A Content Delivery Network accelerates your website and application by caching content at edge locations close to your users. Instead of every request traveling to your origin server, static assets, API responses, and even dynamic content are served from the nearest edge node. In 2026, CDNs do far more than cache static files. They handle DDoS protection, edge computing, image optimization, video delivery, and web application firewalls.

This guide compares five leading CDN providers to help you choose the right one for your performance, security, and budget requirements.

Key CDN Selection Criteria

• Global coverage: Number and distribution of edge locations (Points of Presence)
• Performance: Latency, cache hit ratios, time to first byte (TTFB)
• Security: DDoS protection, WAF, bot management, SSL/TLS
• Edge computing: Ability to run code at edge locations
• Pricing model: Pay-per-use, bandwidth-based, flat rate, or free tier
• Ease of use: Setup complexity, dashboard quality, documentation

Cloudflare

Cloudflare operates one of the largest global networks with over 300 data centers spanning 100+ countries. Beyond CDN, Cloudflare has evolved into a comprehensive edge platform with security, compute, storage, and AI services.

Performance

Cloudflare’s network density means most users are within 50ms of a Cloudflare edge node. The Argo Smart Routing feature optimizes the path from edge to origin, reducing latency by an average of 30% by routing around internet congestion.

Tiered caching reduces origin load by using regional cache tiers. If content is not in the local edge cache, the request goes to a regional tier before hitting the origin. Polish optimizes images automatically with lossy or lossless compression and WebP/AVIF conversion.

Early Hints (HTTP 103) lets browsers begin loading resources before the full response arrives, improving perceived load times.

Security

Cloudflare’s DDoS protection is included on all plans, including free. The platform mitigates some of the largest DDoS attacks ever recorded. The Web Application Firewall provides managed rulesets for OWASP Top 10, application-specific vulnerabilities, and custom rules.

Bot management identifies and blocks malicious bots while allowing legitimate ones (search engines, monitoring). Turnstile provides a CAPTCHA alternative that verifies visitors without friction.

SSL/TLS is automatic with free certificates. Full (Strict) mode ensures encryption between Cloudflare and your origin. Certificate pinning and authenticated origin pulls add additional layers of security.

Edge Computing

Cloudflare Workers runs JavaScript, TypeScript, and WebAssembly at every edge location. Combined with Workers KV (key-value storage), Durable Objects (stateful computing), D1 (SQLite database), and R2 (object storage with zero egress fees), Cloudflare provides a complete edge computing platform.

Pricing

The free plan is remarkably generous, including unlimited bandwidth, DDoS protection, shared SSL, and basic WAF. Pro starts at $20/month, Business at $200/month, and Enterprise is custom.

The free tier makes Cloudflare the default CDN recommendation for most websites and applications.

[Try Cloudflare free]

Fastly

Fastly is a CDN built for developers who need real-time control over caching and edge logic. It powers major platforms like GitHub, The New York Times, Stripe, and Shopify with a focus on instant cache invalidation and programmability.

Performance

Fastly’s network spans 90+ PoPs globally, with a focus on high-capacity nodes in major markets rather than broad geographic coverage. The performance per node is excellent, with modern hardware and optimized networking.

Instant Purge is Fastly’s defining feature. Cache invalidation takes approximately 150 milliseconds globally. For content that changes frequently, like news articles, pricing pages, or user-generated content, instant purge means you can cache aggressively without serving stale content.

Surrogate-Key-based purging lets you tag cached content with keys and purge all content matching a specific key in a single API call. This is invaluable for invalidating all content related to a product, category, or user.

Security

Fastly’s Next-Gen WAF (powered by Signal Sciences) provides application security with a low false-positive rate. The WAF inspects requests at the edge and blocks threats without the manual rule management that traditional WAFs require.

DDoS protection is included on all plans. TLS termination at the edge with automatic certificate management handles encryption. Origin shield reduces origin load by consolidating cache misses through a designated shield PoP.

