Cloudflare Cache Rules are zone-level cache policy: request expressions decide what is eligible for cache, how Edge TTL and Browser TTL behave, what dimensions enter the cache key, and how stale content, ETags, and purge interact. Use them for CDN cache policy; use the Worker Cache API for programmatic caching.
Cloudflare Images has two paths: transform images stored in R2/S3/origin at the edge, or store images in Images and deliver named variants. The first is priced by unique transformations; the second also involves stored and delivered images.
Smart Shield is Cloudflare's origin protection bundle: Smart Tiered Cache, connection reuse, Argo Smart Routing, Regional Tiered Cache, Cache Reserve, Health Checks, and Dedicated CDN Egress IPs reduce requests and connections reaching your origin.