Relayant and Cloudflare Tunnel
Cloudflare Tunnel publishes a web application from behind any router, with no inbound port, on a free plan. We offer each device at a site as an address and port. Here is where each fits.
What it is good at
Cloudflare Tunnel publishes a web application from behind any router
A program called cloudflared runs on a computer in your network and connects outward to Cloudflare. Your service gets a public hostname without a public address, and the firewall can stay shut.
Cloudflare offers a free plan for Zero Trust, with its access controls in front of what you publish. For a dashboard, an internal tool or a recorder's web page for a few staff, it does the job.
Where it falls short
It is built for web servers, not for cameras by address and port
Each of these is from Cloudflare's own pages, read on 13 October 2026.
- It needs a computer at the site
- Cloudflare's getting-started page says cloudflared is installed and authenticated on your origin server. We supply the box, and nothing is installed on the devices.
- It is built for web servers first
- Cloudflare's page says Tunnel can connect HTTP web servers, and other protocols safely. SSH, RDP and private networks are covered by separate guides.
- A device by address and port needs Cloudflare's client in the control room
- To reach a device by address and port through a tunnel, each control room computer runs the Cloudflare One Client, enrolled with your organisation. At the site, cloudflared runs on a computer.
- Video through a public hostname is not allowed on three plans
- Cloudflare's terms do not allow video streamed through a public hostname on its Free, Pro and Business plans. That applies to Tunnel traffic. Private network routes are not covered by that restriction.
- Nothing watches the devices
- Cloudflare Tunnel's pages do not describe finding the devices on a site, checking that each one answers, alarm signals to a control room, or reports. Our box does those four things.
Side by side
Seven things a control room asks, answered for both
| The question | Relayant | Cloudflare Tunnel |
|---|---|---|
| What runs at the site | Our box on a LAN port, connecting out. Nothing is installed on the devices. | cloudflared, installed and signed in to your Cloudflare account on a computer in your network, connecting outward.developers.cloudflare.com, 13 October 2026 |
| What it is built for | Each chosen device as one address and port, for any monitoring software that connects that way. | HTTP web servers first; other protocols and private networks through separate guides.developers.cloudflare.com, 13 October 2026 |
| What the control room needs | Nothing installed. Your monitoring software connects to the address and port, and only the addresses you list get through. | For a device by address and port: the Cloudflare One Client on each computer, enrolled with your organisation.developers.cloudflare.com, 13 October 2026 |
| Video | The box relays video encrypted. We do not store, transcode or inspect it, and we count bytes, nothing more. | Not through a public hostname on the Free, Pro and Business plans. Private network routes are exempt.developers.cloudflare.com, 13 October 2026 |
| Checking that each device answers | Every minute. You are told when one stops answering. | Not described on the pages checked.The three pages above, 13 October 2026 |
| Alarm signals to the control room | Into your monitoring software over SIA DC-09, as supplementary fault signalling. | Not described on the pages checked.The three pages above, 13 October 2026 |
| A monthly report per site | A PDF per site on the first of the month. | Not described on the pages checked.The three pages above, 13 October 2026 |
"Not described" means exactly that: the vendor's pages, read on the date shown, do not mention it. It does not mean the product cannot do it.
About alarm signals
Our alarm signals are supplementary fault signals. They tell your control room that a device has stopped answering, has a fault, or that a site’s network is down. They do not replace the alarm panel’s own communicator.
When to choose it anyway
A web application, a server already at the site
Choose Cloudflare Tunnel when what you are publishing is a web application: a dashboard, an internal tool, a recorder's web page for a few staff. There is already a server at the site to run cloudflared on. The people using it are happy to sign in through Cloudflare on a laptop. For that job it is free and needs no inbound port.
It does not fit when the far end is a camera that monitoring software must reach by address and port all day. It does not fit when video is the point, or when there is no computer at the site. We put a box at the site. The box offers each device as an address and port and watches whether it answers.
Tell us how your sites connect
Say how many sites you look after, how they reach the internet and what monitoring software you use. We reply by email.
Checked against Cloudflare's published information on 13 October 2026. Tell us if something has changed: [email protected].
Product names belong to their owners.