Do you want to make your WordPress site and web pages load faster? Companies that provide content delivery networks (CDNs) will help the website perform better and provide better user experiences.
We’ll compare the best CDN providers, as well as their advantages and disadvantages, in this article to help you speed up your website.
Here’s a table of contents of the CDN providers on our list:
- StackPath
- Sucuri
- Cloudflare
- KeyCDN
- Rackspace
- Google Cloud CDN
- CacheFly
- Amazon CloudFront
What Is a CDN?
A Content Delivery Network, or CDN, is a series of servers that holds a cached copy of your website on multiple servers.
When you use a CDN, all of your static content, such as images, CSS files, javascript files, Flash, and more, is cached and stored through multiple servers.
It also sends the copy from servers near your site’s visitors’ geographical position.
However, you will also need a web hosting account to store your website files. The CDN provider’s role is to keep your website’s static resources rather than hosting the original website files.
Let us explain the concept of CDN with the help of an example.
Let’s say your WordPress site is hosted by Bluehost, and your Bluehost account’s server is in Los Angeles. When a visitor from London comes to your site, the files are downloaded from a server in Los Angeles.
Your site’s loading time can be impacted as a result of this. Additionally, an increase in the number of requests made to a single server would slow down the web. A CDN provider comes in handy in this case. It maintains a static copy of your website in various locations around the globe.
As a result, instead of serving the original files from your web host, the user will be served a cached copy of the website from the nearest CDN server. This will assist you in reducing the time it takes for your website to load. Now that you understand what a CDN is, let’s look at the best CDN providers for speeding up your WordPress pages.
The Best CDN Providers
Here’s a list of our top picks for the fastest and most reliable CDNs.
1. StackPath
One of the strongest CDN providers on the market is StackPath. They bought MaxCDN a few years ago to boost their operation.
It comes with numerous data centers across the world, allowing you to boost your website’s loading speed. Also, their package contains a free private EdgeSSL certificate.
Stackpath is simple to install and use, and it helps you to monitor real-time analytics. It also has intelligent caching, Gzip compression, 301 redirects, and other useful features.
StackPath, unlike most CDN providers, provides security features such as load balancing and blocking for DDoS protection, as well as a firewall, in addition to their CDN service. You may choose to purchase either the CDN service or a package of different services.
Price: StackPath provides a range of discounted packages and services. However, their CDN service is only available for $10 a month.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Using on as many pages as you like without any limits. | There isn’t a free plan available. You can, however, try their service for one month for free. |
| With their basic plan, you get 1 TB (terabyte) of bandwidth per month. | |
| EdgeSSL certificate with a private key is available for download. | |
| Additional security resources are used. | |
| There are several server locations around the world. |
2. Sucuri
Sucuri is a well-known website security firm that guards against hackers, DDoS attacks, and malware. You can track and search your website for security issues using their WordPress plugin.
They also offer a CDN service to help you optimize your website for speed, in addition to their security features. Site speed optimization is important for SEO and several other purposes.
They make use of the most up-to-date hardware and software to enhance your site’s performance. They also have a range of caching solutions for various types of websites.
For more information, go to our sister site IsItWP and read the Sucuri analysis.
Price: Starting from $199 per year for a single website.
| Pros | Cons |
| Per package comes with an unlimited bandwidth allowance. | When opposed to StackPath, it is more costly. |
| Uptime on the website is consistent. | there is no free plan. |
| Along with their CDN service, they have security features. | |
| Their customer service team is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to assist you with your issues. | |
| When your site’s name servers, MX records, or IP address change, you’ll get a notice. |
3. Cloudflare
Cloudflare is a common content delivery network (CDN) among bloggers, small businesses, and professionals. It comes with a free plan with no bandwidth limits. As a consequence, it’s one of the best free CDNs for WordPress.
They have over 180 data centers spread all over the world. This could be beneficial in terms of improving your website’s efficiency, pace, and security.
Cloudflare is easy to install on your WordPress blog. It will store your website’s resources automatically, but you can purge or clear them from the control panel if you like.
One downside of Cloudflare is that, unlike other CDN providers like StackPath and Sucuri, you’ll have to upgrade to a premium plan to use all of their security features.
