The champion Content Delivery Network (CDN) providers make it elemental and easy to cache your website media globally, successful bid to amended your website loading times.
Whether your visitors travel from Europe, North America, Asia aliases anyplace else, contented is automatically served from a location adjacent to them, for nan fastest speeds and nan shortest imaginable load times.
Although CDNs are often targeted astatine immense corporations, they often activity for individual and mini business sites, too. The simplest CDNs tin beryllium configured successful minutes, moreover by newbies, and successful immoderate cases they mightiness not costs you thing astatine all.
Separating nan value providers from nan also-rans tin beryllium a challenge, but we’ve done nan groundwork for you, comparing nan champion CDNs connected everything from easiness of setup and performance, to configurability, guidance devices and value.
Whatever your website, from a elemental blog to a business-critical tract for an world corporation, we've sewage you covered. And if you find thing interesting, support successful mind that you tin research galore of these CDN for free, nary costs specifications required.
We’ve besides rounded up nan best VPN.
The champion CDN providers of 2024 successful full:
Why you tin spot TechRadar We walk hours testing each merchandise aliases work we review, truthful you tin beryllium judge you’re buying nan best. Find retired much astir really we test.
Best CDN supplier overall
A feature-packed CDN pinch 1 of nan champion free plans around
Reasons to buy
+ Capable free plan Lots of features Protects your website from each kinds of attacks Simple level complaint pricing
Reasons to avoid
- Convoluted personification interface Relatively expensive
Cloudflare is simply a hugely celebrated American contented transportation work that combines novice-friendly easiness of usage pinch expert-level features and functionality. It’s nary wonderment that Cloudflare protects astir 20% of each websites, including awesome corporations specified arsenic Broadcom, L’Oreal, DHL and Shopify.
Setup is speedy and easy. Simply update your DNS nameservers to usage Cloudflare, and nan work kicks successful automatically, caching contented and serving it to visitors from their nearest location.
But there's besides much, overmuch more. Web filtering tin artifact bots, limit contented spam, support you safe from hackers aliases observe and mitigate DDoS attacks. Smart image optimizations tin trim image record sizes by up to 35%, further improving speeds.
There's wide support for standards for illustration IPv6, HTTP/2 and SPDY, clever page rules to thief you manipulate traffic, and a REST API allows developers to return afloat power of what nan work is doing.
Cloudflare's free scheme allows you to spot what nan work tin do, without making immoderate commitments, and it is simply a imperishable action alternatively than immoderate clip constricted trial. It's very usable, pinch unlimited bandwidth and nary annoying restrictions to effort and unit you to upgrade. Just recognize that support is constricted to aforesaid thief and a organization forum, and nan bot protections are much basic.
Upgrading to nan Pro scheme gets you nan image optimization rules, other configurability, and improved support successful nan shape of problem tickets. Pricing is elemental astatine a level $20 (£16) a month, pinch nary analyzable per-region usage fees. A Business scheme comes pinch a 100% uptime SLA, which nan Enterprise offers maximum speeds and each bot and threat-blocking exertion Cloudflare has to offer.
Read our Cloudflare review.
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Best CDN supplier for configuration
A highly configurable heavyweight CDN
Reasons to buy
+ Consistently accelerated astir nan world Highly configurable
Reasons to avoid
- Can beryllium tricky to group up
Fastly is nan CDN of prime for big-name organizations from nan likes of Epic Games and Spotify to Reddit, Stripe and New York Times, and it's easy to spot why. The work lives up to its sanction by consistently delivering awesome capacity results, and presently ranks sixth successful CDNPerf's rankings for worldwide speeds (and it's #1 successful Oceania.)
But this isn't conscionable astir earthy web speeds. Fastly is ultra-configurable, and if you cognize what you're doing past you tin fine-tune your group pinch clever video caching, and civilization manipulation of HTTP headers to customize precisely really contented is served. It takes immoderate clip to group this up, particularly if you're a CDN novice, but make that effort and you'll spot moreover faster results for moreover much of your visitors.
Fastly isn't arsenic generous arsenic Cloudflare erstwhile it comes to pricing; there's nary free tier, and nan institution has a minimum complaint of $50 (£37) a month, immoderate your website happens to use.
Estimating your last costs tin beryllium a challenge, too, arsenic Fastly charges dangle connected nan bandwidth you usage successful each region (prices scope from $0.12 per GB successful North America to $0.28 successful Africa.) There are immoderate invited extras, though, including free TLS/SSL for nan first 2 mains, and wide Fastly is adjacent worth for nan features you get.
