Cloudflare Page Shield alternative: an honest comparison
Page Shield is Cloudflare's client-side security product, renamed Client-Side Security in March 2026. The base tier is on every Cloudflare plan, and the PCI features sit on Client-Side Security Advanced, a self-serve add-on at a published $0.099 per 1,000 requests. For existing Cloudflare customers that is a strong argument.
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C
Cloudflare Page Shield
$0.099 per 1k requests
VS
Script Monitoring
From $99/month
TL;DR
Cloudflare Page Shield vs Script Monitoring
WHAT THEY DO WELL
The base tier is included in every Cloudflare plan, and the PCI tier is a self-serve add-on with a published price. That is hard to argue with and we will not try.
WHERE TO CHECK CAREFULLY
Requires your traffic to be on Cloudflare. If you are not, this is not an option, and moving your CDN to obtain a compliance control is a large change for a small reason.
PRICING
Cloudflare publishes $0.099 per 1,000 requests for Client-Side Security Advanced, the tier PCI needs. Ours is from $99/month for 100,000 payment-page views, with a free plan.
Short on time? Scroll to which one to choose if you want the short answer.
Is Script Monitoring a good Cloudflare Page Shield alternative?
Yes, if your primary driver is PCI DSS 6.4.3 and 11.6.1 evidence and you want published pricing and a free plan to evaluate on. You are already on Cloudflare, Client-Side Security Advanced covers your assessor's expectations, and its per-request price works out lower than ours for your traffic. In that case it is the obvious first thing to try. The rest of this page sets out where each product is genuinely stronger, with a capability table, so you can make the call on your own constraints rather than on ours.
Where Cloudflare Page Shield is strong
Taking this seriously, because a comparison where the other product has no advantages is not a comparison. These are real and they may well be decisive for you.
The base tier is included in every Cloudflare plan, and the PCI tier is a self-serve add-on with a published price. That is hard to argue with and we will not try.
Excellent developer experience and documentation, consistent with the rest of Cloudflare.
Script and connection monitoring with CSP reporting integrated into a dashboard your team already uses.
Cloudflare's visibility across a very large share of web traffic informs their detection.
Where Cloudflare Page Shield has limits
Equally honestly, and stated as things to verify rather than as accusations.
Requires your traffic to be on Cloudflare. If you are not, this is not an option, and moving your CDN to obtain a compliance control is a large change for a small reason.
Feature depth is tiered: code change detection and content security rules are on Advanced only, so the capability you evaluate may not be the capability you have. Advanced is priced per request, and Cloudflare estimates the bill from your previous month's HTTP requests, so check what counts as a request before comparing it with a price per payment-page view.
Positioned as monitoring and reporting first. Verify the blocking granularity against what your assessor expects for 6.4.3.
The PCI evidence output is less specialised than a dedicated tool's, because PCI is one use case among many for the platform.
Side by side
Capability comparison
Capability
Cloudflare Page Shield
Script Monitoring
Works with any CDN or stack
No, Cloudflare only
Yes
Cost to meet 6.4.3 and 11.6.1
Advanced add-on, $0.099 per 1,000 requests
From $99/month, nothing extra
Payment-page script inventory for 6.4.3
Yes
Yes
Header change detection for 11.6.1
No, needs the Advanced add-on
Yes, on every plan
Both PCI requirements on every plan
No, 11.6.1 alerts are Advanced-only
Yes
Dedicated PCI evidence pack
No
Yes, weekly PDF retained 18 months
Script blocking included
No, 5 rules on Advanced only
Yes, four granularities
Detection technique
Sampled script reporting
In-page, plus server-side hashing
Session coverage
Sampled, 1% of sessions
100% of sessions, no sampling
Server-side payload analysis
On a 1% sample only
Yes, every payload inspected
Free plan covering both PCI requirements
Not for Page Shield
Yes, 1,000 page views a month
Cloudflare Page Shield pricing, and ours
Cloudflare now publishes it. Client-Side Security Advanced, the tier with the change detection 11.6.1 needs, is $0.099 per 1,000 requests and self-serve since March 2026. Cloudflare estimates the bill from your previous month's HTTP requests, so the comparable number depends on your total traffic, not only your checkout.
