Learn about the most suitable CDN providers for your WooCommerce and WordPress websites and how to choose one (features, coverage, pricing).
Content delivery networks typically cache your website files and keep them on their POPs so users can access them faster – it helps speed up the rendering time of images, CSS, JS, and other stuff used in loading your site. Your website will offer a better experience to users worldwide, not just local users.
If you choose the best CDN for Woocommerce, you’ll know how much bandwidth you need and what assets (big or small files) must be cached.
Suppose you don’t use a CDN, and your site is hosted on a server in India, and all your website visitors connect to it. Indian and other South Asian visitors experience fast page load times. However, visitors from overseas countries like the US experience slow loading speeds. There can be a significant time difference depending on whether the files are loaded from near or far.
When you use a CDN, you can configure your WordPress site to copy static files to the CDN. Providers copy files to their Edge locations using different host names, like cdn.EXsite.com.
When someone visits your site, everything loads from the actual domain, but your site assets load from your CDN hostname.
CDN automatically routes users to the closest POP based on their location. Visitors are accessing a nearby EDGE instead of connecting to the origin server.
1. FlyingCDN
Currently, FlyingCDN operates as the official CDN for the FlyingPress cache plugin and is an automatic WordPress CDN – runs on Cloudflare Enterprise.
As I have already written an overview of FlyingCDN, I do not intend to write a comprehensive section in this article. CDNs typically deliver content to visitors, but FlyingCDN does this well with over 300 Cloudflare EDGES.
It’s not a typical CDN, but Cloudflare works well even through proxies. FlyingCDN can reduce the need for many paid WP plugins, such as security, image, and other optimizations, because it includes them by default.
Some 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. And Rocket.net uses C-enterprise with tons of features.
- Optimizing images: Optimize image file sizes with Cloudflare Polish without decreasing quality – additionally, convert images to WebP in the background without altering the URLs.
- Security Features: integrated firewall with DDoS attacks and malicious traffic with a free wildcard SSL certificate for any subdomain.
- Manage traffic spikes: 300+ edges reduce server load, manage traffic spikes easily, and deliver faster – It can benefit Woocommerce sites.
- Optimized for dynamic websites: It still caches pages even when items are in the user cart – other pages like cached pages for signed-in users.
- 7-day free trial: You can sign up for Flying CDN for free for 7 days without submitting credit card details.
It is also a very affordable CDN option compared to others, and it provides enterprise-level features that you can’t find in other CDNs.
One website costs $5 per month, which includes 100GB of bandwidth, and any additional bandwidth costs $5 per 100 GB.
Flying CDN has many other features that I did not mention in this post. However, it has some cons, like that it doesn’t allow you to change any settings, and users must use the FlyingPress cache plugin, which is a notable restriction.
2. Cloudflare
Unlike others, Cloudflare CDN doesn’t copy your files to a separate URL. Instead, it copies them to their EDGEs and delivers them to users. This is all because Cloudflare works with DNS, giving it more control over how your site loads.
A traditional CDN copies your website files to the CDN POP and loads files from CDN addresses like cdn.EXdomain.com. This process is ideal because I don’t want to use separate host names.
Using Cloudflare, you can change your NS to Cloudflare, automatically loading your static and dynamic assets (via Automatic Platform Optimization) from the nearest servers. