Table of Contents
- What Is a CDN and Do You Actually Need One?
- How Much Do CDN Providers Actually Cost?
- Which CDN Providers Are the Best in 2026?
- How Do CDN Providers Compare on Performance?
- Which CDN Is Best for WordPress?
- What Are the Biggest CDN Trends in 2026?
- FAQ
- Sources
Disclosure: Some links in this article are affiliate links. If you purchase through them, I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. I only recommend products I’ve personally used and trust.
TLDR: Bunny.net ($0.01/GB) wins on price-to-performance for most sites. Cloudflare’s free tier is unbeatable if you want security bundled in. CloudFront makes sense if you’re already on AWS. Akamai and Fastly are overkill unless you’re a Fortune 500 company or need custom edge computing logic.
You’re paying too much for your CDN. Or you’re not using one at all, and your visitors in Singapore are waiting 3 seconds for assets hosted in Virginia.
After 9+ years of configuring CDNs for everything from WordPress blogs to high-traffic SaaS platforms, I’ve watched the market split into two camps: providers that charge enterprise prices for commodity features, and scrappy alternatives that deliver the same performance at a fraction of the cost.
The best CDN providers in 2026 are Cloudflare (best free tier and security), Bunny.net (best price-to-performance at $0.01/GB), and Amazon CloudFront (best for AWS-native stacks). Fastly and Akamai serve legitimate enterprise needs but are overpriced for 90% of websites. KeyCDN offers a solid budget alternative at $0.04/GB flat.
What Is a CDN and Do You Actually Need One?
A CDN (Content Delivery Network) caches your site’s static assets on servers distributed worldwide, so visitors load content from a nearby server instead of your origin. This cuts page load times by 40-60% for global audiences. If your site serves visitors from more than one region, you need a CDN.
A CDN sits between your visitors and your server. When someone in Tokyo hits your site, they get assets from a server in Tokyo instead of making a round trip to your origin in us-east-1. The first request fetches from your origin and caches it. Every subsequent request from that region is served from cache.
Most modern CDNs are “pull CDNs.” You don’t upload assets manually. You point your DNS at the CDN (Cloudflare) or configure a CDN URL (Bunny.net, KeyCDN), and caching happens automatically. Some also support push mode, where you upload files directly to edge storage.
Here’s the thing: not every site needs one. If your audience is in one city and your server is in that city, a CDN adds complexity without much benefit.
| Scenario | Need a CDN? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Global audience (multiple countries) | Yes | Latency drops 40-60% for distant visitors |
| High-traffic site (100K+ visits/month) | Yes | Offloads bandwidth from origin server |
| Image-heavy blog or portfolio | Yes | Images are the biggest payload; CDN caching helps most |
| WooCommerce / e-commerce | Yes | Product images + global customers = slow without CDN |
| Local business, single-city audience | Probably not | Server proximity already handles latency |
| Low-traffic personal blog | Optional | Cloudflare free tier costs nothing, so why not |
| Already on managed WordPress hosting | Check first | Kinsta, Cloudways, and WP Engine include CDN features |
If you’re running WordPress on managed hosting, check whether your host already includes a CDN. I covered this in my Cloudways vs Kinsta vs WP Engine comparison, where most managed hosts now bundle basic CDN functionality.
How Much Do CDN Providers Actually Cost?
CDN pricing ranges from completely free (Cloudflare) to $0.01/GB (Bunny.net) to custom enterprise contracts starting at $10,000+/year (Akamai). The real cost depends on your traffic volume and geographic distribution.
Most comparison articles just list base per-GB rates. That’s useless without context. Here’s what the pricing actually looks like side by side:
| Provider | Pricing Model | North America Rate | Minimum | Billing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cloudflare | Flat monthly | Unmetered (Free-$200/mo) | $0 | Monthly |
| Bunny.net | Pay-per-GB | $0.01/GB | $1/mo | Monthly |
| KeyCDN | Pay-per-GB | $0.04/GB | $4/mo | Monthly |
| CloudFront | Pay-per-GB or flat | $0.085/GB (or $15-$1,000/mo flat) | $0 (1TB free) | Monthly |
| Fastly | Pay-per-GB | $0.12/GB (first 10TB) | $50/mo | Monthly |
| Akamai | Custom contracts | ~$0.045-$0.049/GB | $10K-$50K+/yr | Annual |
But base rates don’t tell the full story. What does 10TB of monthly traffic actually cost across providers? I ran the numbers for a North America-focused site:
| Provider | 10TB/month Cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Cloudflare Free | $0 | Unmetered bandwidth, no per-GB charges |
| Cloudflare Pro | $20 | Same unmetered bandwidth, adds image optimization + WAF |
| Bunny.net | $100 | 10,000 GB × $0.01/GB |
| KeyCDN | $400 | 10,000 GB × $0.04/GB |
| CloudFront | $850 | Tiered pricing, first 10TB at $0.085/GB |
| CloudFront (AWS origin) | $850 | Same price, but data transfer FROM S3/EC2 is free |
| Fastly | $1,200 | $0.12/GB first 10TB + request fees |
| Akamai | ~$450-$490 | Estimated from ~$0.045-$0.049/GB, plus contract minimums |
The gap is staggering. Cloudflare delivers 10TB for free. The same traffic on Fastly costs $1,200/month. That’s not a typo.
Hidden Costs That Actually Matter
The base rate is only part of the equation. Here’s where the real surprises hit:
| Hidden Cost | Cloudflare | Bunny.net | CloudFront | Fastly | Akamai |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Request fees | None | None | $0.0075/10K requests | $0.0075/10K requests | Varies |
| Custom SSL | Free (shared) | Free | $600/month | Included | Custom pricing |
| Regional markup (Asia) | None (unmetered) | 3x ($0.03/GB) | ~1.5-2x | ~2.3x ($0.28/GB) | Custom |
| Premium support | $200/mo (Business) | Free live chat | AWS Support plans | Included | $1K-$5K/mo |
| WAF | 5 rules free, 20 on Pro | Basic (Bunny Shield) | AWS WAF (separate) | Next-Gen WAF (included) | $1K-$5K/mo add-on |
| Edge computing | Workers free tier | Not available | Lambda@Edge pricing | Compute@Edge pricing | EdgeWorkers pricing |
| Pro services | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | $5K-$50K+ |
CloudFront’s custom SSL at $600/month is a nasty surprise if you need it. And Akamai’s professional services fees ($5K-$50K+) can dwarf the actual CDN costs. Bunny.net and Cloudflare are the transparency leaders here: what you see is what you pay.
Which CDN Providers Are the Best in 2026?
The best CDN provider depends on your specific needs: Cloudflare for all-around security and CDN at any budget, Bunny.net for raw price-to-performance, CloudFront for AWS-native stacks, and Akamai for massive enterprises.
Cloudflare — Best All-Around CDN
Cloudflare is the default recommendation for a reason. The free tier includes unmetered CDN bandwidth across 330+ data centers, DDoS protection, shared SSL, and basic WAF rules. No other provider matches this at $0/month.
The Pro plan at $20/month adds image optimization (Polish), mobile optimization (Mirage), and 20 WAF rules. That’s enough for most business sites. You’d only jump to Business ($200/month) if you need a 100% uptime SLA or PCI compliance.
Where Cloudflare really pulls ahead is the developer platform. Workers lets you run JavaScript/WebAssembly at the edge with a generous free tier. R2 gives you S3-compatible object storage with zero egress fees. D1 puts a SQL database at the edge. In January 2026, they acquired The Astro Technology Company to double down on edge developer tools.
The downsides: video delivery is restricted on the free tier (Cloudflare is a pull CDN, not a video host). Advanced WAF rules require paid plans. And some users report billing issues where cancellation doesn’t immediately stop charges.
| What | Details |
|---|---|
| Network | 330+ PoPs, 120+ countries |
| Pricing | Free / $20 / $200 / Custom |
| Best for | Security + CDN, WordPress, everyone |
| Edge computing | Workers (JS/WASM), KV, D1, R2 |
| Weakness | Video restrictions on free, limited WAF on lower tiers |
Bunny.net — Best Price-to-Performance
Bunny.net is the CDN that makes you wonder why you ever paid more. At $0.01/GB in North America and Europe (70-85% cheaper than traditional providers), it delivers 25ms average global latency. That’s actually faster than Cloudflare’s ~28ms average in independent benchmarks.
