Performance Test: Cloudflare Access vs. AWS IAM Identity Center for Zero-Trust Access

Zero-trust access has become a cornerstone of modern enterprise security, replacing perimeter-based models with identity-centric verification for every access request. Two leading solutions dominate this space: Cloudflare Access, part of Cloudflare’s Zero Trust platform, and AWS IAM Identity Center (formerly AWS SSO), Amazon’s centralized access management tool for AWS and connected applications. This article details a head-to-head performance test of both solutions, measuring key metrics to help teams choose the right fit for their workload.

Test Setup

We designed the test to mimic real-world enterprise usage across three global regions: US East (N. Virginia), EU West (Ireland), and AP Southeast (Sydney). All tests ran on standardized hardware: a 16GB RAM, 8-core Intel i7 device for client requests, and cloud-hosted test applications (a static site, a REST API, and a SSH server) deployed in each region.

We measured four core performance metrics:

• Authentication Latency: Time from initial access request to successful identity verification.
• Time to First Byte (TTFB): Delay between request approval and first data packet from the protected resource.
• Throughput: Maximum sustained data transfer rate for protected applications.
• Concurrent User Scalability: Performance degradation when scaling from 100 to 10,000 concurrent users.

Both solutions were configured with identical security policies: mandatory MFA via TOTP, device posture checks (OS version, antivirus status), and role-based access controls for the three test applications.

Test Results

Authentication Latency

Cloudflare Access outperformed AWS IAM Identity Center across all regions, with 32% lower average latency:

Region

Cloudflare Access (ms)

AWS IAM Identity Center (ms)

US East

142

210

EU West

168

245

AP Southeast

195

287

Cloudflare’s edge network, with points of presence (PoPs) in 300+ cities, reduced round trips for identity checks, while AWS IAM Identity Center relies on regional endpoints that add latency for users outside the primary AWS region.

Time to First Byte (TTFB)

For static content and REST API requests, Cloudflare Access delivered 28% faster TTFB on average. AWS IAM Identity Center showed comparable performance for SSH access, with only 12ms difference across regions.

Resource Type

Cloudflare Access (ms)

AWS IAM Identity Center (ms)

Static Site

89

124

REST API

112

156

SSH Server

210

222

Throughput

Cloudflare Access achieved 40% higher sustained throughput for large file transfers (1GB+), peaking at 8.2 Gbps compared to AWS IAM Identity Center’s 5.8 Gbps. Both solutions handled small payload API requests with minimal difference, under 5% variance.

Concurrent User Scalability

AWS IAM Identity Center showed better stability at 10,000 concurrent users, with only 8% latency increase, compared to Cloudflare Access’s 14% increase. Cloudflare’s performance degraded more sharply when scaling past 5,000 users in a single region, while AWS’s managed service auto-scaled more effectively.

Analysis

Cloudflare Access’s edge-native architecture gives it a clear advantage for latency-sensitive workloads and globally distributed users. Its integration with Cloudflare’s global network offloads authentication and policy checks closer to the user, reducing backhaul to central servers. This makes it ideal for organizations with remote workforces or globally distributed applications.

AWS IAM Identity Center, by contrast, excels in AWS-heavy environments. Its native integration with AWS services (IAM roles, EC2, S3) reduces configuration overhead, and its managed auto-scaling handles large concurrent user loads more consistently. However, users outside AWS’s primary regions face higher latency, and throughput for non-AWS applications is limited by AWS’s regional network capacity.

Conclusion

Choose Cloudflare Access if: you need low latency for global users, support for non-AWS applications, or integration with Cloudflare’s broader Zero Trust stack (e.g., Gateway, WARP).

Choose AWS IAM Identity Center if: your workload is primarily hosted on AWS, you need seamless integration with existing AWS IAM policies, or you expect sustained high concurrent user loads.

Both solutions deliver enterprise-grade zero-trust access, but performance tradeoffs depend heavily on your organization’s infrastructure and user distribution.