Read our afloat Fastly review.
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Best CDN supplier for precocious users
Great for intermezo services
Reasons to buy
+ Good speeds Offers further protection (DDoS) Great web coverage
Reasons to avoid
- Can beryllium analyzable for newbies Continuous support only for higher-priced tiers Complex pricing structure
Gcore, headquartered successful Luxembourg, is simply a CDN supplier that excels successful catering to nan needs of intermezo vendors, including gaming and streaming networks. However, its versatility allows it to service a assortment of different online services arsenic well. One of nan standout features of Gcore’s CDN is its genuinely world reach. It boasts relationship points successful each timezone, ensuring that users person changeless entree pinch a 100% uptime guarantee. This world sum is simply a important advantage for businesses pinch an world footprint aliases aspirations. Response times are among nan champion successful class, pinch 30ms worldwide arsenic advertised, though immoderate locations tin connection consequence times arsenic accelerated arsenic 3ms.
The personification interface is modern and intuitive, pinch each of nan basal functionalities connected nan left-hand broadside of nan platform. A neat point for nan much visually inclined among america is their ocular parameter of really overmuch postulation you person left, which is rather neat to have.
This CDN is equipped pinch robust information measures, including integrated defenses against DDoS attacks, malware, and bots, ensuring uninterrupted work pinch a 100% uptime commitment, moreover amidst imaginable threats.
During our information of nan service, it was a pleasant astonishment to find that Gcore provides SSL certificates astatine nary further cost. Simply navigate to nan SSL certificates conception and create 1 pinch ease. Pricing nevertheless could use from a much simplified approach, though for solely CDN services location are 4 plans, nan Free one, constricted though free; nan Start scheme is €35 a month, nan Pro is €100 a period and nan Enterprise 1 will require you to get successful touch pinch nan income team.
Read our afloat Gcore DNS review
Best CDN supplier for value
A awesome worth CDN pinch debased postulation prices and free SSL
Reasons to buy
+ Very debased prices Easy setup 14 time free trial
Reasons to avoid
- Performance isn’t nan best
KeyCDN is an easy-to-use fund CDN that is an charismatic prime for first-time users.
Getting started couldn't beryllium overmuch simpler. Sign up pinch your email reside and you tin get started pinch a free 14 time trial, nary costs specifications required. A well-designed web dashboard enables creating your first area pinch nan minimum of clicks, and location are guides to thief you merge nan work pinch WordPress, PrestaShop, Magento and different apps.
More knowledgeable users will admit features for illustration Image Processing. This tin resize, crop, sharpen, blur, overlay and different tweak pictures to suit your needs, perchance reducing postulation by allowing your tract to switch galore images pinch conscionable one.
A standout characteristic of KeyCDN is its debased prices. Let's Encrypt SSL certificates travel for free, while bandwidth charges commencement astatine $0.04 (£0.032) per GB- a 3rd nan value you'll salary pinch immoderate of nan high-end competition. There's a minimum $49 costs required up-front, but KeyCDN's mini minimum monthly interest of only $4 a period intends that could spell a very agelong way.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, these debased prices don't get you leading-edge performance, but you're still getting plentifulness of powerfulness present for your money.
Read our afloat KeyCDN review.
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Best CDN supplier for security
A user-friendly CDN pinch immoderate precocious information features
Reasons to buy
+ Easy to group up Powerful information features Low starter prices
Reasons to avoid
- Expensive image optimization Below mean number of separator locations
StackPath's CDN has a comparatively mini web of 73 locations worldwide, mostly focused successful North America and Europe pinch only a fewer elsewhere. But each 1 of those locations is optimized for speed, nan institution explains, and an awesome customer database including nan likes of Valve and CloudLinux OS suggests it really tin deliver.
SSL handling is simply a beardown point. If you're caller to nan CDN business, StackPath gives you shared SSL for free, truthful you tin get started correct distant pinch nary other effort aliases cost. But (unlike astir CDNs) StackPath besides allows you to usage your ain backstage SSL certificate for free, serving this from its ain locations to maximize first load times.
There's plentifulness much to for illustration here, from smart image optimization, GZIP compression, effective anti-DDoS exertion and a tin Web Application Firewall. And yet, StackPath is still very usable by moreover nan greenest of CDN newbies. A straightforward web console helps negociate your projects, and there's plentifulness of online thief if you get stuck.
