WordPress CDNs cache your website’s files at different points of presence (POPs), so users can access them faster – this speeds up images, CSS, JavaScript, and other assets. But I won’t get into what a CDN is or how it works since you probably know that.
When choosing a CDN for WordPress or WooCommerce, start by determining how much bandwidth you need; then decide which assets to cache based on their size, since not everything on your site is suitable for caching.
Imagine you don’t use a CDN, and you host your website in India, with all your readers connecting from that location. Users in India and South Asia get fast load times. But visitors from faraway places like the US get slower page loads.
Loading files from a farther location takes longer than receiving them from a nearby location. This delay often leads to a longer time to first byte for a site. For example:
With a CDN, you can set up your WordPress site to cache static files – then the provider serves those files from its POPs, often using host names such as cdn.example.com (you can also use a custom hostname). The CDN then routes users to the nearest POP based on the location, and visitors connect to a nearby EDGE rather than the origin server.
When people visit your site, your domain brings up the main stuff, and the CDN host name handles the rest of your website’s files. But this isn’t the case for Cloudflare. Meanwhile, let’s compare some top WordPress CDN providers:
1. Cloudflare
Perhaps Cloudflare is the finest CDN for any kind of website. I have experience with all their plans, from free to enterprise. Unlike others, Cloudflare CDN doesn’t copy files to separate URLs. Instead, it mirrors over the proxy (delivers to users). This is mostly because Cloudflare maximizes how your website loads by operating at the DNS level.
A traditional CDN copies your website files to its POPs and serves them using CDN addresses such as cdn.EXdomain.com.
Using Cloudflare, you can change your NS records to point to Cloudflare and load your static and dynamic assets (Automatic Platform Optimization) from the nearest servers.
This process is ideal because I don’t want to split hostnames. Unlike all other CDNs, Cloudflare offers a free service tier. Also, Cloudflare is a reliable DNS provider. Fast DNS is crucial for low TTFB, as DNS and network latency significantly impact website speed.
Cloudflare APO:
When you use APO, you can dramatically reduce TTFB, load time, and other site speed metrics for visitors who sit far from the origin server. It enables you to maintain fast site speeds regardless of your web host or server. Even with Cloudflare’s free CDN service, Automatic Platform Optimization is an effective way to speed up your WordPress site.
Most CDNs serve static assets (images, CSS, JS, etc.) from their edge network, but caching HTML at the CDN boosts your site faster because most of the content is served from it. AND cache hit rate will exceed 90%.
You’ll need to obtain a key and add it to Cloudflare’s plugin (make sure caching is enabled), as the plugin caches locally and APO sends it to the edges. As these are distinct caching types, it is essential to allow both.
Cloudflare Pro:
Cloudflare Pro is a decent pick for small- to medium-sized sites if $25 per month isn’t a problem (ideal if you want to personalize settings to your preferences).
It features several useful tools, including Polish-Mirage image optimization, prioritized loading, CDN monitoring, and platform optimization (APO).
Enterprise:
Normally, websites don’t need Cloudflare Enterprise. Even so, it offers the best static and dynamic optimization to improve performance and enhance security.
You’ll get all the features. However, the price is over $5,000 if you want to purchase it directly. But you don’t have to use it directly nowadays; numerous service providers have built WordPress CDNs that leverage Cloudflare Enterprise. Many providers offer Enterprise CDN, including FlyingCDN, Rocket.net, BigScoots, and 10Web Booster.
Argo Smart Routing:
APO and Argo Routing are two paid services that I would use on Cloudflare. Argo routes traffic along the optimal network path and identifies issues within the CDN.
And Cloudflare states that Argo reduces latency by 30% and connection failures by 27%. YES, you can see actual performance improvements with Argo.
And… Cloudflare might not be the fastest CDN for WordPress sites, but its additional features can increase page speed. Argo+APO improve TTFB and overall UX, especially suitable for e-commerce and multi-page websites.
In that environment, the process shortens the distance between your server and visitors, lowering requests to the origin and increasing CDN cache HITS.
2. FlyingCDN
FlyingCDN is the official CDN for the FlyingPress plugin and an automatic WordPress CDN powered by Cloudflare Enterprise.
FlyingCDN can reduce reliance on many paid WP plugins, including security, image, and other optimization features, as it includes these capabilities by default.
To be clear, it’s not a typical CDN, but Cloudflare works well even through proxies. CDNs typically deliver content to visitors, but FCDN does so exceptionally well, leveraging over 300 Cloudflare edge networks. And here are some critical features:
- Full-page caching – cache entire pages at the edge to deliver content faster, along with other Cloudflare enterprise features like smart routing, early hints, tiered caching, etc. It still caches pages even when items are in the user’s cart, and caches other pages for signed-in users. Rocket.net uses C-enterprise with many features.
