WordPress, hands down. Development will be quicker and cheaper than rolling your own. There are plenty of tutorials to show you how to do things so you would not be 100% reliant on your dev(s).

I be wary of Cloudflare as it does not always help - you should test and see if it's a benefit based on your host and what plugins you are using.

Host-wise, most of the 'managed WordPress' services are garbage. It would be better to find a reliable and reputable host - though this can be difficult with 99% of hosting reviews being nothing more than a collection of affiliate links arranged by the size of their commissions. WPEngine is the real deal but their costs are based on page views and their $30 plan can easily be $200 for a high traffic site. MediaTemple & GoDaddy's WordPress offerings are garbage.

If you need a more customized size, Drupal can be a good option. It offers much easier customizability out of the box than WordPress. But from the sounds of your needs, WordPress is the way to go.