Web development as well as website hosting technology has changed drastically when compared to the time when it all started. A content delivery network (CDN) is one such technology that is nowadays used by almost every modern website. It's used to serve content to the visitors—as fast as possible. Today, we're going to look at some of the best content delivery networks available for web publishers. Some of them offer a generous free plan which is good enough for most websites on the internet. Some of the popular content management systems come with an integrated CDN for their end-users.
Nowadays, most reputed web hosting companies provide content delivery network options in all of their hosting plans. Sometimes, it is optional and is available as an add-on. No matter what, you must use it.
If you're currently not using a CDN, I'll recommend it to give a better website browsing experience to your visitors. Let's get started and check out these feature-packed content delivery networks.
1. Cloudflare
Cloudflare is one of the most popular content delivery network services. Its free plan is used by millions of small and medium-sized websites. Plugins for this CDN are available for almost every popular content management system. Several web hosting companies offer it as a CDN option for their customers.
Its user interface is easy-to-use and even technically challenged can finish the integration as well as the basic configuration in a few simple steps. With built-in DDoS protection, you get a shield from such attacks, right from day one. Advanced users can take advantage of its powerful API suite. Do try it once!
2. Akamai
Akamai is one of the oldest and most reliable content delivery services used by large enterprises as well as by high-traffic websites. It's best known for its unmatched delivery network with impeccable uptime. Its testing suite allows you to load-test a website to find bottlenecks and performance issues.
Its intelligent load balancing system keeps your business website up and running even during sudden spikes in traffic. With loads of log data, you can easily find and analyze the CDN performance. If you're streaming multimedia content in bulk, this content delivery network is one of your best bets.
3. Amazon CloudFront
Amazon CloudFront is yet another popular choice among website owners when it comes to integrating a content delivery network. Its free tier gives you a whopping 1TB bandwidth which is more than enough for small to medium-sized websites. I'm using it for one of my websites with a good experience so far.
With world-class Amazon hardware infrastructure, you're guaranteed to get the best CDN experience. You also get access to one of the most feature-packed API suites to configure and change the CDN settings as per your needs. It's one of the best choices for streaming media seamlessly across the globe.
4. Google Cloud CDN
With Google Cloud CDN, you get unmatched performance and reliability when it comes to delivering content without any latency. With anycast IP, you can easily manage your global CDN delivery system with minimum hassle. I loved its minimal and clutter-free management interface.
It provides you with one of the most detailed and fine-grained CDN controls to customize the delivery network as per your needs. It has one of the most flexible cache-control settings to let you deliver different types of multimedia content in the best possible way. Do once give it a try!
5. KeyCDN
KeyCDN is best suited both for small and heavy traffic websites. It has one of the most competitive pricing tiers. All popular CMS plugins aimed at CDN integration support this service. It supports both HTTP live streaming and image processing—out of the box. A lot of WordPress bloggers use this CDN.
You can bring your own custom TLS along with this service. Fine-grained access rules can help you deliver content to the target audience in whatever manner you want. It provides you with a detailed and easily understandable report set to analyze your website's CDN usage. It has a RESTful API for users.
6. Fastly CDN
Fastly CDN is no less than other giants in this domain. It's a premium CDN service with state-of-the-art hardware infrastructure that delivers flawlessly no matter the traffic volume. It scales dynamically to cope with sudden spikes in traffic of busy business websites. A free trial is available for the users.
With all the security measures baked in, you're guaranteed to get an uninterrupted content delivery platform. Advanced users can control its features programmatically with the help of API calls. It also allows you to push the log files into your log analysis provider to get insights into the CDN usage.
7. Microsoft Azure CDN
Microsoft Azure CDN is made for extremely high-traffic websites. If you're looking for an affordable solution for a low-traffic website, you should look elsewhere. Needless to say, it gels nicely with the Microsoft Azure platform. I'll highly recommend this CDN for web applications with huge traffic.
Apart from using their network, they also use Verizon and Akamai infrastructure to deliver content. It has one of the most comprehensive documentation for its users. Zone-wise pricing allows you to select the ones where you receive the majority of your traffic. Business websites can give it a try.
8. StackPath SP// CDN
And last but not least is SP// CDN which delivers your web application's content at blazing fast speed regardless of where your visitors are located. You can use it to deliver huge multimedia files without any hiccups. Through custom rules, you can fine-tune the way content is delivered to the visitors.
Serving website content through this CDN will improve your SEO score by many folds. It happens through the built-in asset optimization engine. You get real-time analytics data related to CDN usage. Like other popular solutions, this one too provides a RESTful API and rich analytics data for its users.