Cloudflare’s network now spans 300 cities and 12,000 connected networks

Cloudflare has hit two milestones at once: its global network now lives in over 300 cities and connects directly to more than 12,000 Internet networks. The company runs every service in every one of its data centers, so all customer traffic is processed at the closest point of presence, with no backhauling or performance tradeoffs—whether users are in Reykjavík, Guam, or anywhere near a Cloudflare location.

Network expansion serves three clear goals: lower latency, deeper interconnection, and greater resilience. Here’s how each plays out in practice.

Cutting latency in underserved markets

Cloudflare’s network currently sits roughly 50 ms from 95% of the Internet-connected population. But the company continues to review performance metrics and work with regional ISPs to target underserved areas. So far in 2023, it has added 12 new cities, pushing the total past 300 across 122 countries.

One recent example: a data center activated in May in Campos dos Goytacazes, Brazil. The new location is only 270 km from Rio de Janeiro, but colocating with a regional network provider that serves 100+ local ISPs cut the 50th and 75th percentile latency (measured from TCP handshake) in half, producing a marked performance improvement for local users.

Deeper interconnections, not just more cities

Local interconnection points enable direct data exchange between network providers, CDNs, and regional ISPs. Cloudflare stresses that breadth alone isn’t the goal—each new city is chosen for the number and quality of local interconnections it enables.

There are roughly 74,000 routed AS numbers globally, of which about 43,000 are stub ASNs connected to only one other network. Cloudflare’s direct connection to 12,372 unique Internet networks means it reaches roughly one-third of all routable networks. Those direct links build resilience and speed, giving traffic multiple fast paths between ISPs, enterprises, and Cloudflare’s infrastructure.

The payoff can be dramatic. A recent connection to a local ISP in Pakistan improved the 50th percentile latency from roughly 90 ms to 5 ms. Earlier examples cited by Cloudflare also show that better local performance drives higher usage—more traffic follows when the experience improves.

Resilience as a byproduct of reach

Geographic expansion also strengthens the existing network. More locations mean more redundancy, more localized failover, and better distribution of compute workloads for effective capacity management. That translates to fewer single points of failure and better service availability during hardware outages, natural disasters, or other disruptions.

For network operators interested in interconnection, Cloudflare points to its Edge Partner Program as a starting point for collaboration.