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The Best CDN Providers of 2021
How We Chose the Best CDN Providers
There are many content delivery network (CDN) providers on the market, each offering a range of features. We evaluated these companies to discover what’s most important for a CDN, specifically the number of data centers, security, and reporting features.
Number of Data Centers
The primary advantage of using a CDN is having a multitude of servers covering a wide geographical range to ensure a smaller physical distance between any given server and a visitor accessing it, which leads to faster load times, better website functionality, and improved overall user experience. CDN providers with a higher number of servers have better performance. Broader server networks also benefit website owners by reducing the bandwidth load on their origin server through caching and other data optimizations.
Security
Given the difficulty of distinguishing between bad and legitimate traffic, the best CDNs offer expertise in stopping threats at the network, data delivery, and end user levels. The cloud-based infrastructure of CDNs enables features such as DDoS mitigation and a web application firewall to protect sites from cyberattacks and hackers. This allows traffic to be proactively monitored, analyzed, and filtered, which can detect patterns common in DDoS attacks and prevent many of them beforehand.
Reporting
CDN providers handle a significant amount of internet traffic, which generates data about end user activities and experiences all over the world. A quality CDN provider offers in-depth reporting with actionable insights, such as cache analytics to evaluate CDN performance and detailed media analytics to show how users interact with web content.
The 15 Best CDN Providers of 2021
| Company | Price | Free Trial / Demo | Visit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Akamai | Custom quote | Free trial | Visit Akamai |
| Alibaba Cloud | Pay-By-Traffic starts at $0.04 per GB (mainland China)/$0.07 per GB (overseas) Pay-By-Bandwidth starts at $0.09 per mbps per day (mainland China)/$0.25 per mbps per day (overseas) | Free trial | Visit Alibaba Cloud |
| Amazon CloudFront | Free tier — 2 million HTTP or HTTPS requests per month, 50 GB of data transfer On-demand — custom pricing based on usage | Free trial | Visit Amazon CloudFront |
| Aryaka | Custom quote | Demo | Visit Aryaka |
| CacheFly | Core — starts at $595 per month Global — starts at $1,995 per month Elite Managed — starts at $2,995 per month | Free trial | Visit CacheFly |
| CDNetworks | Standard — $0.057 per GB Premium — $0.112 per GB Premium+ — $0.197 per GB Ultra — $0.279 per GB | Free trial | Visit CDNetworks |
| Cloudflare | Pro — $20 per month Business — $200 per month Enterprise — available upon inquiry | Free plan | Visit Cloudflare |
| G-Core Labs | Pay-as-you-go plan (€10 one-time minimum payment) — €0.06 per GB START 1TB — €25 per month PRO 5TB — €100 per month PRO 10TB — €150 per month | Free trial | Visit G-Core Labs |
| Imperva | Custom quote | Free trial | Visit Imperva |
| KeyCDN | Regional pricing — starts at $0.04 per GB for the first 10TB per month (North America/Europe) | Free trial | Visit KeyCDN |
| Leaseweb | Starts at €49 per month (2TB) | Free trial | Visit Leaseweb |
| Limelight | Custom quote | Free trial | Visit Limelight |
| Rackspace | Regional pricing — bandwidth fees + request fees across all US data center regions | Free trial | Visit Rackspace |
| StackPath | CDN (individual) — $10 per month Edge Delivery 20 — $20 per month (1TB bandwidth limit) Edge Delivery 200 — $200 per month (10TB bandwidth limit) Edge Delivery 2000 — $2,000 per month (100TB bandwidth limit) | Free trial | Visit StackPath |
Akamai
One of the oldest companies in the industry, Akamai Technologies, Inc., is a global CDN specializing in cybersecurity. Its features include:
- A broad network of over 275,000 servers
- Cloud security against DDoS attacks and web exploits
- Third-party DRM
- Content delivery optimization across the web and mobile devices
Akamai’s Intelligent Edge platform caters to tech-savvy customers who need robust options to customize the end user experience. The CDN supports various media delivery solutions for businesses serving digital downloads, news, videos, games and social media. It also has options to manage and scale delivery of streamed content.
