Best CDN For Website
Best CDN For Website

You want to increase the speed of your website in order to decrease bounce rates and improve the user experience (UX).

Slow websites can negatively impact SEO and sales. Slow loading times can cause UX problems and encourage users to look for websites that load faster.

This usually means that you will have to go over to a competitor.

Today’s post will share the top content delivery networks (CDNs) that can help improve site speed. These are the services that we will be covering in this post.

  1. Max CDN/Stackpath
  2. Sucuri
  3. Cloudfare
  4. KeyCDN
  5. Rackspace
  6. Google Cloud CDN
  7. Cachefly

Before we get into the list, let us clarify what CDNs can do for your site.

What is a CDN and why do you need one?

A content delivery network (also known as a CDN) is a group of servers located in different locations that stores content such as HTML pages, javascript and CSS files.

CDNs store the content of your website on multiple servers at different locations. The CDN then delivers the content to site visitors via the server closest to them. If the nearest one is down, it bounces to the next closest server.

You may now be asking, “How is a CDN different from users receiving content from my main webhost’s server?”

When a user visits your WordPress blog, they are typically redirected to the web host’s server. This is usually located in a central location.

This means that each user visiting your website is accessing one single server to view your content. If you have a lot of traffic, this can cause slow load times and even server crashes.

However, static content (images and CSS files, Javascript files, Flash files, Flash files, etc.) will be cached when you use a CDN. Your static content (images, CSS files, javascript files and Flash) is stored on multiple servers located around the world.

The CDN redirects users to your closest server when they visit your site. This provides several benefits for your website, including:

  • Improved Site Speed: CDN customers report faster site speeds after they start using a CDN provider.
  • Be Crash Resistant: A CDN is essential for high traffic sites. CDNs allow you to distribute traffic across multiple servers rather than having it all go to one server.
  • User Experience Improvement: Faster sites lead to a better user experience. Your visitors will leave if a page takes longer than two seconds to load. CDN users can expect to see a decrease in bounce rates and more pageviews if they have a CDN provider.
  • Boost SEO Google loves faster websites and ranks them higher on search engine results.

A CDN is not a web hosting service. To build your website, you will still require a hosting provider. We recommend the following options for hosting your website:

  • Bluehost – One of the most reliable hosting services for WordPress, with great support.
  • Hosting: A great option for all businesses with a 99.9% uptime guaranteed.
  • Siteground – One of the most prestigious and highly rated hosting options.

Before we get into the list, let’s quickly address site speed.

Many WordPress users believe that too many plugins can slow down your site. Instead of choosing a CDN service for instance, many WordPress users will reduce the number of plugins on their site.

However, the number of plugins you have is not important for site speed. It is important to know how the plugin was built.

These are the 7 best CDN providers to speed up your site

Let’s compare the CDN providers that can speed up your website.

1.MaxCDN / StackPath

MaxCDN (now StackPath) is the best WordPress CDN on the market. The control panel is easy to use and the servers are equipped with super-fast SSD drives. StackPath has a vast network of servers that span many countries.

StackPath is easy to use. It is compatible with W3 Total Cache, WP Super Cache, and other popular WordPress caching plugins.

StackPath allows you to purge your cache and view reports. It also lets you set up locations. To ensure that your cached content is served securely, you can add SSL certificates to your site or share a SSL certificate.

StackPath’s CDN protects your website against DDoS attacks by using load balancing, blocking and other features. All plans come with a firewall to reduce server load.

StackPath includes a set of APIs and tools that are easy to use for developers. This allows them to integrate web applications and websites into the StackPath API, and then take advantage of the powerful interface.

Distribution

  • 45 locations
    • North America
    • South America
    • Europe
    • Australia and New Zealand
    • Asia-Pacific and more.

Analytics and Reporting

  • Analytics are reported in five-minute intervals (mostly up to date within ten minutes).
  • With advanced reporting capabilities, analytics and analytics, you can access detailed data about traffic and content delivery.
  • Reporting timesframes: Last hour, last 24hrs, last 7 days and last 30 days. Custom period.
  • Available graphs and statistics:
    • Bandwidth The amount of bandwidth used to deliver CDN assets (Edge Broadwidth) and bandwidth used for origin pulls (Bandwidth To Origin).
    • Requests
    • Delivery by Data Center – Bubble Map of which StackPath Data Centers delivered your content, and how much each delivered
    • Cache Hit Ratio – graph showing the percentage of traffic to your origin that required accessing it, both transfers and requests. It gives you a high-level view of how efficient the CDN cache is being used.

Pricing

$10 per month (and they offer a free trial).

2. Sucuri

You may already be familiar with Sucuri, a well-known website security firm. But did you know that Sucuri also offers powerful WordPress firewalls and CDNs that protect your website from DDoS attacks, malware and other security threats.

Sucuri’s website application firewall scans every request to your site before it can reach your hosting server. If anything does get past the firewall’s security measures, Sucuri’s well-respected security tools will take care.

Sucuri can be used with any of the CDNs listed. A combination of Sucuri and a CDN such as MaxCDN will reduce server load because Sucuri’s firewall blocks any bad requests before they can request cached material from MaxCDN.

Distribution

  • 12 locations
    • North America
    • South America
    • Europe
    • Australia and New Zealand
    • Asia-Pacific

Analytics and Reporting

  • Your plan will determine the frequency of monitoring.
  • You can email monitoring reports in PDF or text on a weekly basis or as a monthly basis.
  • Available statistics in emailed reports
    • Website Uptime: displays the percentage of time that your site was available to site visitors.
    • Malware Monitoring There are a lot of warnings about malware on-site. These warnings are caused by Sucuri blocking malware
    • Blacklist Monitoring These warnings are displayed when your site is on a blacklist
    • SSL Monitoring There are a lot of SSL warnings displayed on-site. These warnings appear when your SSL changes
    • DNS Monitoring – A number of DNS warnings are displayed on-site. These warnings occur when the IP address, nameservers or MX records for your site change.

Pricing

The Basic plan starts at $199.99/year; Pro plans start at $299.99/year; Business plans start at $499.99/year; Enterprise is custom

3. Cloudflare

Cloudflare has a popular CDN for small websites. This is likely due to the free plan. However, their free plan does not offer all of the bells and whistles that their paid plans have. It has limited DDoS protection.

Cloudflare, despite its limitations, is an excellent CDN option. Cloudflare is easy to set-up, has many servers distributed around the world and offers gzip compression. Cloudflare has an intuitive control panel.

Distribution

  • 165 locations
    • North America
    • South America
    • Europe
    • Africa
    • Australia and New Zealand
    • Asia-Pacific

Analytics and Reporting

  • Analytics dashboard provides reporting on web traffic, security threats and performance.
  • The reporting timeframes can vary depending on what parameter you are looking at (e.g. Reporting web traffic can be done for the past 30 minutes, last 6 or 24 hours, or last month

Pricing

Cloudflare offers a free plan. Paid plans start at $20/month

4. KeyCDN

KeyCDN another CDN provider that will speed up your site. They offer powerful servers in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific.

KeyCDN can be set up on many platforms including WordPress. Plans include DDoS protection and free and custom SSL. They also offer HTTP/2 support, Restful API support and SSD servers.

KeyCDN offers pay as you go plans. This allows you to pay only for the services you use, rather than locking you into a monthly fixed price. This could lower the cost of some websites but unexpected traffic growth can increase costs making budgeting difficult.

Distribution

  • 34 locations
    • North America
    • South America
    • Europe
    • South Africa
    • Australia and New Zealand
    • Asia-Pacific

Analytics and Reporting

  • Real-time statistics include requests per second and traffic per second.
  • CDN dashboard provides general analytics such as CDN usage, HTTP status and cache status, file type and file size.
  • You can view data by time period and zone (last 24/48hrs, last 7/30 Days, this month, last year, or a custom range).
  • You can view real-time logs to get detailed information about cache access. These logs can also be refined with JSON format filters.

Pricing

Prices are determined by where you live and what you use.

5. Rackspace

Rackspace has a reputation for cloud computing, hosting and enterprise-level cloud solutions. They also have a CDN solution that is built on top of their cloud infrastructure.

Rackspace installation is more complicated than other CDN providers. Rackspace also offers many other cloud solutions, making it difficult for users to find the right solution. It works well with WordPress and can easily be used with the best WordPress plug-ins.

Rackspace does not provide DDoS mitigation. You will need to use Sucuri and Cloudflare instead.

Distribution

  • 200+
    • North America
    • South America
    • Europe
    • Australia and New Zealand
    • Asia-Pacific

Analytics and Reporting

Rackspace has very limited reporting options for its CDN.

Pricing

Pricing is determined by bandwidth and location. Edge requests are billed separately depending on usage and location.

6. Google Cloud CDN

Google Cloud CDN provides a content delivery platform with a global reach that you would expect from a company such as Google.

This low-cost service makes use of the tech giant’s global network. You can also get a free SSL certificate that will keep your website secure and safe. As an incentive to sign up, you will also receive a $300 credit that can be used to test Google Cloud CDN within the first 90 days.

This means that you will have all the power of one of the top CDN providers with zero risk.

Distribution

  • More than 90 countries
    • North America
    • South America
    • Europe
    • Middle East
    • Oceana
    • Asia-Pacific
    • Africa

Analytics and Reporting

  • Google has robust analytics and reporting, as you’d expect from a company such as Google

Pricing – Pricing is subject to change depending on where you are located, but there are $300 credits that can be used to get started for free within the first 90 day. To determine the price you will need, you can use Google’s price calculator.

7. Cachefly

Cachefly might be the last option, but that doesn’t mean it is a weaker CDN. Cachefly is actually one of the most trusted CDN providers. Sometimes, experience is the best substitute.

Cachefly’s interface is intuitive, making it an ideal solution for people who aren’t tech-savvy. It also has security features such as DDoS protection and malware protection, which will keep your site free from hackers and viruses.

Their pricing is much higher than the rest. Cachefly offers paid plans starting at $495 per monthly, which is less practical for many online businesses.

Distribution

  • More than 90 countries
    • North America
    • South America
    • Europe
    • Middle East
    • Africa
    • Asia-Pacific

Analytics and Reporting

  • An easy-to-use dashboard provides real-time analytics and reporting.

Pricing – Paid plans start from $495/month, making it one of our most expensive options.

What is the best CDN provider for killing site speed?

It’s obvious MaxCDN/StackPath is the best CDN provider to speed up your website. They offer the best combination of robust features, affordable pricing, a user-friendly interface, and a large network.

We recommend using StackPath with Sucuri to get the fastest and most secure services.

Are you on a tight budget. Cloudflare offers a free CDN plan.

You’re now up to speed about the best CDN providers for speeding up your website. Why not give it an updated look? You can do it easily with our top drag and drop page builders for WordPress. Are you not using WordPress? Instead, use these top website builders for small businesses.

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