New tools shows companies exactly which employees and agents are using AI, what they're sending, and how much it's costing—in real time, securely and without slowing down innovation

Cloudflare, Inc. (NYSE:NET), the leading connectivity cloud company, today launched Identity-Aware AI Gateway, giving IT and security teams their clearest view yet into how employees use AI at work. For the first time, companies can see exactly which employee or agent sent a request to an AI model, set individual or team-level spending limits, and automatically flag risky content—all without building new systems or disrupting how people work. A companion feature, User Insights, goes further by learning what normal AI usage looks like for every person and automated system on a network and alerting teams the moment something breaks that pattern.

AI use inside companies is growing fast, and two problems are growing with it: rising costs and security blind spots. On the cost side, even as individual AI requests get cheaper, employees and automated bots are sending far more of them and bills are spiking with little warning or explanation. On the security side, sensitive information like employee names, passwords, and confidential files can quietly pass through to outside AI providers with no one noticing. Today's tools can cap overall AI spending across an account, but they can't tell you who triggered those costs or what was sent, leaving IT teams managing damage after the fact instead of preventing it.

"When security is clunky, it becomes a speed bump that slows down innovation. Right now, companies are wary of surprise AI bills or accidental data leaks, so their instinct is to lock down access and restrict what teams can build," said Dane Knecht, CTO of Cloudflare. "Connecting our access controls directly to AI Gateway flips that dynamic. Teams get the freedom to work with any AI model they choose. IT gets real-time visibility, guardrails, and the budget controls they actually need."

Together, AI Gateway and User Insights allow enterprises to:

See Exactly Who’s Sending What: By connecting AI Gateway with Cloudflare Access, every AI request is now tied to a verified identity whether that's an employee or an automated system.
Catch Unusual Behavior Before It Becomes a Problem: User Insights tracks each user's AI activity over time and builds a user baseline. When spending spikes well beyond what's normal for a specific user or system, IT gets an alert.
Surface Efficiency Opportunities That Are Easy To Miss at Scale: User Insights checks whether employees are using high-powered models for simple tasks that lighter, less expensive models could handle so efficiency gains are easy to find.
Enforce Identity-Based Access and Authentication: Companies can replace blind, shared API keys by integrating with their Identity Provider (IdP) and Zero Trust (ZTNA) infrastructure. This validates user and device posture before sending requests to the model provider without slowing adoption, recording verified identities directly in request logs.
Have One Place to See and Control All AI Traffic: Instead of managing AI usage piecemeal across every tool and model provider, all requests flow through a single point. That gives IT immediate visibility across the board, the ability to cache repeat requests and cut redundant costs, rate limiting to stop runaway usage before it hits the invoice, and automatic filters that strip out employee names, passwords, and other sensitive data before they ever reach an outside AI provider.

"Shared API keys make it almost impossible to tell who is using an AI service or apply the access rules we already have for employees. Putting Cloudflare Access in front of AI Gateway gives each request an authenticated identity and lets us use our existing identity policies at the gateway. Our teams can adopt AI tools without creating a separate authentication system for every client," said Max Baumgarten, Security Engineer at Flexport.

To learn more, please check out the resources below:

About Cloudflare

Cloudflare, Inc. (NYSE:NET) is the leading connectivity cloud company. It empowers organizations to make their employees, applications and networks faster and more secure everywhere, while reducing complexity and cost. Cloudflare’s connectivity cloud delivers the most full-featured, unified platform of cloud-native products and developer tools, so any organization can gain the control they need to work, develop, and accelerate their business.

Powered by one of the world’s largest and most interconnected networks, Cloudflare blocks billions of threats online for its customers every day. It is trusted by millions of organizations – from the largest brands to entrepreneurs and small businesses to nonprofits, humanitarian groups, and governments across the globe.

Learn more about Cloudflare’s connectivity cloud at cloudflare.com/connectivity-cloud. Learn more about the latest Internet trends and insights at radar.cloudflare.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, which statements involve substantial risks and uncertainties. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements because they contain words such as "may," "will," "should," "expect," "explore," "plan," "anticipate," "could," "intend," "target," "project," "contemplate," "believe," "estimate," "predict," "potential," or "continue," or the negative of these words, or other similar terms or expressions that concern Cloudflare’s expectations, strategy, plans, or intentions. However, not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. Forward-looking statements expressed or implied in this press release include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the capabilities and effectiveness of AI Gateway and Cloudflare’s other products and technology, the benefits to Cloudflare’s customers from using AI Gateway and Cloudflare’s other products and technology, the timing of when AI Gateway or any of its related features will be generally available to all current and potential Cloudflare customers, Cloudflare’s technological development, future operations, growth, initiatives, or strategies, and comments made by Cloudflare’s CEO and others. Actual results could differ materially from those stated or implied in forward-looking statements due to a number of factors, including but not limited to, risks detailed in Cloudflare’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including Cloudflare’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed on May 8, 2026, as well as other filings that Cloudflare may make from time to time with the SEC.

The forward-looking statements made in this press release relate only to events as of the date on which the statements are made. Cloudflare undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements made in this press release to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this press release or to reflect new information or the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as required by law. Cloudflare may not actually achieve the plans, intentions, or expectations disclosed in Cloudflare’s forward-looking statements, and you should not place undue reliance on Cloudflare’s forward-looking statements.

© 2026 Cloudflare, Inc. All rights reserved. Cloudflare, the Cloudflare logo, and other Cloudflare marks are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Cloudflare, Inc. in the U.S. and other jurisdictions. All other marks and names referenced herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260805642367/en/

Cloudflare, Inc.

Daniella Vallurupalli

Vice President, Head of Global Communications

press@cloudflare.com