Akamai offers free trials for all of its products. However, pricing must be obtained by contacting the company’s sales team for a direct quote.
| Price | Free Trial / Demo | Features |
|---|---|---|
| Custom quote | Free trial | >24/7 phone and live chat support >Postman, Azure Active Directory, New Relic, Terraform and Data Stream integrations >Real-time performance reporting >More features at Akamai |
Pros & Cons of Akamai CDN Service
Akamai boasts a broad, reliable network of servers to guarantee 100% uptime, and the company remains at the leading edge of internet security, offering web application firewall, DDoS and API protection. The range of customization options can be excessive for some websites.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| >100% uptime guarantee >Robust security features | >Developer-oriented |
What Customers Are Saying
Akamai has earned praise from customers for its continued innovation. “Akamai has been a trusted and strategic partner for our CDN needs for a long time,” one user commented. “Its services help us reach a large global audience on a daily basis and scales appropriately when breaking news happens. Akamai’s support team remains responsive and helps tailor new solutions to enhances our core product offerings.”
Alibaba Cloud
A cloud computing subsidiary of the well-known Alibaba (or Aliyun), Alibaba Cloud offers a range of services to online businesses, including a CDN. Its features include:
- Over 2,800 nodes across six continents and 120 Tbps of bandwidth
- Web page optimization
- Comprehensive analytics and user profiling
- Authentication keys and IP blacklist capability
Alibaba Cloud CDN has a quick response time of milliseconds to accelerate content delivery to end users, and it is interoperable with other services in the Alibaba Cloud suite. Since most nodes are located in mainland China, the CDN is best suited to businesses with a sizable user base in Asia.
Alibaba Cloud offers two basic payment plans: Pay-By-Bandwidth and Pay-By-Traffic, each with four tiers based on bandwidth/traffic usage. On the Pay-By-Bandwidth plan, customers are charged a regional rate for their peak daily bandwidth (measured 288 times per day); on the Pay-By-Traffic plan, they’re charged for the actual traffic received (calculated on an hourly basis).
For assistance computing exact costs for a specific business, one-on-one presale consultations are available. The company also offers a free trial.
| Price | Free Trial / Demo | Features |
|---|---|---|
| Pay-By-Traffic starts at $0.04 per GB (mainland China)/$0.07 per GB (overseas) Pay-By-Bandwidth starts at $0.09 per mbps per day (mainland China)/$0.25 per mbps per day (overseas) | Free trial | >Online portal and phone support >Object Storage Service, Elastic Compute Service and Apsara Video Live integrations >More features at Alibaba Cloud |
Pros & Cons of Alibaba Cloud CDN Service
Alibaba Cloud has extremely flexible pricing options, with billing based on traffic or bandwidth. Moreover, using real-time statistics, customers can see the activity on their sites and adjust their payment plans as necessary. The node locations may not be ideal for some since they are concentrated mostly in mainland China, and the company limits free support tickets to six per quarter.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| >Pay-as-you-go billing options >Real-time analytics >Free SSL | >Geographically restricted nodes >Limit on free support tickets |
What Customers Are Saying
Alibaba Cloud CDN has received positive reviews for its performance enhancements at a reasonable price. According to one user, “Alibaba seems to have done a good job developing a CDN for a good price point. I’m using the free trial now…so far it has given us some big improvements on load time of our websites.”