- Optimizing images – optimize images with Polish without decreasing quality -convert images to WebP in the background without altering the URLs.
- Security Features – integrated firewall with protection against DDoS attacks and malicious traffic, plus a free wildcard SSL certificate for any subdomain.
- Manage traffic spikes – 300+ edges reduce server load, make traffic spikes easier to manage, and deliver faster. (Good for WooCommerce sites).
FlyingCDN is one of the best CDNs for WordPress, and it is cheaper than others. It offers enterprise-level features you won’t find elsewhere.
You can use FCDN for free for 7 days without a credit card. One website costs $10/m and includes 100 GB of bandwidth; additional bandwidth costs $5 per 100 GB.
FlyingCDN has other features I did not mention in this post, but it has SOME drawbacks, such as not allowing users to change settings and requiring the FlyingPress plugin.
It can significantly improve page speed (images, CSS, JS, fonts, and other site elements) when you use a VPS or dedicated server from providers such as DO, Vultr, or UpCloud…
Compared to paying for a bigger server (hosting), CDNs are less expensive. Also, these guys offer a premium hosting service, “FlyingHost,” so you don’t need a CDN or the FlyingPress if you’re on FlyingHost.
3. BunnyCDN
BunnyCDN is a solid option for devs and publishers, but a concern is that it lacks full-page caching for WordPress, though it can be used with Cloudflare APO.
In addition to ranking highly on CDNPERF, BunnyCDN offers large edge networks. There are more than 120 BUNNY global POPs, with over 30 in Europe and 38 in America.
It is highly cost-effective, with pricing lower than other CDNs. Prices are dependent on locations. At this point, if you don’t receive traffic from certain regions, such as South America or Oceania, you can block those regions. Using Bunny’s traffic manager, you can select, reroute, or exclude specific countries.
If you consider where your visitors come from and how expensive your bandwidth is, you can estimate your approximate monthly bandwidth cost.
You can set up Bunny using the BunnyCDN plugin. Go to advanced settings to add your access key, which lets you clear the cache directly from the dashboard. It can boost the CDN to serve more content. If not, you can add the pull zone with your cache plugin.
BunnyCDN Perma-Cache: (Perma-cache AKA geo-replication). When this setting is active, Bunny will routinely copy web files to the designated storage locations.
You will need to select the specific regions where you would like your files duplicated. Pick locations that get a lot of traffic. Most requests will not be sent to the origin server; the nearest zone will pull assets, increasing cache hit ratios and reducing latency.
BunnyCDN incurs an additional cost, and I prefer full-page caching over perma-caching. You can use full-page caching with cloud hosting control panels.
Bunny Optimizer:
This is another extra-cost feature, but it’s worth it since it doesn’t use server resources like most asset and image optimization plugins; it costs $9.50/M
Optimizer offers several features, such as WebP image optimization and CSS/JS minification. So, BunnyCDN is ideal for WordPress users, but it does come with extra costs for its features. It’s your choice, but I prefer Cloudflare and FlyingCDN.
4. QUIC.cloud
It’s the first WordPress CDN to support full-page caching. If you are a LiteSpeed server user, QUIC.cloud is a suitable CDN with additional security features. QUIC is designed for LiteSpeed and has grown edge locations with dynamic caching.
If you know your way with these things, you can totally set up and tweak all the settings. That said, QUIC.Cloud isn’t as appealing to me as LiteSpeed Cache.
You can get QUIC.Cloud for free, but the free plan only uses 6 points of presence and lacks DDoS protection. Paid plans provide access to more than 80 venues with attack protection. Bandwidth costs $0.02-$0.08 per GB in USD under the paid plan.
QUIC.cloud offers the critical benefit of caching dynamic content (improving TTFB around the world). You get native HTTP/3 support, which optimizes images and pages and handles critical CSS and low-quality photos.
QUIC provides additional security features, including brute force defense, CAPTCHA, security measures, and XML-RPC restrictions.
On your QUIC.cloud dashboard, you can see all the statistics you need. The LiteSpeed Cache plugin enables you to activate these features.
Most WP cache plugins support CDN integration. I think QUIC.cloud isn’t that attractive or easy for the average person to set up. Although it doesn’t work as well as other Cloudflare integrations, using LiteSpeed Cache may make it more useful.
5. KeyCDN
KeyCDN is another well-known European content delivery network. It feels a bit old-school since it doesn’t have page caching, and the interface isn’t modern.
Plus, they rarely modify their features and content, which makes it clear that it’s time to look for something fresher. Also, KeyCDN doesn’t appear on performance or comparison sites like CDN Planet.
Yes, it’s pricey and has fewer POPs than Bunny or Cloudflare. The majority of KeyCDN’s points of presence are located in Europe and the US. If most of your traffic comes from the US, the UK, or the EU, KeyCDN is a reliable choice given its performance.