The dashboard is clean and intuitive. Support responds via live chat in under 5 minutes (I’ve tested this multiple times and it’s consistently fast). Bunny Stream handles video hosting. Bunny Optimizer does automatic WebP/AVIF image conversion. And Bunny Storage gives you edge-replicated storage at $0.01/GB.
The trade-off: Bunny.net is a CDN, not a security platform. It has basic DDoS protection via Bunny Shield, but nothing close to Cloudflare’s WAF, bot management, or zero-trust features. If you need CDN + security in one product, Cloudflare wins. If you want the fastest, cheapest CDN and handle security separately, Bunny.net is it.
| What | Details |
|---|---|
| Network | 119+ PoPs, 82 countries |
| Pricing | $0.01/GB (NA/EU), $1/mo minimum |
| Best for | WordPress, static sites, video, budget-conscious |
| Extras | Bunny Stream, Bunny Optimizer, Bunny Storage |
| Weakness | No advanced WAF, no edge computing platform |
Amazon CloudFront — Best for AWS Shops
If your infrastructure lives on AWS, CloudFront is the obvious choice. Data transfer from S3, EC2, and other AWS services to CloudFront is free. That alone can save thousands per month compared to pulling from a third-party CDN.
The network is massive: 750+ edge locations, 13 regional edge caches, and 1,140+ embedded PoPs inside ISP networks. The three-tier caching architecture means fewer cache misses and faster repeat requests.
CloudFront Functions handle lightweight request manipulation at sub-millisecond speeds. Lambda@Edge runs Node.js and Python at four trigger points for heavier processing. In 2025, AWS introduced flat-rate plans ($15-$1,000/month) as an alternative to per-GB pricing, which simplifies budgeting.
The downsides are real: pricing is confusing with per-region rates, per-request charges, and separate fees for HTTPS vs HTTP. Custom SSL certificates cost $600/month. And the AWS console learning curve is steep if you’re not already in the AWS world.
| What | Details |
|---|---|
| Network | 750+ PoPs, 1,140+ embedded PoPs |
| Pricing | $0.085/GB or flat-rate $15-$1,000/mo (1TB/mo free forever) |
| Best for | AWS-native apps, compliance (HIPAA, PCI DSS) |
| Edge computing | CloudFront Functions, Lambda@Edge |
| Weakness | Pricing complexity, $600/mo custom SSL, steep learning curve |
Fastly — Best for Developers
Fastly is what you pick when you need to do things at the edge that other CDNs can’t. VCL (Varnish Configuration Language) gives you fine-grained control over caching logic. Compute (formerly Compute@Edge) runs WebAssembly with microsecond cold starts in Rust, JavaScript, or Go.
Instant cache purging (under 150ms globally) is a genuine differentiator. If you’re doing real-time content updates, A/B testing at the edge, or API acceleration with custom logic, Fastly handles it better than anyone.
The real-time analytics are excellent. You can tail logs live and stream them to Splunk, BigQuery, or S3. Support is responsive, with active Slack channels for developer help.
But you’ll pay for it. The $50/month minimum and $0.12/GB base rate put Fastly at 12x the cost of Bunny.net. VCL has a steep learning curve. And the signup process is unnecessarily complex with no quick self-service path.
| What | Details |
|---|---|
| Network | 129 PoPs, 532+ Tbps capacity |
| Pricing | $0.08-$0.28/GB, $50/mo minimum |
| Best for | Custom edge logic, A/B testing, real-time analytics |
| Edge computing | VCL, Compute (WASM), sub-150ms global purge |
| Weakness | Premium pricing, VCL learning curve, complex onboarding |
Akamai — Best for Fortune 500
Akamai is the biggest CDN on the planet. 4,100+ PoPs. Approximately 300,000 edge servers. Roughly 30% of all internet traffic flows through their network. They’ve been doing this since 1998, and their track record for reliability at massive scale is hard to argue with.