Amazon CloudFront
Offered by Amazon’s Web Services division, Amazon CloudFront is a CDN for static and dynamic web content. Features include:
- A global network of over 220 PoPs across 44 countries
- Cache retention for large libraries and media assets
- SSL/TLS encryptions and HTTPS
- Access control via Signed URLs and Signed Cookies
- Compliance with data management standards for sensitive data
CloudFront can securely deliver many types of content, such as data, videos, applications and APIs. It integrates with the broader set of AWS offerings, including AWS Shield for DDoS protection, Amazon S3 (Simple Storage Service) and Amazon EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud). Developers can also employ [email protected], a feature that allows them to run custom code to modify the user experience.
Amazon CloudFront has a free usage tier, which gives customers 50GB of outbound data transfer and two million HTTP or HTTPS requests each month for a one-year period. General pricing is based on usage across five categories: data transfer out, HTTP/HTTPS requests, invalidation requests, field level encryption requests and real-time log requests. In addition, the company applies discounts for customers who can commit to certain traffic minimums.
| Price | Free Trial / Demo | Features |
|---|---|---|
| Free tier — 2 million HTTP or HTTPS requests per month, 50 GB of data transfer On-demand — custom pricing based on usage | Free trial | >Support via phone, email and online community forum >W3 Total Cache plugin integration >Cache statistics, popular objects reporting, usage charts and more >More features at Amazon CloudFront |
Pros & Cons of Amazon CloudFront CDN Service
Amazon CloudFront customers benefit from strong built-in security features like web application firewall and encryption protocols, and they can take advantage of many AWS integrations. The CDN has flexible, on-demand pricing plans. However, AWS phone and email support are not included; only the community forum for technical assistance is free.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| >Strong security >Flexible pricing >AWS interoperability | >Paid phone/email support |
What Customers Are Saying
Amazon CloudFront’s compatibility with the AWS suite is highly appreciated, with one user commenting, “If you’ve already got plenty of AWS services, CloudFront is an obvious choice. It integrates seamlessly with other AWS infrastructure, and can be managed via CloudFormation as part of your wider Infrastructure as Code.”
Aryaka
Aryaka’s SmartCDN uses a private network to power dynamic web content for users around the world. Its features include:
- Proprietary TCP Optimization to maximize bandwidth use
- MyAryaka Cloud Portal to monitor application and network performance
- Video, voice chat and RDP-ready for remote work productivity
- Compatibility with other Aryaka managed services
- Dynamic rule engine for geo-targeting, device detection, multi-site hosting and personalized content delivery
SmartCDN supports dynamic content delivery for both HTTP(S) and non-HTTP(S) applications as well as mobile applications. Using API tools, it purges stale content and provides up-to-date content caches to end users. Each customer’s cache is managed separately.
Aryaka offers a live demo. For specific pricing details, new customers must request a quote.
| Price | Free Trial / Demo | Features |
|---|---|---|
| Custom quote | Demo | >Support via email, phone and online portal >Oracle Cloud and Check Point integrations >Real-time cache and traffic reports >More features at Aryaka |
Pros & Cons of Aryaka CDN Service
Aryaka’s SmartCDN boasts a quick, easy deployment that can be done in hours by changing a CNAME record, and content availability is ensured by a 100% uptime guarantee. On the other hand, image optimization is not available.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| >Quick deployment >100% uptime guarantee | >No image optimization |
What Customers Are Saying
While there isn’t much discussion about SmartCDN in particular, customers report positive experiences with Aryaka’s managed services as a whole, including the support team, “Seeing an alert before I go to bed at night and knowing that Aryaka is already diving into it, so that when I wake up, I know the connection is back up because Aryaka has already solved it has been invaluable.”
CacheFly
CacheFly is a Chicago-based CDN focused on delivering the highest speed and performance in the industry. Its features include:
- More than 50 PoPs
- Multi-CDN integration
- Low latency video streaming
- Smart image optimization
- Storage Optimization System
CacheFly offers a range of content delivery solutions, including options for podcasts, gaming, live streaming and mobile apps. The company gives customers a high degree of control over their caches and content delivery. They can build a private CDN or route traffic through multiple providers to balance the load.