Pricing starts very simply, too, astatine a level $27.50 a period for 1TB of postulation from anyplace (no analyzable per-continent charging.) This is for a comparatively basal work (24/7 costs extra, for instance), but it does springiness you an easy and inexpensive measurement to trial StackPath, and find retired if it's nan correct CDN for you.
Read our afloat StackPath review.
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Best CDN supplier for enterprise
A powerful CDN greatly suited for professionals
Reasons to buy
+ Impressive coverage Powerful video and image optimization
Reasons to avoid
- Not beginner-friendly Opaque pricing
Veteran CDN supplier Akamai claims to person 'the world’s astir distributed level for unreality computing, security, and contented delivery', and pinch much than 4,200 locations dispersed crossed 130 countries, it astir apt has a point.
Factor successful leading-edge features specified arsenic video and image optimization, and it's nary astonishment that Akamai counts immoderate of nan biggest corporations astir amongst its customer list: Adobe, Airbnb, Coca-Cola, Honda, Marriott, PayPal, WarnerMedia, nan Washington Post, and galore more.
This attraction connected powerfulness and functionality could beryllium a problem for newbies. Akamai assumes its users person immoderate inheritance knowledge and acquisition of CDNs and networking, and though there's plentifulness of archiving to thief you fig it out, this is still much analyzable to usage than immoderate of nan competition.
Performance isn't ever starring separator (as we write, Akamai is classed 12th connected CDNPerf's worldwide velocity charts.) But it does excel successful immoderate areas, particularly media services, allowing nan likes of NBC Sports Network to present broadcast value video connected its unrecorded streams.
Pricing is simply a spot tricky, arsenic location are nary modular plans, and you must interaction nan income squad straight to get a quote. But it's easy to do this via unrecorded chat, email aliases phone, and nan website indicates that you sample Akamai's abilities pinch a free trial.
Read our afloat Akamai review.
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Best free tier CDN provider
A powerful CDN pinch a generous free tier
Reasons to buy
+ Plenty of precocious features Highly configurable Generous free tier
Reasons to avoid
- Tech support costs extra Can beryllium analyzable to group up and manage
Amazon CloudFront is nan CDN broadside of AWS (Amazon Web Services), a unreality computing elephantine which offers everything from elemental unreality retention and web hosting to a complete managed work for moving your ain outer crushed position (no, really.)
As you'd expect for specified a heavyweight service, CloudFront has a ample and very precocious capacity web pinch much than 450 POPs dispersed astir nan world. Although these 'only' screen 49 countries, they're amended distributed than usual, pinch 4 locations successful Africa and 7 successful South America.
The extremity consequence is earnestly awesome performance. As we write, CloudFront ranks 3rd for worldwide speeds astatine CDNPerf, and those other locations assistance nan work to 2nd spot successful Africa and South America (milliseconds down G-Core Labs and CacheFly.)
CloudFront is stuffed pinch precocious security, configuration and reporting tools, but moreover better, it's increasing each nan time. While galore CDNs person been overmuch nan aforesaid for years, CloudFront adds useful caller devices each fewer weeks (see nan What's New https://aws.amazon.com/cloudfront/whats-new/ page for more.)
The downside of each this powerfulness is CloudFront tin beryllium complex, astatine slightest initially. Calculating prices takes clip and care, too, and if you're a newbie, support successful mind that tech support isn't included - if you request help, you'll person to fork retired for it. Amazon much than makes up for that pinch its free tier, though, which gives you a generous 1TB of information a month, allowing you to proceedings CloudFront for arsenic agelong arsenic you need.
Read our afloat Amazon CloudFront review.
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Best CDN supplier for Asia
A powerful CDN pinch a beardown beingness successful China
Reasons to buy
+ Good performance, moreover amended successful Asia Low bandwidth costs pinch nary hidden charges Great web coverage, particularly successful Asia and China specifically
Reasons to avoid
- Can beryllium analyzable for newbies Not overmuch beginner-level thief successful web knowledgebase
CDNetworks CDN Pro (previously known arsenic CDN360) is simply a merchandise of unreality computing experts CDNetworks. It’s a powerful CDN leaning much toward master usage arsenic it tin beryllium analyzable for beginners.
Perhaps nan first point to announcement astir CDNetworks CDN Pro is its immense web consisting of complete 250 PoPs dispersed retired each astir nan world. The main sum is successful Asia, Oceania, and China, followed by Europe, North America, and past Africa and South America.
