Can ShortPixel still help if I’m using Cloudflare Enterprise?

I Have Cloudflare Enterprise – Can ShortPixel Still Help?

If you’re running Cloudflare Enterprise, you already have access to some of the most powerful performance and security tools available. Polish image optimization, intelligent caching, global CDN distribution, it’s an impressive stack. So the question naturally arises: do you really need another optimization plugin like ShortPixel?

The short answer is yes! Here’s why.

What Cloudflare Enterprise Does Well

Cloudflare Enterprise excels at what it was designed to do: protect your site, distribute your content globally, and deliver it fast. With features like DDoS protection, Web Application Firewall and edge caching, it’s a comprehensive solution for site performance and security.

Polish converts images to modern formats like WebP on the fly as they pass through Cloudflare’s network. For many site owners, this feels like the complete solution, even though it only provides basic image compression.

But here’s the thing: Cloudflare optimizes images as they’re served, not at the source. And that difference matters more than you might think.

Where Cloudflare Falls Short with Images

Your Existing Images Remain Untouched

Cloudflare doesn’t access your WordPress Media Library to optimize images that are already uploaded. If you have 5,000 images sitting in your library from years of content creation, those images remain at their original, unoptimized sizes. Polish only processes images as they’re requested through Cloudflare’s network, it doesn’t reduce the file sizes at the source and doesn’t save you any disk space.

This means:

• Your server still stores full-size, uncompressed images
• Your backups include bloated image files
• Database queries still reference large original file

Limited Compression Control

Polish offers basic and limited optimization (not as advanced and customizable as a dedicated optimizer like ShortPixel). There’s no option to choose between aggressive compression for maximum speed, lighter compression for maximum quality or something in between. It’s a one-size-fits-all approach that may not align with your specific needs.

ShortPixel, on the other hand, gives you three compression levels:

• Lossy: Maximum compression (50-90% size reduction)
• Glossy: Balanced compression with unnoticeable quality loss
• Lossless: Compression without any quality loss

Not convinced? Give it a try on our website!

No Device-Specific Optimization

Modern responsive websites need different image sizes for different devices. A 2000px wide hero image makes sense on desktop, but it’s wasteful on mobile. Cloudflare doesn’t automatically generate and serve device-appropriate image sizes. ShortPixel Adaptive Images does, creating responsive images that ensure mobile users get mobile-sized images and desktop users get desktop-sized ones.

PDFs and Other Assets

Cloudflare focuses on web images. If your site includes PDF downloads, brochures, or documentation, those files remain unoptimized. ShortPixel compresses PDFs alongside images, often reducing file sizes by 40-60% or more. Beyond image optimization, ShortPixel includes AI Background Removal, which is particularly useful for WooCommerce product images, creating professional, clean visuals that help your products stand out. The plugin automatically handles all WooCommerce image variants too, so your entire store benefits from optimization without extra work.

How ShortPixel Complements Cloudflare

The real power comes from using both tools together. They address different parts of the optimization chain, and when combined, they create a performance stack that’s greater than the sum of its parts.

Optimization at the Source

ShortPixel compresses images before they reach Cloudflare. Instead of Cloudflare serving a 2MB image that Polish converts on the fly, ShortPixel reduces that image to 200KB first. Then Cloudflare’s global CDN distributes the already-optimized version.

The result? Smaller files, faster delivery, lower bandwidth costs, and better performance metrics across the board.

Complete Library Coverage

ShortPixel’s bulk optimization processes your entire Media Library, every image, every thumbnail, every size variant with the best image optimization algorithms on the market. This one-time optimization reduces your total storage footprint and ensures that even old images benefit from our advanced in-house built image optimization algorithms.

Once optimized, these images are cached and served by Cloudflare’s network, creating a double layer of performance enhancement. You also have the option to serve these images via our powerful CDN as well.