There are three pricing plans: Core, Global and Elite Managed. Custom quotes and optional add-on packages are also available. CacheFly provides a presale consultation as well as free trial for new customers.
| Price | Free Trial / Demo | Features |
|---|---|---|
| Core — starts at $595 per month Global — starts at $1,995 per month Elite Managed — starts at $2,995 per month | Free trial | >Live chat and 24/7 email support >Real-time server analytics >More features at CacheFly |
Pros & Cons of CacheFly CDN Service
CacheFly gives its customers complete control over most of their service options, making it suitable for businesses that want to adapt as they scale and expand into different markets. The high cache hit ratio ensures most server requests are received so content can be delivered smoothly. Given their value, CacheFly’s pricing plans are relatively expensive, even at the basic level.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| >Highly customizable >Availability | >Expensive |
What Customers Are Saying
CacheFly’s reliability and high performance are its most notable features, according to one user, who says “Thanks to the reliability of the CacheFly CDN, it’s one thing off our minds when we need to run a big campaign. Blazingly fast, available everywhere. The CacheFly team members we’ve spoken to over the years have also all been helpful and friendly!”
CDNetworks
Headquartered in Seoul, South Korea, CDNetworks offers a self-service CDN, CDN360 and selection of related services. Features include:
- Global server groups, including PoPs in Russia and China
- Load-balancing according to real-time system loads
- API for integration with development processes
- Web application firewall and DDoS attack mitigation
CDN360 caters to developers and engineering teams, allowing precise control over content delivery and costs at scale. They also have access to raw data about their audience’s devices, location and browsing activity.
Instead of the common regional pricing model, CD360 charges based on PoPs in server groups, with each of the four groups having a different bandwidth cost. CDNetworks gives prospective customers $50 worth of free traffic to put the service to the test.
| Price | Free Trial / Demo | Features |
|---|---|---|
| Standard — $0.057 per GB Premium — $0.112 per GB Premium — $0.197 per GB Ultra — $0.279 per GB | Free trial | >Support by phone, email and online portal >Bandwidth statistics report >More features at CDNetworks |
Pros & Cons of CDNetworks CDN Service
CDN360’s server groups can save money on content delivery to diverse geographical areas, and the self-service interface gives technical users granular control over deployment, analytics and other configuration options. Unfortunately, free SSL encryption is not included.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| >Cost-effective >Granular scalability | >Free SSL not included |
What Customers Are Saying
Customers report positive experiences with global connectivity, particularly in Asia. “[CDN360] is a nice CDN to use when delivering content to Asia mainly because it’s aimed for that market,” one user remarks. “It’s fast and stable.”
Cloudflare
Cloudflare, Inc., is a San-Francisco-based CDN provider and is used by Zendesk, Reddit, OKCupid, MIT and other notable brands. Cloudflare CDN features include:
- Global network spanning over 200 cities in more than 100 countries
- Intelligent traffic routing to reduce latency
- Customizable cache expiration periods
- Concurrent Streaming Acceleration
- China support
Cloudflare CDN supports static and dynamic content delivery. The company’s API-first approach gives customers refined control over content caching and purging, allowing them to define rules, automate workflows and integrate the CDN into existing development projects.
Cloudflare offers three main pricing plans: Free, Pro ($20 per month) and Business ($200 per month). Enterprise-level clients must request a quote for specific pricing information.
| Price | Free Trial / Demo | Features |
|---|---|---|
| Pro — $20 per month Business — $200 per month Enterprise — available upon inquiry | Free plan | >Email and 24/7 chat support >WordPress integration >Real-time cache, traffic, bot and network threat analytics >More features at Cloudflare |
Pros & Cons of Cloudflare CDN Service
With its API-based control, Cloudflare CDN can adapt to the needs of individuals, businesses and large organizations alike. Every plan — free included — offers DDoS attack protection as well as optional free and paid add-ons to boost functionality. There is no bundled cloud storage like many CDNs, however.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| >Highly customizable >DDoS attack mitigation on all plans | >Storage not included |
What Customers Are Saying
Cloudflare CDN users express satisfaction with the value offered. “Unbeatable value on their free plan,” one user says. “I have multiple domains on Cloudflare’s CDN and it works like a charm. Incredibly robust toolbox of tools to help protect your website.”