Edge Computing

Compute@Edge runs WebAssembly modules at Fastly’s edge locations. The Wasm-first approach means any language that compiles to WebAssembly (Rust, Go, JavaScript, AssemblyScript) can run at the edge. The cold start times are under 50 microseconds.

VCL (Varnish Configuration Language) provides fine-grained cache control for teams comfortable with Varnish’s domain-specific language. VCL gives you precise control over caching rules, request routing, and response manipulation.

Pricing

Fastly does not offer a free tier. Pricing is usage-based at approximately $0.12/GB for North America and Europe, with higher rates for other regions. The minimum monthly spend varies by plan.

The lack of a free tier and higher per-GB costs make Fastly best suited for organizations where its specific features (instant purge, Compute@Edge, Next-Gen WAF) justify the premium.

[Check Fastly pricing]

AWS CloudFront

AWS CloudFront is Amazon’s CDN service, deeply integrated with the AWS ecosystem. It serves content from 600+ edge locations and 13 regional edge caches, making it one of the largest CDN networks by PoP count.

Performance

CloudFront’s extensive network means good latency for users globally. Regional edge caches act as a mid-tier cache between edge locations and your origin, improving cache hit ratios for less popular content.

Origin Shield designates a single cache node as the centralized point for origin fetches, reducing origin load and improving cache efficiency for multi-region deployments.

CloudFront Functions run lightweight JavaScript at edge locations for request and response manipulation. Lambda@Edge runs more capable functions at regional edge caches for heavier processing.

Security

CloudFront integrates with AWS Shield for DDoS protection (Standard included free, Advanced at $3,000/month) and AWS WAF for application-level protection. Field-level encryption encrypts specific form fields at the edge before the data reaches your origin.

Signed URLs and signed cookies provide fine-grained access control for private content. Origin Access Identity (OAI) and Origin Access Control (OAC) restrict S3 bucket access to CloudFront only.

Integration

The integration with AWS services is CloudFront’s strongest differentiator. S3 origins, ALB origins, API Gateway origins, and Lambda@Edge provide a complete content delivery and compute stack within AWS.

CloudFront is included in the AWS Free Tier with 1 TB of data transfer and 10 million requests per month for the first year.

Pricing

Pricing varies by region: ~$0.085/GB for North America, ~$0.114/GB for Europe, up to $0.170/GB for other regions. Request pricing is $0.0075-0.01 per 10,000 HTTPS requests depending on region.

CloudFront Security Savings Bundle offers up to 30% savings for committed spend.

[Try AWS CloudFront free]

Bunny CDN

Bunny CDN (by BunnyCDN) is a cost-effective CDN that punches above its weight on performance. With a focus on simplicity and competitive pricing, it has become popular among independent developers, agencies, and growing businesses.

Performance

Despite lower pricing, Bunny CDN performs well in benchmarks. The network spans 100+ PoPs across six continents with SSD-cached content and optimized routing. The SmartEdge engine selects the optimal PoP based on latency, not just geography.

Perma-Cache ensures content remains cached even during traffic spikes by using persistent SSD storage at edge locations rather than RAM-only caching.

Bunny Optimizer provides automatic image optimization with WebP/AVIF conversion, lazy loading, and responsive images. The optimization happens at the edge without modifying your origin content.

Features

Bunny Stream handles video hosting and delivery with adaptive bitrate streaming, player customization, and analytics. For projects that need video delivery, this eliminates the need for a separate video hosting service.

Bunny DNS provides a fast, global Anycast DNS service. Bunny Storage is an S3-compatible object storage service that integrates directly with the CDN for seamless static content delivery.

The dashboard is simple and intuitive. Setting up a pull zone (CDN distribution) takes minutes. Custom hostnames with automatic SSL are straightforward.

Pricing

Bunny CDN’s pricing is its headline feature. Standard pricing starts at $0.01/GB for North America and Europe, with Volume Network pricing starting at even lower rates. The minimum monthly charge is $1.

This pricing makes Bunny CDN 5-10x cheaper than enterprise CDNs for bandwidth costs. For personal projects, small businesses, and cost-conscious teams, the savings are significant.