Here’s what’s changed: two-thirds of Akamai’s revenue now comes from security and cloud computing, not traditional CDN. They’re pivoting hard toward zero-trust security, API protection, and enterprise cloud. The CDN is still excellent, but it’s no longer the main show.
The pricing is opaque. No public rates. Annual commitments starting at $10K-$50K+. Professional services run $5K-$50K+. Premium support adds $1K-$5K/month. If you’re asking “how much does Akamai cost?” the honest answer is: more than you think, and you won’t know exactly until you talk to sales.
One major development: Akamai is exiting the China CDN market on June 30, 2026. If you serve mainland China traffic through Akamai, you need a migration plan now.
| What | Details |
|---|---|
| Network | 4,100+ PoPs, ~300,000 servers, 135+ countries |
| Pricing | Custom contracts, ~$0.045-$0.049/GB base, $10K+/yr minimum |
| Best for | Fortune 500, government, major media companies |
| Security | Enterprise WAF, bot management, API security, zero-trust |
| Weakness | Opaque pricing, high minimums, exiting China June 2026 |
KeyCDN — Best Budget Alternative
KeyCDN sits in a nice middle ground: cheaper than Fastly and CloudFront, more features than a bare-bones CDN, and transparent pricing at $0.04/GB globally. The $4/month minimum makes it accessible for small projects.
HTTP/2, HTTP/3, instant purge, origin shielding, Let’s Encrypt SSL, image processing. It checks the boxes. The API is well-documented. SSD-backed edge servers with 40+ Gbps uplinks deliver solid throughput.
The network is smaller (24-50 PoPs depending on the source), with limited coverage in Africa and South America. Some users report account terminations without clear explanations, which is a trust concern. And there’s no WAF or bot management, so you’d need a separate solution for security.
Worth noting: KeyCDN runs one of the highest-paying affiliate programs in the CDN industry (up to 67% commission). Keep that in mind when reading reviews that recommend it heavily.
| What | Details |
|---|---|
| Network | 24-50 PoPs, 100% SSD |
| Pricing | $0.04/GB flat, $4/mo minimum |
| Best for | SMBs, developers, WordPress sites |
| Extras | API access, image processing, log forwarding |
| Weakness | Small network, no WAF, account termination reports |
How Do CDN Providers Compare on Performance?
In independent benchmarks, Bunny.net leads with 25ms average global latency, edging out Cloudflare’s ~28ms. Fastly achieves sub-25ms TTFB in North America and Europe. Network size alone doesn’t determine speed — optimized routing and PoP placement matter more.
Every CDN provider claims to be the fastest. The actual numbers tell a more nuanced story.
| Provider | Global Avg Latency | NA/EU TTFB | PoPs | Network Capacity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bunny.net | 25ms | <25ms | 119+ | 250+ Tbps |
| Cloudflare | ~28ms | 10-30ms (p95) | 330+ | Multiple Tbps |
| Fastly | <25ms (NA/EU) | <25ms | 129 | 532+ Tbps |
| CloudFront | Competitive | Varies by region | 750+ | Not disclosed |
| Akamai | Low (at scale) | Low (at scale) | 4,100+ | Not disclosed |
| KeyCDN | Good for tier | Competitive | 24-50 | 40+ Gbps/server |
The biggest takeaway: PoP count is a vanity metric. Akamai has 4,100+ PoPs and Bunny.net has 119. Bunny.net is measurably faster in North America and Europe. Fastly runs 129 PoPs but pushes 532+ Tbps through them.
What matters is PoP quality, routing intelligence, and geographic placement relative to your audience. A CDN with 50 well-placed PoPs on high-capacity nodes beats one with 200 PoPs on commodity hardware.
My recommendation: Stop benchmarking synthetic tests from data centers. Set up Real User Monitoring (RUM) with your actual traffic. The CDN that’s fastest for a test from an AWS region might perform differently on congested mobile networks in Southeast Asia.