While capacity tin ever alteration pinch CDNs and it’s a spot tricky to accurately measure, CDNetworks CDN Pro is doing very well, according to CDNPerf wherever it’s consistently successful nan apical 10 worldwide.
Pricing is based connected nan servers you use, wherever if you usage Standard servers, you’ll salary $0.04 per GB. For Premium, it’s $0.08 per GB, Deluxe is priced astatine $0.158 per GB, and finally, Ultra is priced astatine $0.237 per GB. Some locations are only circumstantial to immoderate servers. There are besides servers strictly for China.
It mightiness beryllium difficult to fig retired really overmuch you’ll spend, but luckily there’s a free proceedings that gives you up to 3 months aliases $50 worthy of postulation usage.
Read our afloat CDNetworks CDN Pro review.
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Best CDN supplier for Azure
A customizable CDN for those who request Microsoft integration
Reasons to buy
+ Diverse dispersed of locations Choice of Microsoft aliases Verizon networks $200 free credit
Reasons to avoid
- Not very user-friendly Complex pricing
Microsoft Azure CDN is nan company's highly configurable contented transportation network, a powerhouse of a work which offers each kinds of tweaks and optimizations to guarantee you get nan results you need.
Support for GZIP and Brotli compression keeps record sizes small, for instance. Versatile geofiltering allows you to power entree to contented by region, and a powerful rules motor tin customize nan work for each visitant (for example, you mightiness usage much intensive speedups for mobile bandwidths connected slower connections.)
Other options are much of a surprise. In particular, though this is Microsoft's Azure CDN, you don't person to usage Microsoft's servers: you tin besides opt for Verizon's CDN web via nan Verizon Standard and Verizon Premium plans. (Azure CDN utilized to connection a scheme based connected Akamai's network, too, but that's scheduled to beryllium retired connected October 31 2023.)
Setup is beautiful involved, and moreover knowledgeable users whitethorn return a while to maestro Azure's feature-packed web dashboard. Pricing is moreover much complicated, arsenic not only does Azure complaint different rates depending connected location, but these fees tin besides alteration depending connected nan web (Microsoft aliases Verizon Premium.)
Performance levels are mostly good, though, and a $200 in installments conscionable for signing up could springiness you much than 1TB of postulation for testing. This has to beryllium a tempting imaginable if you’re utilizing different Azure services, aliases if you’re a Microsoft-oriented developer who will admit devices for illustration its .NET aliases PowerShell guidance features.
Read our afloat Microsoft Azure CDN review.
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Best CDN supplier for ease-of-use
Another easy-to-use CDN pinch temptingly debased prices
Reasons to buy
+ Nicely priced Free Let’s Encrypt SSL certificate
Reasons to avoid
- Not galore precocious settings High minimum charge
CDN77 is an knowledgeable CDN supplier which offers easiness of use, a decent characteristic group and a precocious capacity 120Tbps web to some novice and much knowledgeable business users.
Speed is simply a highlight, pinch CDNPerf placed 4th successful CDNPerf's European capacity rankings, and tenth worldwide (that's up of G-Core, Akamai and Cloudflare CDN.)
Although CDN77 can't rather lucifer nan apical providers for precocious features, it does people connected nan fundamentals. While galore CDN providers still can't optimize your contented pinch Brotli compression, for instance, CDN77 does it by default, typically cutting record sizes by 25%.
The streamlined web console doesn't connection arsenic galore configuration options arsenic others, but it's very easy to use, ensuring that moreover contented transportation novices tin show what's going on. (You tin preview nan main screens connected CDN77's site.) https://www.cdn77.com/features
The work scores for value, postulation priced from $0.033 per GB (that's globally, nary other charges for immoderate regions), and free SSL and 24/7 support included. A minimum monthly complaint of $199 for 6TB postulation intends CDN77 won't suit smaller projects, but if you want to trial nan waters, there's a 14-day 1TB proceedings available, nary costs specifications required.
Read our afloat CDN77 review.
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Best CDN supplier for business
A high-end CDN for demanding business users
Reasons to buy
+ Supports StackPath, Gcore and Lumen CDNs In-depth reports and stats Very debased minimum prices
Reasons to avoid
- Less configurable than most High minimum charge
Can't determine which CDN web is champion for you? Maybe it isn't necessary. Leaseweb's Multi-CDN products springiness entree to StackPath, Gcore, Lumen and Leaseweb's ain servers, each from nan aforesaid plan.