[Try Bunny CDN free with 14-day trial]

KeyCDN

KeyCDN is a Swiss-based CDN provider focused on simplicity, performance, and transparent pricing. It targets developers and small to medium businesses who want a no-nonsense CDN without enterprise complexity.

Performance

KeyCDN operates 50+ PoPs with a focus on North America, Europe, and Asia. Performance is solid for its price point, with efficient caching and HTTP/2 and HTTP/3 support on all plans.

The Railgun equivalent, Origin Shield, reduces origin load by funneling cache misses through a single PoP. Real-time analytics show cache hit ratios, bandwidth, and request distribution.

Features

Instant SSL via Let’s Encrypt provides automatic HTTPS with no configuration. Custom SSL certificates can be uploaded for specific domain requirements.

Raw Logs provide access to full request logs for custom analytics and debugging. The RESTful API lets you manage zones, purge cache, and access analytics programmatically.

Image Processing resizes, crops, and converts images on the fly at edge locations. Content optimization includes Brotli compression and automatic minification.

The dashboard is clean and straightforward. Zone creation, configuration, and management are simple without being oversimplified.

Pricing

KeyCDN uses pay-per-use pricing starting at $0.04/GB for North America and Europe. There is no minimum commitment or monthly fee. You pay only for what you use.

Free SSL certificates, HTTP/2, and basic DDoS protection are included. The pricing is transparent with no hidden fees.

[Check KeyCDN pricing]

Comparison Table

Feature	Cloudflare	Fastly	AWS CloudFront	Bunny CDN	KeyCDN
PoPs	300+	90+	600+	100+	50+
Free Tier	Yes (generous)	No	1 TB/year	14-day trial	No
DDoS Protection	Included	Included	Shield Standard	Basic	Basic
WAF	Yes (paid)	Next-Gen WAF	AWS WAF	No	No
Edge Compute	Workers	Compute@Edge	Lambda@Edge	No	No
Image Optimization	Polish	Image Optimizer	No (use Lambda)	Bunny Optimizer	Image Processing
Video Delivery	Stream	No	No	Bunny Stream	No
Bandwidth Cost	Free plan: $0	~$0.12/GB	~$0.085/GB	~$0.01/GB	~$0.04/GB

Which CDN Should You Choose?

Choose Cloudflare if you want the best overall value with generous free tier, comprehensive security, and edge computing capabilities. Cloudflare is the default recommendation for most websites.

Choose Fastly if you need instant cache invalidation, developer-focused edge computing, and enterprise-grade WAF. Best for dynamic content sites and API-driven applications.

Choose AWS CloudFront if you are running on AWS and want seamless integration with S3, ALB, Lambda@Edge, and other AWS services.

Choose Bunny CDN if cost efficiency is your priority and you want solid CDN performance with useful extras like video delivery and image optimization at budget pricing.

Choose KeyCDN if you want straightforward CDN functionality with transparent pay-per-use pricing and no monthly minimums.

CDN Implementation Best Practices

1. Set appropriate cache headers: Use Cache-Control with max-age and s-maxage directives
2. Use cache busting for assets: Include content hashes in file names for static assets
3. Enable compression: Ensure Brotli or gzip compression is active at the edge
4. Monitor cache hit ratios: Aim for 90%+ cache hit ratios for static content
5. Configure origin shields: Reduce origin load with tiered caching
6. Test from multiple regions: Verify performance in your key markets, not just your location
7. Set up failover: Configure health checks and origin failover for reliability
8. Purge selectively: Use path-based or key-based purging rather than full cache purges

Multi-CDN Strategies

High-traffic sites increasingly use multiple CDNs simultaneously or as failovers. DNS-based traffic steering directs users to the CDN with the best performance for their location. This approach provides resilience against CDN outages and can optimize costs by routing traffic to the most cost-effective provider per region.

Tools like Cedexis (now Citrix ITM) and NS1 provide intelligent DNS routing for multi-CDN deployments. For most sites, a single CDN with proper configuration is sufficient, but multi-CDN becomes valuable above millions of daily pageviews.