Cache hit ratio matters more than raw latency. All major providers support 95%+ cache hit ratios when configured properly. The difference between a 90% and 98% cache hit ratio is the difference between your origin handling 10% of traffic vs 2%. Get your Cache-Control headers right before blaming the CDN.
Which CDN Is Best for WordPress?
Bunny.net is the best CDN for WordPress in 2026. At $0.01/GB with 25ms latency, it integrates easily with WordPress plugins and offers Bunny Optimizer for automatic image optimization. Cloudflare’s free tier is the best option if you want zero-cost CDN with built-in security.
WordPress powers over 42% of all websites, and most of them would load faster with a CDN. The question isn’t whether you need one, it’s which one plays nicely with your setup.
| CDN | WordPress Fit | Integration | Image Optimization | Monthly Cost (1TB) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bunny.net | Excellent | Plugin or CDN URL | Bunny Optimizer (WebP/AVIF) | $10 |
| Cloudflare | Excellent | DNS change (easiest) | Polish (Pro plan) | $0-$20 |
| KeyCDN | Good | CDN Enabler plugin | Basic image processing | $40 |
| CloudFront | Moderate | Plugin or manual config | Requires separate setup | $85 |
| Fastly | Overkill | Manual config | Fastly Image Optimizer | $120+ |
| Akamai | Overkill | Enterprise setup | Ion optimization | Custom |
How to Set Up a CDN With WordPress
There are two integration methods:
DNS-based (Cloudflare): Change your nameservers to Cloudflare. Done. All traffic routes through their network automatically. No plugin required, though the Cloudflare plugin adds cache purging on post updates.
Plugin-based (Bunny.net, KeyCDN, CloudFront): Install a CDN plugin (WP Rocket, W3 Total Cache, or the provider’s own plugin), enter your CDN URL, and the plugin rewrites asset URLs to serve from the CDN.
If you’re using managed WordPress hosting, check what’s already included. I compared the major hosts in my Cloudways vs Kinsta vs WP Engine breakdown. Kinsta includes a CDN, Cloudways partners with Cloudflare, and WP Engine has its own EverCache CDN.
Common WordPress + CDN Pitfalls
Mixed content warnings happen when your CDN serves HTTP assets on an HTTPS site. Fix: force HTTPS on both your origin and CDN.
Broken fonts and icons are usually CORS issues. Fix: add Access-Control-Allow-Origin headers in your CDN config.
Cached login pages are dangerous. If your CDN caches wp-login.php or wp-admin, users might see someone else’s session. Fix: exclude /wp-admin/* and /wp-login.php from CDN caching.
WooCommerce requires extra care. Never cache cart, checkout, or account pages. Make sure your CDN respects WooCommerce session cookies. Product images are where the CDN helps most.
What Are the Biggest CDN Trends in 2026?
CDN providers are evolving from content delivery into full edge computing and security platforms. The biggest 2026 trends are AI-driven optimization, edge computing going mainstream, Akamai exiting China on June 30, and security becoming the primary revenue driver.
The term “CDN” is becoming a misnomer. Here’s what’s actually happening:
| Trend | Impact | Who Benefits |
|---|---|---|
| Edge computing platforms | Run code at 80-330+ locations globally | Developers building latency-sensitive apps |
| AI-driven optimization | Predictive caching, smart routing, auto-DDoS detection | High-traffic sites, media companies |
| Security-first CDN | WAF, bot management, zero-trust bundled with CDN | Every site (free DDoS protection is now standard) |
| Akamai exits China (June 2026) | Forced migration for Akamai China customers | Companies serving mainland China |
| Multi-CDN strategies | Failover, regional optimization, cost arbitrage | Enterprises with global audiences |
| 5G edge optimization | Sub-10ms latency, mobile-first delivery | Mobile apps, AR/VR, IoT |
Edge Computing Is the Real Story
Cloudflare Workers, Fastly Compute, and Lambda@Edge are turning CDNs into distributed computing platforms. You can run authentication logic, A/B tests, image transformations, and API aggregation at the edge instead of making round trips to your origin.