Price: The expense is zero. If you need additional functionality, you must upgrade to their premium plan, which starts at $20 a month.
| Pros | Cons |
| It’s easy to set up. | The free plan has a restricted collection of features. |
| From the control panel, you can easily track the results. | To use their chat or phone service, you’ll need to switch to one of their paid plans. |
| North America, South America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Australia/New Zealand are among the 180+ data centers around the world. | Due to the minimal security features available in the free plan, your website can be vulnerable to DDoS attacks, malware, and spam. |
| REST API enables developers to have total control over the service’s operations. |
4. KeyCDN
Another famous CDN provider on our list is KeyCDN. Using the CDN Enabler plugin, you can easily incorporate it into your WordPress account.
Customers can choose from “pay as you go” plans, which means they only pay for what they use. Though this is useful for low-traffic websites, if your site receives a lot of traffic, your monthly bill will grow.
Gzip compression, real-time reports, instant purge options, two-factor authentication, DDoS security, and more are just a few of KeyCDN’s main features.
| Price: Pay as you go, starting from $0.04 per GB | |
| Pros | Cons |
| It’s easy to install on your WordPress blog. | There is no free plan available. |
| Plans that allow you to pay as you go. | In contrast to others, it has minimal security features. |
| Customer service is available at no extra charge 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. |
5. Rackspace
Rackspace is a well-known provider of managed and dedicated cloud storage services. They also have CDN services to help you enhance the efficiency of your eCommerce, web application, and other websites.
It, like KeyCDN, works on a “pay as you go” pricing model. To use their service, you’ll have to pay $0.16 per GB.
Rackspace is based on a powerful cloud platform, so your WordPress site can load easily. It’s already installed in over 200 data centers around the world.
However, compared to the other CDN providers on our list, setting up Rackspace CDN is a little more difficult.
| Price: Pay as you go, starting from $0.16 per GB | |
| Pros | Cons |
| Powerful cloud infrastructure. | Doesn’t offer DDoS protection. |
| 200 centers across the world. | Costly compared to KeyCDN. |
| “Pay as you go” pricing plans. | Configuring their service is a bit complicated compared to the rest. |
6. Google Cloud CDN
The Google Cloud CDN is a low-cost content delivery service that takes advantage of Google’s global network. They have data centers in 90 different countries.
It comes with an SSL certificate that secures your website at no extra cost. You may also use it in combination with the Google Cloud Platform.
Apart from that, you can also use their $300 free trial credit to check out their service for the next 90 days.
| Price: “Pay as you go” pricing plans. They also offer a free trial to test their service. | |
| Pros | Cons |
| 90 data centers. | Configuration can be difficult compared to others. |
| Affordable pricing plan. | Lack of proper support, you need to pay to get technical support. |
| Free SSL certificate. | |
| Offers a $300 free trial credit. |
7. CacheFly
CacheFly is one of the market’s oldest CDN providers. You can use their service to download videos and podcasts without any problems.
It has an easy-to-use GUI that helps you to handle anything with ease. To secure your website from hackers, they also provide security features such as DDoS and malware detection.
CacheFly has several drawbacks as compared to other common CDN providers, one of which is its high cost. Their most basic package costs $295 a month, which is prohibitively costly for most online businesses.
| Price: Starting at $495 per month. | |
| Pros | Cons |
| Simple dashboard to manage everything. | Very expensive compared to others. |
| Offers security features. | |
| Excellent support team. |
8. Amazon CloudFront
Amazon CloudFront is a common CDN for Amazon Web Services websites, particularly because of its speed. Yes, it’s simple, but it’s also very sophisticated. As a consequence, it may be more suitable for programmers or developers rather than beginners.
| Price: Pricing varies by location and is offered on a pay-as-you-go basis. | |
| Pros | Cons |
| AWS is integrated. | Can be difficult for people to use. |
| Personalized and dynamic content can be delivered instantly. | |
| Hundreds of cutting-edge sites all over the world. |
Which CDN Service is Best for You?
After weighing the advantages and disadvantages of the different providers, we can conclude that StackPath is the best CDN provider available.
They have valuable functionality at a fair price to assist in the speeding up of your WordPress pages. Additionally, StackPath provides security features that secure your site from malware, spam, and unwanted traffic.
Another service that we can highly recommend is Sucuri. Though it’s well known for its security services, you can use its CDN to increase the speed of your website.
