Five edge providers, priced like securities. Read the quotes, weigh the analyst notes, and decide which one belongs in your stack. Figures are publicly listed rates as of mid-2026 and move with your workload.
Not just a CDN; a full edge platform. Runs across 330+ cities and bundles DNS, free SSL, WAF, bot mitigation, and Workers compute into flat plan fees, with no per-GB transfer charge on standard website plans. Strongest free tier on the market, which makes it the easiest entry point for most sites.
Risk · Real cost can scatter across add-ons (Argo, Stream, Logpush); per-zone billing compounds across domains; AUP limits wholesale video on standard plans.
The natural extension for AWS shops. 750+ PoPs plus embedded ISP locations and a permanent 1TB/month free tier. The killer line item is zero egress when pulling from S3, EC2, or ALB in-region, which removes a cost that bites everywhere else.
Risk · Less intuitive setup, AWS familiarity required; regional multipliers and request fees create invoice surprises; weak value outside the AWS ecosystem.
Built for developers who want control. The smallest major network (~90 PoPs) but consistently the lowest P99 TTFB on cached segments, with instant global purge under 150ms. Compute@Edge runs Wasm in the request path for manifest manipulation, SSAI, and per-viewer logic.
Risk · Premium pricing vs volume CDNs; origin-fetch billed near delivery rate; smallest footprint limits last-mile reach for massive live events.
The category founder still carries ~30% of all CDN traffic on a 4,100+ PoP ISP-embedded topology, the safest pick for global live events past a million concurrent viewers. Adaptive Media Delivery handles LL-HLS natively, and Linode integration adds edge transcoding.
Risk · No public pricing, expect a sales call; complex line-item structure; slower change cycles and volume floors penalize smaller, agile teams.
Punches far above its price. From $0.01/GB in NA/EU with no per-request charges, a structural win for segmented video that racks up requests per GB. Friendly dashboard and request coalescing make it a strong call for WordPress, static sites, and startups watching every dollar.
Risk · Smaller footprint than the giants; lighter security stack; deep compliance (HIPAA, heavy PCI) leans toward Cloudflare or Akamai; less enterprise brand weight.