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Cloudflare Realtime
Cloudflare Realtime is a comprehensive suite of products designed to help you build powerful, scalable real-time applications.
Cloudflare RealtimeKit allows you to integrate programmable and easily customizable live video and voice into your web, mobile, and desktop applications. With just a few lines of code, you can enable live video communication, voice calls, and interactive live streaming.
At its core, RealtimeKit is powered by the Realtime SFU, which efficiently routes video and audio streams between participants. RealtimeKit provides a set of user-friendly SDKs and APIs that act as a layer on top of the SFU, so you don't have to handle the complexities of media track management, peer management, and other intricate WebRTC-related tasks.
The Realtime SFU (Selective Forwarding Unit) is a powerful media server that efficiently routes video and audio. The Realtime SFU runs on Cloudflare's global cloud network ↗ in hundreds of cities worldwide.
For developers with WebRTC expertise, the SFU can be used independently to build highly custom applications that require full control over media streams. This is recommended only for those who want to leverage Cloudflare's network with their own WebRTC logic.
The TURN service is a managed service that acts as a relay for WebRTC traffic. It ensures connectivity for users behind restrictive firewalls or NATs by providing a public relay point for media streams.
Use this comparison table to quickly find the right Realtime product for your needs:
| RealtimeKit | Realtime SFU | TURN Service | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What is it | High-level SDKs and APIs with pre-built UI components for video/voice integration. Built on top of Realtime SFU. | Low-level WebRTC media server (Selective Forwarding Unit) that routes audio/video/data streams between participants. | Managed relay service for WebRTC traffic that ensures connectivity through restrictive firewalls and NATs. |
| Who is it for | Developers who want to quickly add video/voice features without handling WebRTC complexities. | Developers with WebRTC expertise who need full control over media streams and want to build highly custom applications. | Any WebRTC application needing reliable connectivity in restrictive network environments. |
| Effort to get started | Low - Just a few lines of code with UI Kit and Core SDK. | High - Requires deep WebRTC knowledge. No SDK provided (unopinionated). You manage sessions, tracks, and presence protocol. Works with every WebRTC library. | Low - Automatically used by WebRTC libraries (browser WebRTC, Pion, libwebrtc). No additional code needed. |
| WebRTC expertise required | None - Abstracts away WebRTC complexities. | Expert - You handle all WebRTC logic yourself. | None - Used transparently by WebRTC libraries. |
| Primitives | Meetings, Sessions, Participants, Presets (roles), Stage, Waiting Room | Sessions (PeerConnections), Tracks (MediaStreamTracks), pub/sub model - no rooms concept | TURN allocations, relayed transport addresses, protocols (UDP/TCP/TLS) |
| Key use cases | Team meetings, virtual classrooms, webinars, live streaming with interactive features, social video chat | Highly custom real-time apps, unique WebRTC architectures that don't fit standard patterns, leveraging Cloudflare's network with custom logic | Ensuring connectivity for all users regardless of firewall/NAT configuration, used alongside SFU or peer-to-peer WebRTC |
| Key features | Pre-built UI components, automatic track management, recording, chat, polls, breakout rooms, virtual backgrounds, transcription | Unopinionated architecture, no lock-in, globally scalable, full control over media routing, programmable "switchboard" | Anycast routing to nearest location, multiple protocol options |
| Pricing | Pricing by minute view details ↗ | $0.05/GB egress | Free when used with Realtime SFU, otherwise $0.05/GB egress |
| Free tier | None | First 1,000 GB free each month | First 1,000 GB free each month |
Workers AI
Run machine learning models, powered by serverless GPUs, on Cloudflare’s global network.
Stream
Cloudflare Stream lets you or your end users upload, store, encode, and deliver live and on-demand video with one API, without configuring or maintaining infrastructure.
Learn how you can build and deploy ambitious Realtime applications to Cloudflare's global network.
Follow @CloudflareDev on Twitter to learn about product announcements, and what is new in Cloudflare Realtime.
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