Why I Bet on Cloudflare Workers for Edge Computing

After using AWS Lambda, traditional VPS, and bare metal servers, Cloudflare Workers changed my perspective on backend architecture.

The Old Way

Traditional backend: server in one region, users worldwide. A user in Tokyo hits my server in Mumbai. That’s 200ms of latency before any processing happens.

The Cloudflare Workers Way

Workers run at 300+ edge locations globally. A user in Tokyo hits a Worker in Tokyo. Latency: < 5ms.

What I Build with Workers

Oriz API Layer

Every tool endpoint runs as a Worker. 1000+ tools, zero servers.

URL Shortener

Edge-based redirects with analytics. Response time: < 10ms globally.

Auth Middleware

JWT validation at the edge before requests even reach my origin server.

The KV + D1 + R2 Stack

// KV for hot data (sessions, rate limits)
await env.KV.get(`rate:${ip}`);

// D1 for relational data (SQLite at the edge)
const { results } = await env.DB.prepare(
  "SELECT * FROM posts WHERE slug = ?"
).bind(slug).all();

// R2 for file storage (S3-compatible, no egress fees)
await env.R2.put(key, file);

When NOT to Use Workers

• Long-running processes (> 30s)
• Heavy computation (CPU-bound)
• WebSocket connections (use Durable Objects instead)

Cost Comparison

My entire Oriz infrastructure costs ~$5/month on Cloudflare. The same on AWS would be $50+.

Conclusion

Edge computing isn’t just about speed — it’s about simplicity. One deployment, global reach, zero ops. That’s the future.