best cdn services

Best CDN Services for WordPress in 2017

Table of Contents

With different updates rolled by Google to improve user experience, Site speed is something that is largely in focus. A better site speed very much helps you maintain your positions on Google. However many of us don’t take it seriously and hence fails to gain good positions.

Moreover site-speed being a single metric is connected to many more ranking factors. A slow speed will in turn cause poor user engagement, pogo-sticking and sometimes even causes high bounce rate.

So do you now understand the importance of site speed ? I guess, yes 😀

Well when talking about speed of your wordpress blog, one thing that comes into picture is CDN !! Heard of it ?? If you are new to WP then this is something you should read about. Let me help you ! 🙂

What is a CDN and Why is it Needed for your WP Blog ?

[mks_pullquote align=”left” width=”750″ size=”18″ bg_color=”#1e73be” txt_color=”#ffffff”]A content delivery network or content distribution network (CDN) is a large distributed system of proxy servers deployed in multiple data centers via the Internet. The goal of a CDN is to serve content to end-users with high availability and high performance. [/mks_pullquote]

Understanding CDN
image from gtmetrix

 

Have a look at this video for a simple explanation.


Now that you know what a CDN is, let me also add up some points on Why your site needs a CDN ! Keeping it simple and short 😉

  • Speed – It improves your site speed / loading time. Check your speed here:
  • Prevents Server Crashes – It does so by distributing the load to multiple servers instead of having the load on your main server.
  • Improves User Experience – A fast site means a better experience to users, it will lead to more page views, less bounce rate and also low pogo sticking rate.
  • Improves Ranking – Well speed is ranking factor mentioned by google and by using CDN we clearly can win it.

10 Best CDN Services for WordPress

After knowing what is a CDN, how it works and why it is needed !! The next thing that comes into mind is, Which CDN Service one should pick. Since there are over 100s of small and large scale CDN services, bloggers often find it difficult to choose the right one for their blog.

One more thing that many of us get confused with is to whether go for a paid CDN service or to just pick the best free CDN service for your blog.

So here we are listing the best CDN services that offers the highest value to its users.

1. MaxCDNPAID

maxcdn review

If you really want the best out of CDN, then this one should be your pick. Though its not free but the features it provides makes it worth. So if you plan to invest some money for CDN, then pick MaxCDN without any doubt.

Used by most of the big sites like WP Beginner, Template Monster, WP Engine etc, MaxCDN provides various plans for its users to choose from.

Some notable features are :

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  1. Servers located in over 10 countries.
  2. Extra Secure with a 2 step authentication and tokens.
  3. Provides realtime data and analytics.
  4. Easily integrable with W3Cache plugin
  5. Pricing starts with just 9$/month

 

2. CloudFlareFREE/PAID

cloudflare cdn

If you own a self hosted wordpress blog, you must be knowing about Cloudflare CDN since its basic plan is completely FREE, yes you read it right, FREE !! and it provides nearly everything that you expect from a content delivery network.

With over 25 data centres across the globe, Cloudflare’s intelligent CDN provides content at a super fast speed. They are also very efficient in blocking unwanted requests from abusive bots and crawlers, thus saving your bandwidth upto a great extent.

cloudflare cdn

Some special features of cloudflare CDN are:

  1. Powerful DNS that is highly secure and fast, thus providing you max speed and bandwidth.
  2. Protects websites from various online threats and attacks.
  3. Full analytics including threat logs and search crawler insights.
  4. Free plan also involves SSL support.
  5. One click apps allowing you to control everything with just few clicks.
  6. Pro plan for just 20$/month.

 

3. Rackspace CDNPAID

best free cdn

Another excellent provider of CDN !! It promises uptime of 99.9% and lets you upload large media files like HD movies etc in segments and allows you to download them as a single file. With over 200 locations and 3 copies per file, it ensures 100% delivery of your content with a super fast speed.

Special features include :

  1. 200 edge locations over 6 continents.
  2. Always keeps your server/host secure from heavy traffic load.
  3. Simple integration and setup.
  4. Provides custom SSL
  5. Starting at just 0.10$/TB

 

4. Photon by JetPack – FREE

Photon-by-Jetpack

Well if you are WP user, then you don’t need any introduction to Jetpack. But to be honest, you still don’t know all the features jetpack is compiled with. One such extra addon is a CDN called Photon.

Photon is a FREE content delivery network by Jetpack. However its not the same as other, but if you have lots of images on your site it is good to activate this plugin. Photon provides free image caching service and thus takes the load off your hosting server and also providing images faster to the users.

To activate it, you just have to go to your jetpack plugin and activate photon. No extra plugins or work needed !! Simple right ?? 🙂

5. Swarmify – PAID

swarmify cdn

Well every CDN has something special and this one has some special features too, Swarmify is basically a peer to peer based CDN offering a free image plan with 10GB image bandwidth. Awesome right ?? 😀

Other plans starts at 5$/Month !! A perfect CDN for websites having lots of images and videos.

6. jsDelivr FREE

Javascript !! Well this is over the web and every WP blog contains a lot of javascript files. So why not get a CDN for hosting js files !!

jsDelivr offers the same, its a public CDN for hosting JS libraries and files associated to it. Another feature is, its supported by Cloudflare and MaxCDN.