G-Core Labs
G-Core Labs provides a CDN and other cloud computing solutions to media and entertainment companies. Features include:
- Over 65 PoPs across five continents
- More than 400 cache servers
- Over 10 Tbps network capacity
- Average response time of less than 50 ms
G-Core Labs’ CDN allows customers to store, deliver and safeguard content on a global scale. They can manage their accounts from an all-in-one control panel, and G-Core Labs takes custom requests for additional features. Prospective customers can also test the network’s connection for free on the company website.
G-Core Labs offers a 14-day free trial of all plans, with a 300GB data transfer limit. The pay-as-you-go plan includes 100GB free and costs €0.06 per GB. In addition to the monthly subscription fee, paid plans require a minimum commitment of 1,000GB (START 1TB plan), 5,000GB (PRO 5TB plan) or 10,000GB (PRO 10TB plan). Enterprise options with no traffic limitations are available, but customers must request a quote for pricing details.
| Price | Free Trial / Demo | Features |
|---|---|---|
| Pay-as-you-go plan (€10 one-time minimum payment) — €0.06 per GB START 1TB — €25 per month PRO 5TB — €100 per month PRO 10TB — €150 per month | Free trial | >Email, chat, phone and knowledge base support >Real-time cache, traffic and performance reporting >More features at G-Core Labs |
Pros & Cons of G-Core Labs CDN Service
G-Core Labs has a secure network and uses a web application firewall to filter out fake or threatening traffic. Moreover, customers are welcome to try its CDN and other services free of charge for 14 days. 24/7 email, chat and phone support is for PRO plans only, however, and there’s no uptime guarantee or reimbursement.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| >Free trial >Web application firewall | >24/7 support for PRO plans only >No uptime guarantee |
What Customers Are Saying
G-Core Labs’ network performance impressed several customers, such as this user: “G-Core [CDN] provides high quality HD and 4K video rendering at an excellent speed. Round trip time can be observed in milliseconds between the request and response.”
Imperva
Imperva provides a global secured CDN as part of its cloud application security portfolio and is used by companies across healthcare, gaming, entertainment, and technology. Its features include:
- Global network of 47 points of presence (PoP) for optimal latency and connectivity
- Comprehensive security portfolio
- Edge programmability functions for application delivery control and cache management
- Advanced UI analytics and API automation
- Advanced caching, routing, and content optimization techniques
The CDN allows end-to-end support for HTTP/2, gRPC, and IPv6 protocols and provides a unified management console for delivery and security, including 2-factor authentication and SSO support.
Imperva provides an online free trial of its CDN and Cloud security services. The CDN product is included within all Imperva enterprise plans. Pricing quotes are available via the company’s sales teams and partners.
| Price | Free Trial / Demo | Features |
|---|---|---|
| Custom quote | Free trial | >24x7 support (phone, email, and account portal) >Built-in security with WAF, DDoS, API, and bot protection >Real-time and historic traffic/performance analytics >More features at Imperva |
Pros & Cons of Imperva’s CDN Service
Unlike other CDN companies, Imperva provides a guaranteed SLA for several parameters, including service uptime, DDoS mitigation time, and support response time. However, storage is not included in its offerings.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| >Robust security >High programmability | >Storage not included |
What Customers Are Saying
Imperva’s CDN has earned praise for its simple implementation, with one user commenting, “What I like best is, primarily, the ease of implementation. It took no time at all to get up and running versus the days or weeks from the competitor we switched from.” Customers also praise the “quick response” they receive from Imperva support, who are “eager” to help a customer through a successful implementation.
