Making a WordPress site faster is an ultimate goal for everyone. As lower site speed could make your site bad for SEO and rankings. Thus Content Delivery Network (CDN) services are used to make the website load faster and more secure. Load times of your website are directly proportionate to your search engine ranking factor, so you may lose your visitors if your site takes more than 3.5 seconds to load. Enhance your website with a few basic requirements such as a good hosting company, cache integration, and a perfect Content Delivery Network (CDN).
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What is a CDN?
Content Delivery Network (CDN) is a network of servers that smartly delivers cached static information such as images, videos, files, stylesheets, javascript, etc., from websites to the users based on their geographic information. A CDN service is different from a web hosting service, and both have their own unique functionalities. Unlike your web hosting service, CDN services have servers all over the globe to deliver content to your user from a relatively closer location than your server placed in only one location. Your information is duplicated in all the local servers the CDN has all over the world so that it will deliver more efficiently and quickly from a server closer to the user. If you are new to web hosting, then read our Complete Web Hosting Guide where we have detailed information of Shared vs Cloud vs VPS vs Dedicated hosting services.
Pros of Using a CDN
- The first benefit you will be rewarded by using a CDN service is that you will see your website load faster than before. This, in turn, increases the user experience on your site which in turn, decreases the bounce rate and increases the SEO and rankings because Google uses speed as one of the main factors while analyzing your site.
- It saves your site from turning temporarily unavailable during high traffic, as continuous user requests could slow down your site.
- Reduces load on host server improving its speed and performance.
MaxCDN
MaxCDN is one of the most popular content management systems that calls itself the expert in content delivery networks. They have fast SSD drives employed in their servers. MaxCDN has servers spread across the world and it would greatly help your site if you have a global audience. MaxCDN has servers targeted across the US, South America Europe, Asia, and Australia. The CDN service easily integrates with caching plugins like WP Fastest Cache plugin, W3 Total Cache, and more.
Installing and setting up MaxCDN is very easy. And it has a control panel easily accessible to everyone. You get a good amount of control over your information using MaxCDN as it provides reports, allows you to purge cache, manage locations, and more. MaxCDN lets you add an SSL certificate or use a shared SSL certificate so that you serve your cached content through SSL or HTTPS.
You can test MaxCDN for free with its test account, and you also get a 30-day money-back guarantee which makes MaxCDN the best beginner-friendly service.
Cloudflare
Cloudflare is also a famous CDN service that provides neat support for small websites with around 80 data centers across the globe. With the free plan, you get only limited DDoS protection and basic features. But most of the important features are only available with the paid plan. Installing and setting up Cloudflare is simple, especially in WordPress.
Cloudflare has a simple panel in which you can clean up the cache and track your website’s performance. With its globally distributed servers, it caches the static content automatically along with your media files. Cloudflare also blocks suspicious threats and limits access for potential abusers and thus making your website more secure. Unlike other CDN services, Cloudflare does not charge for bandwidth usage. Instead, a flat fee pricing will be levied on you. The free service also includes SSL support.
KeyCDN
KeyCDN is another popular CDN service that servers spread across four main regions around the world (North America, Europe, Asia Pacific regions) to make sure that there is minimum bounce between the content and the user. KeyCDN service is available for major platforms like Drupal, Xenforo, etc. Like other CDN it integrates well with WP Super Cache, W3 Total Cache plugin, Zencache, etc.
KeyCDN has a simple yet powerful control panel. Their plans include DDoS mitigation, free and custom SSL, HTTP/2 support, Restful API support, and SSD servers. KeyCDN has pay-as-you-go plans, which means there is no fixed monthly pay. Instead, you pay for what you use. This could be of great use for smaller websites, but an unexpected increase in traffic could cost you.
Rackspace
Rackspace is a powerful CDN service built over a powerful cloud infrastructure. Rackspace guarantees an impressive uptime of 99.9 percent which helps you relax that your users are always accessible to the files. Rackspace is popular for cloud computing, hosting, and enterprise-level cloud solutions. Rackspace has data centers in many popular locations like Chicago, Dallas, Northern Virginia, London, Hong Kong Sydney, and more. Using Rackspace you can upload large files like HD movies, videos, and website backups in multiple segments and download them as a single file.
The Rackspace setup is a bit more complex than other CDN services. Also, Rackspace has many other cloud solutions which make beginners think twice before choosing Rackspace. It easily integrates with WordPress and its plugins. The only setback it has is that it does not provide DDoS mitigation.
Incapsula
Incapsula is yet another powerful CDN service provider with data centers strategically located across the globe. Incapsula has various other services offered, and CDN is one such service for security and performance. Incapsula provides really fast content delivery for different needs like online stores, SaaS businesses, or on-demand video streaming. With the free plan, you have limited features with very bad support. Once switched to the $59 plan you get a PCI-certified firewall and a security system that includes smart DDoS protection and load balancing features.
Incapsula has a detailed control panel where you can monitor traffic, performance, and security aspects of your website anytime. You also get a detailed activity log for your account.
StackPath
StackPath is one of the CDN providers that has a larger network of servers spread across many countries around the globe. StackPath’s secure CDN protects your website from DDoS attacks along with load balancing and blocking features. With every plan, you get a website firewall which further reduces server load on your website and reduces page load time.
The StackPath CDN has plans starting from $20. StackPath allows developers to integrate their apps or websites into the StackPath API and take advantage of its powerful interface.
CDN77
CDN77 is a newcomer in the pool of CDN service providers and has gained a lot of popularity. With over 32 data centers located across 26 countries in the world, CDN77 makes sure that your website has a faster loading time. CDN77 boosts your site to have ultra-fast loading times which enhances the overall performance of your website. CDN77 also has a pay-as-you-go plan that benefits both small to medium-sized website owners and larger, high-traffic online properties.
CDN77 has a good control panel with tools providing reports and analytics. It integrates well with all WordPress caching plugins.
Amazon CloudFront
The Amazon CloudFront is a CDN service that is a part of the Amazon Web Services portfolio of products. The Amazon CloudFront integrates with AWS including physical locations that are directly connected to the AWS global infrastructure. The Amazon CDN works seamlessly with services including AWS Shield for DDoS mitigation, Amazon S3, Elastic Load Balancing, etc. The AWS global infrastructure is growing every day with 114 points of presence across 56 major cities in the world.
Amazon CloudFront also uses the pay-as-you-go method to charge the customers and thus you pay only for the data transfer and requests used to deliver your content to your customers. Amazon gives you a free 1-year starter tier.
So consider all the key factors before choosing the right CDN for a WordPress website. As CDN’s changed the way how content is delivered to users in recent years, use a reliable CDN service to boost your site. We hope this article about the Best WordPress CDN helped your out in choosing the right CDN for your website. Share your thoughts on the topic and your experiences with CDN below.
