Best CDN Providers of 2023

Cloudflare is an extremely popular CDN. Many web hosting companies offer Cloudflare services as a free feature with normal hosting, but you can also sign up for it separately. Cloudflare offers lots of features and has a proven reputation for helping websites to run faster and more securely.

Cloudflare is the ideal CDN for almost anyone because it is so easy to use. Most individuals and small businesses that are running websites will have the power of this CDN built right in because it comes with many hosting packages.

This service is not just for entry-level websites, though. If you are running a major website, Cloudflare has the tools and services needed to protect your site and make sure it loads extremely quickly for all your visitors.

Cloudflare’s services can be tailored to all websites — one of the biggest reasons I ranked it the best. Another main reason why this service ranks so well is that it really couldn’t be easier to use. For most people, it is possible to get all the benefits of this CDN without having to adjust any settings or have any technical skills at all.

Anyone who wants to use a CDN to help improve their website’s performance would do well starting with Cloudflare as the default. Only move to another option if you have a specific reason.

Who is Cloudflare best for?

Cloudflare is best for individuals, small businesses, bloggers, e-commerce sites, and anyone running a small to midsize website. We recommend this option because in many cases, it will be included with the shared or VPS hosting package by default. Even if you have to sign up manually, it is easy to use, and you can get the power of the CDN without having to be a technical expert.

Recent updates to Cloudflare

Cloudflare is always working hard to make sure it keeps up with the latest technologies and industry trends. I love that it regularly adds new server locations to further expand the reach of the CDN. Also, I was thrilled to see this company continue offering unmetered DDoS protection despite the size and scope of this type of attack growing at a rapid rate.

Cloudflare pricing

For most people, Cloudflare is completely free, so you can’t beat its pricing. Ideally, I recommend getting a hosting account that includes the Cloudflare CDN as you get the great benefits without having to do any configuring on your own. You can also sign up for the free package directly with Cloudflare if your hosting company doesn’t do it for you.

KeyCDN is the easiest-to-use CDN that we tested. In addition, it is a very affordable, wonderful option for small businesses, bloggers, and others who may not need the most advanced or powerful CDN on the market. Despite its relative simplicity, it still has plenty of features to help your site operate faster and safer than ever.

KeyCDN is generally described as a budget CDN, but that may not be fair. While it is one of the most affordable options out there, it does provide a quality service that will help your website run faster and more reliably than ever.

To start, you can sign up for an account at KeyCDN using only your email address and get 25GB of services free of charge. You don’t even need to enter a credit card number.

If you have never used a CDN before, I recommend playing with the free account to get a feel for what it can do. This free service is excellent even if you eventually move on to a different provider.

As you browse through the different services provided, you will quickly see that KeyCDN offers quality options that can meet most peoples’ needs. Specifically, KeyCDN has fully supported IPv6 for a long time, and its Origin Shield helps customize the services offered. With this tool, you can designate a specific KeyCDN server to be used as the content origin, dramatically reducing the load on your main hosting server.

You can also configure the CDN to make changes to your headers, cookies, robots.txt, and many other things about your website. This is a great way to optimize your site's load to get the best results possible. This is all in addition to a good quality DDoS mitigation system and a global network of servers.

Who is KeyCDN best for?

KeyCDN is perhaps the perfect option for anyone new to using this technology. I love it for small businesses, individual bloggers, entrepreneurs, e-commerce sites, and nearly anyone else who wants the benefits of a CDN with a simple user interface.

Recent updates to KeyCDN

KeyCDN is constantly working on different ways to upgrade and improve its services. Recently, this company has put a lot of effort into expanding its CDN coverage area by adding new servers in Latin America. According to a recent announcement, new points of presence have been rolled out in Mexico City, Mexico; Santiago, Chile; Sao Paulo, Brazil; Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Bogota, Colombia.

Another change that took place recently is an update to the method used for country-based caching. The edge servers can better detect the location of a visitor and use that to adjust the cache settings used. This is ideal for websites that display different content based on the location of the visitors.

These are just a few of the most significant upgrades that KeyCDN has completed recently. The company is always working on ways to improve the services provided.

KeyCDN pricing

You’ll have a hard time finding a CDN with lower prices than KeyCDN. The 25GB free account is a perfect example. Many small sites that only get a few hundred or a few thousand visitors per month could use only the free account, making it the perfect option.

StackPath is a small CDN focused primarily on serving North America and Europe. It is easy to use and has some high-level security options to help keep your site safe from most threats on the Internet.

StackPath is not the largest CDN, but it does a good job at providing its customers with an easy-to-use platform with plenty of benefits. The first thing to note is that it is primarily focused on North America and Europe. Its edge servers in other regions are more spread out so your visitors might not get the same response times as they would in North America or Europe.

Most websites get the majority of traffic from countries in North America and Europe, though, so this may not be an issue for you. Also, it is important to understand that while the servers in South America, Asia, Africa, and other areas are more spread out, you will still get a boost in performance compared to just running off a single web server with no CDN.