If that sounds complicated, you've sewage a point, but Leaseweb handles each nan tricky bits. From your constituent of view, setup useful overmuch nan aforesaid arsenic immoderate different CDN, you get nan aforesaid elaborate reports arsenic you'd spot anyplace else, but your tract conscionable gets entree to galore much web resources.
This isn't conscionable astir having much locations (an awesome 295+.) The large advantage of Multi-CDN is that Leaseweb tin way your postulation done nan best-performing work for immoderate fixed region (StackPath for North America, Gcore for Asia, immoderate it mightiness be.)
The discuss pinch each Multi-CDN products is they're not designed to beryllium arsenic configurable arsenic azygous supplier offerings. This is much astir capacity and ratio than expert-level good tuning.
If you're interested, prices commencement astatine a mini $7.25 per TB ($0.00725 per GB) for entree to 2 CDNs, aliases $9.33 per TB for entree to each three. There's besides a minimum monthly complaint of $165, but if you'll usage that magnitude of traffic, Leaseweb could beryllium a very bully deal.
Read our afloat Leaseweb review.
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A CDN is now an basal constituent for nan best web hosting and nan best website builder providers.
Best CDN providers FAQs
What is simply a CDN?
This conception is authored by...
Evelyne Kuo, Content Strategist astatine BaishanCloud
A contented transportation web (CDN) is simply a globally distributed web of Points of Presence (PoP) designed to supply faster and reliable contented transportation to users. Whether we cognize it aliases not, each 1 of america interacts pinch CDNs daily; erstwhile reference articles connected news sites, shopping online, watching Netflix, aliases scrolling done societal media feeds. CDN is nan helper down your seamless experience. It helps minimize loading time, costs, transportation latency, and operational complexity by physically reducing nan region betwixt contented providers and users worldwide.
How does CDN work?
For example, erstwhile a personification successful nan US wants to load a website hosted successful China, nan personification will request to nonstop a petition to nan root successful China, and past nan root will nonstop contented from China to nan U.S. However, it takes a longer clip to load nan contented and mightiness hamper nan personification experience. This is erstwhile CDN comes in. CDN keeps a transcript of contented astatine its ain PoPs astir nan world. Based connected users’ location, CDN serves nan contented to users from adjacent PoPs whenever possible.
What are nan benefits of utilizing CDN?
1. Faster load time: Instead of sending requests to nan root and waiting for it to respond, nan personification will person contented from nan CDN PoP adjacent to trim nan latency.
2. Higher scalability: CDN tin service 40-200 Tbps astatine nan highest of nan traffic. It tin supply an always-on acquisition globally, moreover nether unpredictable situations specified arsenic malicious attacks aliases root failure.
3. Lower bandwidth costs: Through caching and petition optimizations, CDN helps contented providers importantly trim transportation costs since astir postulation nary longer egress from nan origin.
4. Better security: CDN acts arsenic a proxy successful beforehand of nan root server, which adds an other furniture to information by hiding nan origin's existent IP.
Why is CDN basal successful this pandemic?
Because of COVID-19, astir group are connected integer platforms much often for working, attending online classes, watching unrecorded streaming, gaming, etc. Due to nan tremendous traffic, nan full integer pipeline is becoming much delicate to latency and security.
CDN tin thief present contented successful a fast, secured, and seamless measurement ensuring a accordant and optimized personification acquisition worldwide.
How to take nan champion CDN providers for you?
When selecting nan champion CDN supplier for yourself, statesman pinch assessing nan size of your website, your bandwidth requirements, and wherever astir of your postulation comes from.
You'll want to cheque nan provider's web size and geographic distribution. More web servers mean faster speeds, while server distribution determines bully sum crossed galore pockets of nan globe.
Check really good nan CDN enhances your tract capacity and whether it has further tools, for illustration image optimization, for enhancing nan website speed. You'll besides want to look retired for nan CDN's easiness of usage and pricing plans.
How we tested nan champion CDN provider
To find nan champion CDN providers, we tested them crossed aggregate aspects. We first looked astatine really easy it was to group up nan work and really agelong nan process would take.
We considered nan CDN's performance, web size, and geographic distribution to understand really accelerated nan work was crossed different regions. We analyzed nan various devices nan services offered to amended website capacity and speed.
We besides evaluated nan elasticity and assortment of their pricing plans, nan wide learning curve, and nan configurability of nan service, among different things.
Read much connected really we test, rate, and reappraisal products connected TechRadar.
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