PocketBase Cloud vs Cloudflare Pages
Cloudflare Pages plus Workers, D1, KV, and R2 is the cheapest serious edge stack: generous free static hosting on a global CDN with pay-per-use compute and storage primitives. PocketBase Cloud is the simpler monolith: one SQLite binary with auth, realtime, files, and hooks — no composing primitives, one flat bill.
Prices below are as of September 2026 — check the Cloudflare pricing page and the PocketBase Cloud pricing section for current numbers.
Summary
| PocketBase Cloud | Cloudflare (Pages + Workers + D1/KV/R2) | |
|---|---|---|
| Core | Single-binary backend + frontend hosting | Edge static + composable primitives |
| Static hosting | Included (5 on Free/Starter, unlimited on Pro) | Pages free tier extremely generous, global CDN |
| Backend | PocketBase + hooks + Node/Deno/Bun (Pro) | Workers (V8 isolates, CPU-ms billed) |
| Database | SQLite file, zero-config, S3 optional | D1 (SQLite at edge) + KV + R2, each metered |
| Auth/realtime | Built in (users/OAuth/OTP, SSE) | Build from Workers + D1 (or paid add-ons) |
| Pricing shape | $5 / $20 flat | Free-heavy, then usage per primitive |
| Ops model | Managed box, one region per compute | Global edge, no server, compose-and-monitor |
Where Cloudflare wins
Nothing beats Pages + Workers on price-to-global-performance: free static with unlimited requests on many plans, Workers scaling to zero worldwide, R2 with zero egress fees, and DDoS protection inherited from the network. If you are comfortable modeling auth/sessions/relations on D1/KV and deploying Workers, the ceiling is enormous and the floor is near-free.
Where PocketBase Cloud wins
Composition cost. Cloudflare gives primitives; you supply architecture:
migrations, auth flows, row-level permissions, file-to-record joins,
realtime fan-out, cron, and local dev parity across five dashboards. PocketBase
gives one admin UI, one-line API rules, file fields on records, realtime that
respects those rules, hooks next to the data, and local dev as the identical
binary. pbc deploy ships frontend + backend + DB in one command; Cloudflare
ships each layer separately.
Billing mirrors that: Cloudflare meters Workers invocations/CPU-ms, D1 reads/writes, KV ops, R2 operations — each cheap, jointly variable. PocketBase Cloud Starter/Pro meter nothing; the limit is the 2 vCPU box.
When to choose which
Choose Cloudflare when:
- Global edge latency and free-tier headroom dominate
- You want Workers + D1/KV/R2 primitives and can own the architecture
- Static-heavy with bursty compute that benefits from scale-to-zero
Choose PocketBase Cloud when:
- You want accounts + data + files + realtime working in an afternoon
- Fixed client budgets beat per-primitive optimization
- One CLI/portal/bill for the whole app beats best-of-breed wiring
Hybrid works: Cloudflare in front (DNS + CDN + DDoS) with PocketBase Cloud origin — indeed PBC already provisions Cloudflare SSL/DDoS on custom domains.
The honest bottom line
- Edge performance + primitives at near-free scale — Cloudflare.
- Ship the whole app this week on a flat $5–20 — PocketBase Cloud.