KeyCDN
KeyCDN is a Switzerland-based CDN provider that strives for high performance while maintaining ease of use. Features include:
- Instant content purging
- Zone management
- HTTP/2 and IPv6 support
- GZip compression
KeyCDN allows customers to add a domain to use with their network, including optional advanced customizations or a custom subdomain if desired. The CDN can then be integrated with a range of CMS services, frameworks or applications.
Monthly subscription pricing is regional. In North America and Europe, it starts at $0.04 per GB for the first 10TB of outbound data. Per GB rates decrease with higher usage, down to $0.01 per GB for over 100TB. There is a $4 per month usage minimum.
KeyCDN provides an online tool to calculate a price estimate, and the company also offers a 14-day free trial.
| Price | Free Trial / Demo | Features |
|---|---|---|
| Regional pricing — starts at $0.04 per GB for the first 10TB per month (North America/Europe) | Free trial | >Support via account portal >CMS integrations >Real-time traffic and cache statistics >More features at KeyCDN |
Pros & Cons of KeyCDN CDN Service
Unlike many other CDNs, KeyCDN grants access to all features, including image optimization, regardless of the customer’s plan type, which makes it an affordable option when combined with the pay-for-what-you-use pricing model. Unfortunately, there is no uptime or availability guarantee.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| >All-inclusive plans >Cost-effective >Image optimization | >No uptime guarantee |
What Customers Are Saying
Many users report satisfaction with KeyCDN’s ease of use. According to one user, KeyCDN is “super easy to use and a lot of resources are available in their knowledgebase.” Another echoed that sentiment, saying, “Easy to setup and integrate with my framework and caching tools. Great how you can add free SSLs to your custom CDN subdomains.”
Leaseweb
Leaseweb is a business technology-oriented company that offers a CDN, cloud hosting, dedicated servers and other internet services. Leaseweb CDN includes features such as:
- Multi-CDN or private CDN option
- Advanced self-service portal (Multi-CDN) or fully managed service (private CDN)
- Enterprise-grade network security
The Multi-CDN is designed for businesses looking to expand their reach without sacrificing speed, uptime and reliability. The advanced self-service portal enables extensive customization. Network coverage spans more than 300 PoPs across the US, Europe, South America, the Middle East, Africa, India, China, Russia and Australia.
The private CDN is a fully managed solution and includes expert assistance. Customers can effectively deliver a variety of content, including video, live streaming and other media types. Hybrid-ready capability allows users to switch between the private and Multi-CDN from a single dashboard.
Leaseweb offers a monthly subscription plan with a €49 minimum as well as a 30-day free trial. Enterprise clients must request a quote.
| Price | Free Trial / Demo | Features |
|---|---|---|
| Starts at €49 per month (2TB) | Free trial | >24/7 support via phone, email and live chat >Real-time analytics >More features at Leaseweb |
Pros & Cons of Leaseweb CDN Service
Leaseweb boasts a highly configurable CDN with online security features fit for major businesses and organizations. Whether customers choose the Multi-CDN or private CDN option, they can switch between them with ease — and control all other areas of the CDN — via a unified dashboard. However, phone authentication is required for new accounts.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| >Highly customizable >Strong security >Unified dashboard | >Phone authentication |
What Customers Are Saying
While there aren’t many outspoken customers talking about Leaseweb’s CDN in particular, several customers signed up for other services note the company’s support times. “My experience with the Singapore team has been very good,” one user writes. “Kudos to the Singapore team for answering me even at 8pm. I will definitely be ordering more from you.”
Limelight
Based in Arizona, Limelight is a modest-sized CDN provider with offices in the United States, Europe and Asia. Features include:
- Approximately 123 PoPs across more than 45 metropolitan areas
- HTTP/2 support
- Content delivery to China
- Real-time purging of stale content via SmartPurge
- Limelight Control self-service portal for developers
Limelight offers services for static websites as well as video streaming, cloud storage and web acceleration tools. It can deliver various types of content, including mobile apps, music, software, games and APIs.
