CDN is a necessary service, especially for the webmasters. They help to store website data as well as any other data and serve them to the users in a faster manner. For those who don’t know, CDN (Content Delivery Network) is a network of distributed servers that serve content to the users based on their geographical location. In simple words, the content of the website will be distributed throughout the CDN servers placed all over the globe. When a user requests a file from the website, the file will be served from the nearest CDN server instead of the original website’s server. This results in a faster data transfer thus increased website performance.
Best CDN for your Website
Today, we are going to list the most popular and top CDN services out there. We individually reviewed each one of them and assessed their features, performance, and several other factors. Then, we sorted them according to the overall scores. So, you do not have to run an extra experiment in order to decide which is the best CDN service. Each one of the below CDN services are worthy to the tried and suitable for any kind of websites. So, here are the best CDN providers.
1. MaxCDN
MaxCDN is the best CDN service for websites. Their servers are placed across the globe in over 90 different countries. You can rely on their service for any of your CDN needs. All of their servers are powered by the SSDs which gives an extreme performance in delivering your website content to the users. Especially if you are on a shared server that uses normal HDDs, you should consider using a CDN service like MaxCDN. All the files are transferred through highly secure SSL connections so that you do not have to worry about the content security.
MaxCDN is suitable for any website running on any CMS such as Magento, WordPress, Drupal, etc. The plans are starting from just $9/month and ranges up to customized plans as per your requirements. By all means, MaxCDN is the perfect CDN for any website.
2. CloudFlare
CloudFlare is not just a CDN, but an all in one security pack for every website. In addition, it also comes with a number of features, like content optimization, SSL, etc. Above all of that, the service is completely free to use. Even if there are paid plans available, most of the CloudFlare users are satisfied by the free plan itself. Because the free plan itself provides almost all features a website need. High-performance servers placed all over the globe with extreme security will be enough to ensure the performance and security of your website. Read our article on how to setup CloudFlare if you want help in setting it up.
The CloudFlare Pro plan is priced at $20/month while the business plan will cost you $200/month. There are also Enterprise plans available. But I do not recommend going for a paid plan as the free plan is enough for most of the websites.
3. Amazon CloudFront
Amazon CloudFront seamlessly integrates with all the Amazon services. The CDN lies across 21 countries and provides extremely fast file transfer all over the world. Even if the server numbers are not as much as the CDN services like MaxCDN, the Amazon CloudFront is a good CDN to go for. Especially, if your main goal is improving the performance of your website, the Amazon CloudFront can do the job seamlessly. No matter how much bandwidth your website needs, the Amazon servers are capable of handling it.
The pricing of the Amazon CloudFront is very cheap when compared to the competition. In the US, you can enjoy the first 10 TB/month for just $0.085/GB! The pricing is different for different countries. You can find more from their pricing page.
4. Incapsula
Incapsula is the complete power suit to accomplish your CDN requirements. The service has the advanced DDoS protection to ensure that your content will never get affected by any security issues. The advanced dynamic cache technology will considerably reduce the bandwidth usage which will be highly beneficial to save some money in your CDN. This content delivery network is highly trusted and used by several popular brands across the internet. So, you can also give a try.
Incapsula plans are starting from $59 per site per month and ranging up to customized plans for big enterprises. It is not as cheap as the services like MaxCDN. But definitely worth the price.
5. KeyCDN
KeyCDN as the name itself implies is a “Key” CDN service that every website should have. All of their servers using high-performance hardware including the most modern SSDs. Advanced caching techniques and all the speed standards such as GZip compression, HTTP/2, etc. make their servers even faster when it comes to delivering website content to the users. KeyCDN uses highly secure SSL connections to transfer files to the users. So that your website content security will never get compromised.
You can buy KeyCDN for just $0.04/GB for the first 10TB which makes it even cheaper than the Amazon CDN. The pricing varies from location to location like $0.12/GB for the first 10TB for the Asia and $0.16/GB for Australia & South America.
6. Rackspace
Rackspace servers use RAID-10 SSD and highly reliable hardware to provide extremely fast CDN service. The uptime of their service is also well-known the CDN industry. Rackspace is not the cheapest CDN available, but they are one of the fastest. Like any other CDN service in this list, Rackspace also has all the security measures to keep your files from online threats and provide extreme security during the file transfer. The caching methods are also so reliable and helps in saving bandwidth.
Rackspace plans are very flexible, and it completely depends on your need. So, it is not possible to predict the exact pricing of the Rackspace CDN. However, based on our test, they are not the costliest CDN in this list.
7. Akamai
Akamai may not be the most heard CDN service out there, but they definitely deserve a place in this top CDN services list. Akamai has a great advanced system that provides insights on different aspects of your website deliverability and potential security risks. Its real-time monitoring allows users to keep an eye on their website’s reach and optimize it in accordance with the results. However, Akamai uses a DNS based lookup which reduces the performance a little when compared to other popular CDN providers. But not that much.
8. Microsoft Azure CDN
Microsoft Azure CDN is a Microsoft product as you already guessed. It is not the best CDN solution out there, but is highly scalable and provides extreme security to the files. It also comes with a rich set of API and developer tools beneficial for the developers and webmasters. This is not an ideal CDN for the beginners as it takes a little technical knowledge to leverage the maximum potential of the service. However, if you are confident enough, there is no need to hesitate to try this Microsoft CDN service.
9. CDN77
CDN77 is a fairly new CDN service. Despite being a new CDN service, the CDN77 quickly gained the user-trust and a wide user-base. It can improve your website loading time with its quality CDN service. It has 27 data centers located in 23 different countries which is enough to compete with any other CDN providers in this list. If you are a beginner to such CDN stuff and want the easiest interface and configuration, CDN77 is one of those choices that you don’t want to miss.
CDN77 will cost you around $0.049/GB which is almost same like most of the CDNs listed above. However, when considering the ease of configuration and usage, the CDN77 deserves to be considered as a good CDN.
10. Cachefly
Cachefly is the last CDN service in this list which is trusted by the global tech leaders. Many popular websites make use of the Cachefly CDN to ensure that their users get the best experience on their websites. The advanced CDN caching methods used by the Cachefly servers will make your websites lightning fast. In addition, it has plenty of features including real-time reporting & analytics from Paessler, two-factor authentication, on-demand bandwidth with no risk to performance degradation or timeouts, CloudHarmony and Cedexis, etc. Another useful CDN service.