Smarter Format Conversion

While Cloudflare Polish handles WebP and AVIF conversion, ShortPixel can generate these formats and store them alongside your originals. This means:

• No on-the-fly conversion delays
• Consistent format delivery
• Better caching behavior
• Fallback options for browsers that don’t support next-gen formats

Real Control Over Quality

Different images have different priorities. A hero image might need glossy compression to preserve visual impact, while a blog thumbnail can handle aggressive lossy compression. ShortPixel lets you set these preferences globally or per-image, giving you control that Cloudflare’s automated approach can’t match.

A Real-World Example

Let’s say you run an e-commerce site with product pages featuring 10 high-resolution images each.

Without ShortPixel:

• Each product image: ~1.5MB (15MB total per page)
• Cloudflare serves these from the nearest edge server
• Polish converts to WebP on delivery
• Result: Fast delivery, but still moving large files

With ShortPixel + Cloudflare:

• ShortPixel compresses each image to ~150KB (1.5MB total per page)
• Cloudflare caches and serves the optimized versions globally
• Result: 10x smaller payload, dramatically faster load times, lower bandwidth usage

The difference shows up in metrics that matter: Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), Total Blocking Time, and overall page load speed. Users experience faster page loads, especially on mobile connections.

The Best of Both Worlds

Here’s how to think about the division of labor:

Use Cloudflare Enterprise for:

• Global CDN distribution
• Security (DDoS protection, WAF, bot management)
• DNS management
• SSL/TLS encryption

Use ShortPixel for:

• The best image optimization at the source
• Bulk optimization of existing images
• Smart cropping and responsive image generation
• PDF and document compression
• Granular control over compression levels
• Easy WebP/AVIF generation and delivery

Together, they create a performance infrastructure that addresses every aspect of site speed and delivery. 

Not using Cloudflare Enterprise? You can also use our CDN instead of Cloudflare’s, it’s included with both ShortPixel Image Optimizer and ShortPixel Adaptive Images, and you get 500GB of CDN traffic included with every Unlimited plan.

Getting Started

The good news? Setting this up is straightforward, and there are no conflicts between Cloudflare and ShortPixel.

1. Keep Cloudflare active – Don’t change any of your existing Cloudflare settings
2. Install the ShortPixel Image Optimizer plugin from the WordPress repository
3. Choose your compression level – We recommend Glossy for the best balance of quality and size reduction
4. Run bulk optimization on your existing Media Library
5. Enable automatic optimization for new uploads

That’s it. ShortPixel will compress images at upload, generate and deliver WebP/AVIF and Cloudflare will cache and serve them globally. No configuration conflicts, no duplicate processing, just complementary optimization.

Common Questions

Won’t this create double processing and slow things down?

No. ShortPixel optimizes images once, either at upload or during bulk optimization. Cloudflare then caches and serves those optimized images. There’s no duplicate work happening on each request.

Is it worth paying for both services?

If site performance directly impacts your business (and it does), yes. Cloudflare handles security and global distribution. ShortPixel handles compression and optimization. They solve different problems. The combined cost is minimal compared to the performance gains and improved user experience.

Will Cloudflare Polish conflict with ShortPixel’s optimization?

No. They complement each other but Polish can also be disabled. ShortPixel reduces file sizes at the source, creating smaller files that Cloudflare then distributes efficiently. If ShortPixel has already generated WebP/AVIF files, Polish usually won’t convert them again, it serves the existing optimized format.

So, Can They Work Together?

Cloudflare is an excellent service, but it’s not a complete image optimization solution. It’s designed for distribution and security, with image optimization as a basic add-on feature. ShortPixel, on the other hand, is purpose-built for image optimization, with features specifically designed to reduce file sizes, improve quality, and give you control over the entire process with the best image optimization algorithms on the market.

The two services don’t compete, they collaborate. Cloudflare gets your content to users fast. ShortPixel makes sure that content is as small and efficient as possible before it gets there.

If you’re serious about performance, you don’t have to choose between them. Use both, and give your site the complete optimization it deserves.

Ready to see the difference? Try ShortPixel free and optimize 100 images/thumbnails per month for free!