The Best CDN Providers of 2022

What Are CDN Providers?

A CDN (content delivery network) provider allows businesses to deliver content to end users all over the world. CDNs use widely distributed servers to improve load times by reducing the physical distance between servers and users, which improves the end user’s experience.

In contrast, sites without a CDN deliver content from origin servers for every single user request, which can cause slow load times and site malfunctions if traffic spikes too high. A CDN helps offload some of this traffic by serving content from a location closer to the end user.

In addition to website content, CDNs can deliver high-definition videos, audio streams, software downloads, system updates, and even financial records.

Most businesses can benefit from using a CDN to bring their site to users around the globe, which is why most internet traffic is served by CDNs. Our rankings can help you evaluate which provider has the performance and pricing your business needs.

With the right CDN provider, you can ensure users have an optimal experience while accessing your website’s content, no matter where they’re located.

Must-Have Features for CDN Providers

What a business needs from a CDN provider depends on its site content, traffic level, and available products and services. Still, there are several features that are critical for any provider, such as:

• Content delivery management. A CDN provider should allow you to effectively manage active content and purge old content. Depending on the business, optimizing media delivery for different content, and file types, such as images and videos, is also an important feature.
• Up-to-date security. Websites serving original content — especially if it’s monetized — are increasingly at risk without the latest security protocols. Though businesses have different needs, most CDN providers have security measures in place to deal with bots, scammers, and persistent threats at the end user level as well as the network level. It’s also beneficial for a CDN provider to support DRM (Digital Rights Management) licensing via Apple FairPlay, Microsoft PlayReady, and other content protection systems.
• Broad network. For a CDN provider to be useful, the network of servers has to be large enough to deliver content to a wide range of geographical locations. Some countries, such as China, have unique rules about internet traffic and digitally transferring information, so researching regions or countries may be necessary.
• Reliable support. Businesses rely on CDN providers to keep their content easily accessible. However, if an unexplained problem or technical difficulty arises, the company should have a knowledgeable support team to troubleshoot connectivity, security, availability, and other major issues.