Costs for KeyCDN: The minimum monthly fee, which occurs even if you’ve never used the service, makes it an expensive option. Moreover, there’s a $50 minimum top-up cap. For BunnyCDN, it is almost the lowest possible annual cost.
You can try KeyCDN for free for 14 days, with no payment required, but its pricing is significantly higher than that of BunnyCDN, FlyingCDN, and others.
BunnyCDN, however, is more economical, offers 120 POPs, and provides an optimizer to boost your website’s static assets. So, KeyCDN is good, but Bunny is still better due to its features. KeyCDN is suitable if your target audience is in the EU or the US.
Finally:
- KeyCDN has many active POPs in Europe and the US.
- Setup is uncomplicated, offering a CDN integration plugin for WordPress users.
- Paid image optimization gives you all the features you can’t get in WP plugins.
- It has helpful documents, blog posts, and FREE measurement tools.
- Bot protection, SSL, custom robots.txt, and blocklists are security features.
6. Gcore
Gcore is a global cloud platform like Cloudflare and has a free plan with 1 TB monthly bandwidth. It has over 200 POP across ALL continents, making it reliable anywhere in the world. Yes, it supports full-page caching, but it is not as easy to set up as Cloudflare.
It supports Anycast DNS and has a free tier. But I do not recommend Gcore for small sites; the free plan doesn’t have optimization features.
Gcore has a WordPress plugin for its CDN service, similar in design to the BunnyCDN plugin, but it hasn’t been updated in three years. With it, you can choose which types of files to cache and even pick specific files. Plus, you have the option to list any files that shouldn’t be cached by entering their URLs.
The dashboard is also quite polished but not easy to use for new users. Like Cloudflare, Gcore offers 4 CDN plans, from free to enterprise. Unlike Cloudflare, their CDN and security are separate services, requiring a separate plan for advanced website security.
Finally, Gcore is a suitable CDN for large websites that need features like origin storage, on-demand video, and extensive image delivery support. If you have a simple website, you should use Cloudflare Free; it’s more than enough.
7. RocketCDN
RocketCDN is part of the official WordPress CDN for the WP Rocket cache plugin, but you can use it even if you’re not a WP Rocket client.
RocketCDN previously served static files from StackPath but now uses BunnyCDN. It is only bonded for delivering static files from BunnyCDN, nothing else.
And WP Rocket now offers a free CDN, enabling you to accelerate three key pages across 10 edge locations with no bandwidth limits.
Unlike Cloudflare or other modern content delivery networks, it doesn’t cache full pages; instead, it accelerates image delivery and uses 120 edge locations.
In a nutshell, RocketCDN is more expensive than Bunny and FlyingCDN. The only thing is that you don’t need a complex setup like Bunny; it’s simple.
If you use Bunny directly, you’ll need to do some manual work. You can customize things with it and host more sites. I don’t see any enhancements in RocketCDN. It’s just a CDN (I don’t see any reason to use it).
8. Jetpack CDN
Using the Automattic free content delivery network, you can use Jetpack to deliver your images and static files. Jetpack uses Automattic’s CDN, but I don’t suggest using it.
It is slow and lacks features that you are likely to find useful. It has a lot of autoloads. Yes, a CDN is essential for optimizing websites, but plugins like Jetpack are not ideal for any sites, as they can slow them down with bloated features.
Jetpack CDN FACTS:
- Mobile-friendly image resizing.
- Features and bandwidth usage aren’t visible to users.
- Free CDN services are available to all users, regardless of their site’s size or traffic.
- You cannot customize any aspect of the website or its options.
- There’s no information available about Automattic CDN POPs or their numbers.
JetPack CDN isn’t really the best pick for most users. You might want to try Cloudflare’s free service instead. Yes, it is a free CDN for WordPress, but it requires the Jetpack plugin, which isn’t a good fit due to its unnecessary features.
To Wrap It Up
A CDN for WordPress, even for WooCommerce, is helpful for all websites. Cloudflare, FlyingCDN, and BunnyCDN are the best CDNs for WordPress.
Often, premium WordPress hosting comes with a built-in CDN or offers it as an add-on, so you won’t need an external CDN.
Still, you don’t need them unless your website has plenty of global visitors or is minimal and doesn’t require more setup. When your server isn’t up to the task or isn’t fast enough to handle your website load, a CDN reduces the load on your web server.
And CDN Planet is a helpful website for comparing/understanding CDN performance. From a performance view, you only need a CDN if your traffic comes from a notable distance. If you get a lot of traffic from overseas, I mean outside your country.
You probably don’t need a content delivery network if most of your visitors are in your own country or a nearby one. But it is helpful if your site has many plugins and themes.
From a security standpoint, if you have a popular website or anything vulnerable to spammers, even a free Cloudflare plan can make a difference. Most CDNs have built-in security features, including anti-malware, firewalls, and DDoS protection.
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