Cloudflare acquired The Astro Technology Company in January 2026 to improve edge developer tooling. Separately, they released Moltworker, an open-source proof-of-concept framework for running AI agents at the edge.
Akamai’s China Exit
This one flew under the radar, but it’s significant. Akamai will stop CDN operations in mainland China on June 30, 2026. Any company routing China traffic through Akamai needs a migration plan. The alternatives: China-specific providers (ChinaCache, CDNetworks, Tencent Cloud), multi-CDN with a China-optimized partner, or offshore routing with degraded performance.
Security Ate the CDN
Two-thirds of Akamai’s revenue now comes from security products, not CDN. Cloudflare bundles DDoS protection, WAF, and SSL on its free tier. Fastly’s signal-based Next-Gen WAF is a major selling point. The market has spoken: if your CDN doesn’t handle security, you’re going to need a separate security vendor, which adds cost and complexity.
FAQ
What is the cheapest CDN provider?
Cloudflare is the cheapest CDN provider — it’s free with unmetered bandwidth on all plans, including the $0/month free tier. For pay-per-GB pricing, Bunny.net offers the lowest rate at $0.01/GB in North America and Europe, which is 70-85% cheaper than traditional CDN providers like Fastly ($0.12/GB) or CloudFront ($0.085/GB).
Is Cloudflare really free?
Yes, Cloudflare’s free plan is genuinely free with no bandwidth caps. It includes CDN across 330+ data centers, unmetered DDoS protection, shared SSL, and basic WAF rules. The catch: advanced features like image optimization and priority support require paid plans.
What’s the difference between a CDN and a reverse proxy?
A reverse proxy sits between clients and your server, forwarding requests on your server’s behalf. A CDN is a type of reverse proxy that also caches content across multiple geographic locations. Cloudflare functions as both. When you change your DNS to Cloudflare, traffic routes through their network, which caches static content and provides security before forwarding requests to your origin server.
Which CDN is best for video streaming?
Bunny Stream is the best value for video hosting and CDN delivery, with built-in transcoding, player, and global delivery at affordable rates. Cloudflare Stream works well but is a separate paid product. For enterprise live streaming, Akamai’s Adaptive Media Delivery and Fastly’s video capabilities are industry standards. Avoid Cloudflare’s free CDN tier for large video files.
When should I upgrade from Cloudflare Free to Pro?
Upgrade to Cloudflare Pro ($20/month) when your site generates revenue and you need image optimization (Polish), mobile optimization (Mirage), or more WAF rules (20 vs 5). Jump to Business ($200/month) if you need a 100% uptime SLA, custom WAF rules, or PCI compliance. The free tier handles personal blogs, portfolios, and low-to-moderate traffic sites just fine.
Sources
- Cloudflare Plans and Pricing — Pricing tiers verified February 2026
- Bunny.net CDN Pricing — Per-GB rates verified February 2026
- Fastly Pricing — Pay-as-you-go and flat-rate plans verified February 2026
- AWS CloudFront Pricing — Regional rates and free tier verified February 2026
- CDNsun — Akamai Pricing Analysis — Contract estimates and hidden costs, February 2026
- KeyCDN Pricing — Flat-rate pricing verified February 2026
- Cloudflare Network Map — 330+ PoPs, 120+ countries
- Bunny.net Network — 119+ PoPs, 25ms average latency
- AWS CloudFront Features — 750+ PoPs, three-tier architecture
- CDN Planet — Akamai Overview — 4,100+ PoPs, ~300,000 servers
- CDN Planet — Fastly Overview — 129 PoPs, 532+ Tbps capacity
- Cloudflare Benchmarking Study — P95 TTFB data, October 2025
- Bunny.net vs Cloudflare — Performance comparison and latency benchmarks
- IOriver — Akamai China Exit — June 30, 2026 deadline
- GlobeNewswire — CDN Market 2025-2034 — $27.8B market size, AI optimization trends
- WPBeginner — Best WordPress CDN — WordPress CDN recommendations 2026
- Fastly — CDN Providers for 5G — 5G network optimization trends
