Cloudflare Tiered Cache: Origin Offload and Cost Savings — Complete Guide

This tutorial explains Cloudflare Tiered Cache — a feature that reduces requests to your origin server by creating a hierarchy of caches across Cloudflare's network. You will learn how it works, how it saves bandwidth costs, and how to configure it for your domain.

Why Tiered Cache Matters

In a standard CDN setup, every edge data center that does not have a cached copy independently requests the file from your origin. If you have 300 edge locations and none have the file, your origin receives 300 requests for the same object. Tiered Cache solves this by creating a cache hierarchy: edge nodes request from upper-tier caches, which request from your origin only when necessary. This reduces origin requests by up to 90% and cuts bandwidth costs significantly.

Real-world use: DodaZIP stores user file previews that are requested from 50+ countries. Without Tiered Cache, a new preview generates separate origin requests from every region. With Tiered Cache, only one upper-tier requests the origin, and all other edges fetch from that tier. This reduces origin bandwidth by 85%.

How Tiered Cache Works

flowchart TB
  A[Visitor in Australia] --> B[Sydney edge]
  C[Visitor in Japan] --> D[Tokyo edge]
  E[Visitor in Brazil] --> F[Sao Paulo edge]
  B --> G[Upper-tier cache]
  D --> G
  F --> G
  G --> H[Origin server]
  style G fill:#f90,color:#fff
  style H fill:#f90,color:#fff

Standard Cache vs Tiered Cache

# Without Tiered Cache (origin receives 300 requests)
# Request 1: Sydney edge cache MISS -> Origin
# Request 2: Tokyo edge cache MISS -> Origin
# Request 3: Sao Paulo edge cache MISS -> Origin
# ...
# Request 300: Nth edge cache MISS -> Origin

# With Tiered Cache (origin receives 1 request)
# Request 1: Sydney edge cache MISS -> Upper-tier MISS -> Origin
# Request 2: Tokyo edge cache MISS -> Upper-tier HIT
# Request 3: Sao Paulo edge cache MISS -> Upper-tier HIT
# ...
# Request 300: Nth edge cache MISS -> Upper-tier HIT

Configuring Tiered Cache

Step 1: Enable Tiered Cache

Navigate to the Caching section in your Cloudflare dashboard and toggle on Tiered Cache.

# Enable Tiered Cache via API
curl -X PATCH "https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/zones/ZONE_ID/cache/tiered_cache" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer API_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  --data '{"value":"on"}'
# Expected output:
# {"success":true,"result":{"id":"tiered_cache","value":"on"}}

Step 2: Check Tiered Cache Status

Every response includes headers that tell you whether Tiered Cache was used.

curl -sI https://example.com/logo.png

# Expected headers:
# cf-cache-status: HIT
# cf-upper-tier-cache: HIT (or MISS)
# When cf-upper-tier-cache is HIT, the edge fetched from an upper-tier cache,
# and your origin was NOT contacted for this request.

Types of Tiered Caching

Cloudflare offers two tiered Caching strategies:

# Enable Smart Tiered Caching (recommended for multi-region origins)
# Cloudflare auto-selects the optimal upper-tier for each origin region
curl -X PATCH "https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/zones/ZONE_ID/cache/tiered_cache" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer API_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  --data '{"value":"on","type":"smart"}'
# Expected output:
# {"success":true}

Cost Savings Analysis

# Bandwidth cost comparison (example with 10TB monthly traffic)
# Origin bandwidth cost: $0.09/GB

# Without Tiered Cache:
# Cache hit ratio: 70%
# Origin bandwidth: 3TB/month
# Cost: 3,000 GB * $0.09 = $270/month

# With Tiered Cache:
# Cache hit ratio: 95%
# Origin bandwidth: 500GB/month
# Cost: 500 GB * $0.09 = $45/month

# Monthly savings: $225/month (83% reduction)

FAQ

Practice Questions

1. How does Tiered Cache reduce the number of requests to the origin server?
2. What is the difference between Generic and Smart tiered Caching?
3. If your cache hit ratio increases from 70% to 95% with Tiered Cache, how much does origin bandwidth decrease?

Summary

Tiered Cache reduces origin server load by creating a multi-level cache hierarchy. Edge nodes fetch from upper-tier caches instead of directly from origin, reducing redundant requests from hundreds of locations to a handful. This lowers bandwidth costs significantly, especially for global audiences. Enable it in the Cloudflare dashboard or API to start saving immediately.

Built by the developers of Doda Browser, DodaZIP, and Durga Antivirus Pro — security-first tools for the modern web.