When you log on to the user interface from StackPath, you will see it is well-designed and easy to use. I found it simple to set up and configure and could set up custom configurations based on region and other factors as well. That’s critical if you run a website that has different content displayed based on the location of the visitor.

Who is StackPath best for?

After researching the StackPath CDN, I have no hesitation in recommending this service to anyone who has security concerns for their website. This would include websites that hold controversial opinions or that collect customer data, both of which are often targeted for different types of attacks.

Recent updates to StackPath

StackPath is constantly improving its services. This company has recently partnered with Solana Validators to get impressive servers to deploy throughout its footprint. In addition, the launch of the StackPath IP Spotlight feature is a notable addition to the lineup of services this company offers.

StackPath pricing

StackPath’s prices are listed both as a set monthly fee and a price per GB. The prices are affordable, and for the services you are getting, it is a great value. To start, you will pay $25 per month for the base-level CDN, which includes up to 1TB of bandwidth. If you need additional traffic, you can get it for as low as 3 cents per GB.

Akamai is one of the largest and most respected CDNs in the world. This service is used by major organizations as well as small sites and has a lot of different features that allow you to get the exact solutions you need at a reasonable price.

Akamai operates more than 275,000 servers spread throughout over 135 countries. This makes it one of the largest and best CDN options. No matter where visitors to your website come from, Akamai will almost certainly have a server nearby so that your website will load up quickly.

In addition to a fast and responsive CDN, you can take advantage of the advanced security Akamai offers. This company claims to have about 30% of all Internet traffic pass through its servers, largely because of the DDoS mitigation solutions it provides. Many Fortune 500 companies use Akamai to ensure some of the biggest websites in the world do not go down due to these types of attacks.

Even small websites can easily benefit from the Akamai CDN. Many people who use WordPress will already be familiar with Akamai because of the spam filtering services offered. Adding in the CDN, security, and other solutions is a fairly simple task that will give your site a lot of advantages.

Who is Akamai best for?

Akamai is a great option if you have a small business that wants some added security and speed. And if you operate the website of an international corporation that gets millions of visitors to your website each day, Akamai can handle all your needs.

Recent updates to Akamai

Akamai has always been an innovative internet traffic company. The team is constantly working to improve the services offered and finding new ways to improve how the World Wide Web functions.

A good example is how Akamai recently teamed up with WHOIS to ensure that people in Korea would have a fast and reliable DNS solution that allowed for secure access to websites.

Akamai has also developed an all-new ‘next-gen’ DDoS defense solution now available to customers worldwide. It would be almost impossible to list all the ways that Akamai has upgraded and innovated in recent years, and there is no reason to think this effort will stop in the future.

Akamai pricing

Akamai is not a clear leader in the pricing area. If you want one of the top-rated CDNs in the industry, you will pay a premium. I dislike that Akamai does not list its prices on the website. Instead, anyone who wants to use its CDN or other services will need to reach out to get a custom quote from an Akamai sales professional. The prices are based on what type of services you need, how much traffic you receive, and many other factors.

Amazon CloudFront is a powerful CDN that can meet the needs of any type of website. This CDN takes advantage of the massive scale of Amazon Web Services (AWS) to provide customers of all types with some of the fastest response times possible.

You can’t have a list of the best CDNs without including Amazon’s entry into this service. Amazon CloudFront CDN, sometimes called AWS CloudFront, is one of the fastest and most advanced options available. According to third-party testing, the CloudFront CDN has an average response time of 27.23ms, which is among the quickest I’ve seen.

CloudFront takes advantage of AWS operating data centers all over the world. Amazon has done an amazing job at building up its technology infrastructure to support its massive e-commerce business. Offering that same infrastructure to other companies through AWS and CloudFront has become extremely profitable for the company, but it has also helped websites worldwide operate faster and more reliably.

There is a lot to love about Amazon CloudFront services. First, you will have access to essentially every advanced technology available. You will find it with CloudFront if you need advanced file caching based on location, DDoS mitigation, customized compression, or any other features.

Who is CloudFront best for?

Amazon CloudFront is a great option for major corporations, but it’s too complicated to manage for the average user.

Recent updates to CloudFront

Amazon invests millions (or maybe even billions) of dollars into upgrades and research every year when it comes to AWS and Amazon CloudFront. This company is always adding in new servers, expanding its capacity, and ensuring it continues to be one of the best web services companies in the world.

No matter what you are looking for from a CDN, you can be confident you will find it from Amazon CloudFront today, and it will keep improving for years to come.

CloudFront pricing

The pricing structure from Amazon CloudFront is pretty complex, and you’ll likely need a custom quote. You will pay for most of the services based on how much data is used. The prices from CloudFront are, on average, higher than many other CDNs. Also, you will have to pay extra if you need to use any technical support services.