Cloudflare Workers edge cache hits still count as billable Worker invocations

Does a Cache API hit count?

Yes, if a request matches a defined Workers route, it counts as a billable Worker invocation, even if the response is served from the edge cache. The Worker must execute to determine that the cache entry exists and to return it, which consumes the free-tier request allowance.

Does an edge cache hit bypass the Worker?

There is a distinction between Cloudflare's static asset caching and the Workers Cache API:

• Workers Routes: If a URL matches a custom Workers route, the Worker is triggered. If the Worker then uses the Cache API to serve a response, the invocation has already occurred and is billed.
• Static Asset Caching: If a file is cached via the standard edge cache and does not match any Workers route, the request is served directly without triggering a Worker, resulting in no invocation charge.

Are subrequests billed separately?

On the free tier, subrequests made from a Worker (e.g., via `fetch()`) do not count as separate Worker invocations. They are bundled within the primary Worker's execution time. However, if the subrequest matches another Workers route, that second Worker will execute and count as its own invocation.

Summary Table

Scenario	Billed Invocation?
Route match + Cache API hit	Yes
No route match + Edge Cache	No
Subrequest to external API	No
Subrequest to another Worker route	Yes (for the target Worker)

Verification Steps

To verify your specific usage consumption, you can monitor the Cloudflare dashboard usage tab or use the following header in your response to inspect execution details:

CF-Workers-Cache: HIT

Note: If you see CF-Workers-Cache: HIT, the Worker ran, and the invocation was counted against your daily limit.