We publish ours: free for 1,000 page views a month, Pro from $99/month for 100,000 payment-page views, $499/month at 500,000 and $799/month at 1,000,000, overage at $0.0013 per page view, annual billing at 10 months instead of 12, and Enterprise on request.
C
Cloudflare Page Shield
$0.099 per 1,000 requests
Script Monitoring
Free
1,000 page views a month
Pro, 100,000 payment-page views
$99/month
500,000 page views
$499/month
1,000,000 page views
$799/month
Overage
$0.0013 per page view
Annual billing
10 months instead of 12
Enterprise
On request
Which one to choose
C
Choose Cloudflare Page Shield if
You are already on Cloudflare, Client-Side Security Advanced covers your assessor's expectations, and its per-request price works out lower than ours for your traffic. In that case it is the obvious first thing to try. It only works with traffic on Cloudflare, and the change detection 11.6.1 needs is on the Advanced tier.
Choose Script Monitoring if
You are not on Cloudflare, you need the evidence workflow to be the product rather than a feature, or your assessor has asked for something Page Shield's tier does not cover. Every plan gets both requirements, with unlimited domains on every plan and full integrations on every paid plan.
Other comparisons
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Yes, for teams whose primary driver is PCI DSS 6.4.3 and 11.6.1 evidence, who want published pricing, and who want to evaluate on a free plan rather than through a sales cycle. You are already on Cloudflare, Client-Side Security Advanced covers your assessor's expectations, and its per-request price works out lower than ours for your traffic. In that case it is the obvious first thing to try.
Yes, since March 2026. Client-Side Security Advanced, formerly the Page Shield add-on, is $0.099 per 1,000 requests, self-serve. Ours is metered on payment-page views instead: free for 1,000 page views a month, Pro from $99/month, overage at $0.0013 per page view.
Yes, and for some combinations it is sensible. Running two client-side tools on the same payment page adds weight, so it is worth being deliberate about which one is the system of record for your PCI evidence and which is doing something else.
Yes, and it is worth asking every vendor in this category the same question. Our tag is integrity-checked on load: if what arrives in the browser is not the script we published, it does not run. A client-side monitor that an attacker can silently modify is worse than no monitor, because it keeps reporting all-clear while the page is compromised. Not every agent in this category does this, so put it to Cloudflare Page Shield as well.
Yes, this is the right thing to worry about, and the answer is that it should not. Installation is one first-party tag with no DNS or CDN change, and the tag is fail-open, so if our service is unavailable your page still renders. Most teams run monitor-only mode alongside their existing tool for a few weeks before switching the system of record.
Usually days rather than weeks. The tag goes in, you mark your payment pages with selector rules, and the inventory populates from live traffic immediately. The slower part is re-recording business justifications, and if you already wrote them for 6.4.3 they transfer directly.
Cloudflare's own PCI tier, Client-Side Security Advanced, is $0.099 per 1,000 requests, so at low traffic on Cloudflare it can be the cheapest option. Among tools that publish prices for PCI DSS 6.4.3 and 11.6.1: Script Monitoring is free for 1,000 payment-page views a month and $99/month (or $990 a year) for 100,000, with unlimited domains; cside is free for 2,000 payment-page views a month and $99/month for 100,000; DomDog is $999 a year for 100,000 page views on one domain and two payment pages; Source Defense Essentials is $98/month for 100,000 page views on one domain; Report URI's PCI features start on its $164.99/month plan. Which is cheapest depends on your page views and how many domains you need.
Compare it against your own checkout.
Install the tag, mark your payment pages, and see what the inventory finds. Free forever on 1,000 page views a month, no credit card.
Free forever plan. No credit card.