So host your fonts, CSS and JS libraries with jsDeliver CDN. 😀

 

7. Incapsula – FREE/PAID

free cdn services

Well I like this one a lot !!

This CDN offers caching of both Static and dynamic content, something that many other CDNs might consider uncachable.  This along with many other special features makes it one of the best in the market. Its being used and trusted by MOZ, WIX, Hitachi, SEIMENS etc.

A free plan includes bot protection, access control, login protect, IPv6 Support, CDN and Optimizer, website analytics, and community support.

free cdn services

Key features include:

  1. Intelligent Caching and Cache controlling
  2. Rapid cache purging and cache rule propagation
  3. Integrated security and availability features
  4. Takes 5 minutes to setup with a simple WP plugin and super detailed dashboard

 

8. CacheFly – PAID

cachefly cdn review

Let me put this way !! Trusted by Microsoft, LG, Adobe, Toyota, Bank of America !!

Umm, what do you think ??

Well yes, one of the best in Business !! CacheFly is a superfast CDN with over 40 data centers always running to provide data in the most efficient way. Using GZip technology, CacheFly always saves bandwidth and supercharges your site speed. Apart from this, it also provides users a very dynamic control panel with all the statistics.

You can try a 14 day free trial before buying it. And then pay as you go. No monthly payment system !! Quite cool 😀

9. CDN77 – PAID

CDN77 will boost your site performance to a great extent. Although they are new in the market, they are the first to provide HTTP/2 support to their customers. This feature will help you improve your site speed and security. Apart from this they also have a very transparent and simple service to people which makes easy to get started.

Some special features:

  • Custom SSL support
  • Complete access of your log files
  • 27 Data centres in over 20 countries.
  • Unlimited number of CDN resources
  • Real time analytics and reporting
  • Hotlinking protection and Geoblocking

You can start a 14-day free trial to try out the service.

CDN77 Review

 

Final Verdict

With speed a very huge factor, having a CDN is must !! You can pick any of the above CDN providers but its recommended to first have a look at your requirements. Moreover if you own a small/medium sized website getting 20,000 to 60,000 views per month, then I would recommend you to go for CloudFlare. If you are running something big, then MaxCDN is highly recommended. You can also go with rackspace and cloudflare premium plans for the same. For new sites, Photon, Cloudflare (free) and other free CDNs are recommended. iftiSEO uses CloudFlare. 

About The Author
Iftekhar Ahmed
Iftekhar Ahmed is the owner of iftiSEO.com and writes on various topics like Online Earning, SEO, Blogging etc. He has worked on many blogs and also works as an SEO Analyst.

21 Responses

  1. Hi, If we really want to speed up our website I think we need CDN network. I am using maxcdn since 5 years and it works without an issue. By the way, your list is also amazing i will try any other CDN network for my newly created blog.

  2. Hay bro, many thanks for you sharing this great tutorial and helpful, I really love it, It seems that this too is important for blogger.

  3. I have only used Cloudflare free version for 1 of my website and its working quite well. And since it is on 2nd position in your list, I do’t think I have to go for any other.

  4. Hi there!

    great post… i am using Cloudflare which works for me pretty good, i wonder free cloudlfare works so awesome then what about paid one. well i heard maxCDN is also good may be one day i will try .

    Thanks for sharing with us

  5. Where is Akamai? You missed out really a very important brand in the list. Many big portals use Akamai only like Quikr, Expedia and so on.

  6. Cool, thanks for mentioning us!

    We also offer 24/5 live chat support! And yes, we currently have 28 pops, not 27 ^_^

  7. hi ifti,
    nice post good knowledge as i am your regular reader your all the post articles are very good.

  8. Hi Ahmed , Nice Post .If say friendly I’m reading about this kind of service for first time.It seems that this too is important for blogger.

  9. Please bro,I operate on bloggers platform and Am in need of your directives on how to activate the comment section on my blog. My visitors opinions need to be heard. Please bro,kindly get back to me through my email. Thanks in expectation of your reply

  10. Brother thank you very much for this awesome article.
    As you gave the site to check speed of my site and tested and it shows 4.75s can you please guide me how can i make it less? 🙂

  11. If cdn is doing everything, like hosting and controlling the site’s traffic, then why people buy Highly paid hosting for their sites, infact everything can be done by simply getting $1 month cheap hosting and then use any free cdn for it and you will get better speed rather then having $5 month hosting. What’s you say?

    1. Hi

      You took the definition wrong, it doesn’t host your site. It just takes off load by distributing data over its data servers. Its a different thing.

      Thanks

  12. HI Ifti..
    First of All thanks for this healthy Post.. Site speed maters a lot on SERP and also help our readers by delivering a Cool Website. Please share your Experience With Amazon Aws… if you can 🙂

  13. Hi Bro,
    You have explained very well about these services.
    These services are better for maintain your site speed as well as maintain your positions on Google.
    Thanks for sharing this awesome post with us.
    Regards
    AMIT KUMAR

Comments are closed.