Pricing is available upon inquiry, and inbound customers can request a free trial as well.
| Price | Free Trial / Demo | Features |
|---|---|---|
| Custom quote | Free trial | >Support over the phone and 24/7 via email >Real-time reporting of traffic, end user activity, cache statistics and more >More features at Limelight |
Pros & Cons of Limelight CDN Service
Limelight maintains a secure global network, protecting against threats such as DDoS attacks. The company offers a free trial of its CDN and other services. Though performance and reliability are listed as top priorities, the company doesn’t issue an uptime or availability guarantee.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| >DDoS attack mitigation >Free trial | >No uptime guarantee |
What Customers Are Saying
According to one user, Limelight’s benefits boil down to being simple, useful and presentable: “Look and feel, ease of function, search options (you can search for a customer’s information [in] a multitude of ways) and the site is easy to navigate.”
Rackspace
Rackspace is a Texas-based cloud computing company specializing in web, SaaS, app and email hosting, but it also offers CDN services. Its features include:
- Powered by Akamai’s network
- Over 200 edge locations
- Content management via control panel
- Custom delivery rules
Rackspace CDN is capable of delivering images, video content, software downloads and other website assets. This includes static, dynamic, interactive and streamed content, with dedicated solutions for eCommerce, website content management and web applications.
Rackspace charges a region-specific monthly bandwidth fee that reduces in cost with higher bandwidth needs. The lowest cost starts at $0.10 per GB for the first 10TB in North America. Customers are also billed for HTTP/HTTPS requests (per 10,000 requests). The lowest cost starts at $0.0075 for HTTP and $0.01 for HTTPS.
CDN pricing is determined by the aggregate of bandwidth fees and request fees for the customer’s account. Rackspace offers a free trial of its CDN service.
| Price | Free Trial / Demo | Features |
|---|---|---|
| Regional pricing — bandwidth fees + request fees across all US data center regions | Free trial | >Support via phone, email and online portal >Akamai, Cyberduck, Jungle Disk and FireUploader integrations >More features at Rackspace |
Pros & Cons of Rackspace CDN Service
Rackspace CDN offers free security features like SSL encryption, and it integrates with other Rackspace solutions as well as CDNs and CMS platforms. Though powered by Akamai’s extensive network, when it comes to data centers, Rackspace has among the fewest of all well-known CDN providers.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| >Free SSL >Many integrations | >Only 13 data centers worldwide |
What Customers Are Saying
One satisfied user calls Rackspace CDN a “fast and reliable CDN,” adding, “It was very easy to set up, had no issues when using it. Great support, they’re always there when you need it. The dashboard meets your needs, have everything you need in place. The logging is also really good.”
StackPath
Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, StackPath is a CDN provider that mostly caters to North America and Europe. Features include:
- 45 edge locations with over 65 Tbps throughput
- Intelligent caching and customizable cache rules
- HTTP/2 and WebSocket support
- 80% cache hit ratio
StackPath also includes several developer-oriented features, such as APIs with full documentation, an easy-to-use control panel and comprehensive CLI tools. This enables developers to securely deploy their website, app, API or other content type whenever they choose.
CDN pricing starts at $10 per month for the individual service. The Edge Delivery bundles range from $20 to $2,000 per month. Additional CDN bandwidth costs $0.04 per GB (up to 100TB in a month) and $0.03 per GB (100TB to 1PB in a month). A free trial is available.
