Why Cloudflare Bought Zaraz
blog.cloudflare.com
blog.cloudflare.com
1. User loads a website with the Zaraz script.
2. The script notifies the Zaraz backend about the different properties of the visit: page, browser, device, relevant cookies and more.
3. The Zaraz backend evaluates the information, and looks for the Facebook Pixel cookie.
4. If the Facebook Pixel cookie is included, the Zaraz backend contacts Facebook through the Server-Side API, and registers the page view event with the cookie value. In this scenario, the browser does not load any Facebook script or connect to any Facebook server at all.
5. If the Facebook Pixel cookie does not exist, Zaraz bundles the original Facebook Pixel in the response it sends to the browser. It will include all other third-party scripts Zaraz needs to load on the client side – each with their unique settings.
6. To prevent the Facebook Pixel from slowing down the page, Zaraz waits until the website reaches interactivity before executing it. Once the Facebook Pixel is loaded for the first time, a cookie will be created, which Zaraz picks up and uses to avoid loading the script again in all future events.
7. If the user leaves the website before the Facebook Pixel was loaded, Zaraz uses its Load On Exit technique to still send the page view event to Facebook. It does so by constructing all the request parameters on the backend and attaching a simple fetch call to the page unload event. No data is lost and all page views are recorded.
It's very different from Segment, mostly because it essentially requires not client side JS at all. We're using the fact we can tap on the request on the CDN level, and then just use that information to forward the data to third parties. I explained the process in detail here: https://blog.cloudflare.com/zaraz-use-workers-to-make-third-...
Why is it "glorified"? Isn't it exactly the same as segment?
I wonder if this will be free for Cloudflare user. We can now essentially abstract most JS script into a single file shared by hundreds of millions of site though Cloudflare.
> Post-acquisition, Zaraz will be folded into Cloudflare and offered as a standalone product called Cloudflare Zaraz — a free version will also be made available, initially in beta. "This means Cloudflare customers will be able to simply toggle on the solution on their dashboard, and it will immediately work on their website, no coding involved," Zaraz cofounder and CEO Yair Dovrat told VentureBeat.
This would actually make it easier to bypass adblockers, since instead of having to proxy multiple URLs through your domain, you only need to proxy Zaraz's URL.
Fastly wanted to compare their paying tier with Cloudflare's free tier, which is also skewed.
The ToS was probably added for people stresstesting the service. The CEO mentioned they are way beyond that point now and will remove that.
If you were so interested, why didn't you follow up on the topic? All the information is literally there, was broadly discussed and has no meaning here ...