cloudflare says the initial launch phase involves a select group of partners, with plans to expand. Interested organizations can apply through the partner portal or contact [email protected] directly.