| Price | Free Trial / Demo | Features |
|---|---|---|
| CDN (individual) — $10 per month Edge Delivery 20 — $20 per month (1TB bandwidth limit) Edge Delivery 200 — $200 per month (10TB bandwidth limit) Edge Delivery 2000 — $2,000 per month (100TB bandwidth limit) | Free trial | >Phone, live chat and ticket support >W3 Total Cache plugin integration >Real-time performance and cache analytics >More features at StackPath |
Pros & Cons of StackPath CDN Service
StackPath has built-in security features with DDoS protection, SSL encryption and native cloud firewall. These features and others are conveniently bundled together for a flat rate. Most edge locations are in western countries, primarily the United States and Europe.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| >Free SSL >DDoS attack mitigation >Flat fee | >Few edge locations in eastern countries |
What Customers Are Saying
StackPath’s performance has earned praise from some users, with one commenting, “We gained a good amount of speed by the images being hosted [on StackPath CDN]. It helps you out with Google and better results for site speed. For very large web sites this is a must.”
Verizon
Although multinational telecommunications company Verizon is best known for its mobile phone products, it also offers a CDN service. Its features include:
- Coverage across six continents and more than 5,000 delivery partners
- Intelligent traffic routing and load balancing
- Advanced caching and web acceleration
- Microsoft Azure Blob Storage interoperability
The Verizon Media CDN enables customers to deliver high-quality content over a global network. The CDN employs Verizon’s advanced hardware and software architecture to ensure a high cache hit ratio, fast time-to-render rates and reduced load times.
Verizon offers a 30-day free trial of the CDN. For pricing information, new customers must contact a sales representative to request a quote.
| Price | Free Trial / Demo | Features |
|---|---|---|
| Custom quote | Free trial | >Account manager, phone, email and online portal support >Azure Video Indexer, THEOplayer, IRIS.TV and 24i integrations >Real-time performance analytics and log delivery >More features at Verizon |
Pros & Cons of Verizon CDN Service
The Verizon Media CDN takes advantage of the telecommunication giant’s extensive network and partnerships to deliver content even to remote/last mile service areas. Interoperability with Microsoft Azure Blob Storage ensures redundant, secure content that’s accessible from many locations. Free SSL encryption is not included, however.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| >Extensive network >Scalability | >Free SSL not included |
What Customers Are Saying
Customers report that Verizon’s CDN is just as reliable as its cellular network. “Very reliable and is the best current performer in CDN,” one user claims. “Especially valuable for international businesses.”
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.
Benefits of CDN Providers
Business owners rely on their website to show off their products and services. Using a CDN provider can provide benefits such as:
- Better site performance. One of the main benefits of using a CDN provider is serving content to end users more quickly. Waiting 5 to 10 seconds for content to load causes many users to leave a website entirely. CDNs solve this problem by retrieving cached content from the CDN server closest to the user.
- Improved security. Content security is essential for any business with an online presence. Because of the volume of traffic CDN providers handle, companies devote significant time and effort to identifying and preventing DDoS attacks, web-based exploits, and other security threats.
- Greater availability. Even a powerful origin server can be overwhelmed by excessive traffic, so it’s important for businesses to ensure their content remains available in high-stress situations. CDN providers help spread that traffic over a wide network of servers so traffic spikes don’t cause unexpected failures.
- Analytics and user insights. An enormous amount of end user data is generated when someone surfs the web. CDN providers offer key insights into users’ browsing activity around the world, giving businesses the tools to modify their sites for a better user experience.
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.
The Cost of CDN Providers
The cost of CDN providers varies widely by company. Some offer monthly subscriptions for a flat rate, while others offer pay-as-you-go or pay-for-what-you-use plans that change with bandwidth usage. Basic packages can range from free (with limitations) to $50 per month, and those that charge for bandwidth can be $0.01 per GB to more than $0.10 per GB. Prices can also vary depending on what options or add-ons you choose, if you’re an individual or business enterprise, etc.
Trusting a CDN provider with your content is a serious commitment, and it requires research into more than just costs. The cheapest option might not be better than the more secure or faster option. When shopping for a CDN, consider how much you’re willing to spend and find a plan type that works for both your budget and online content.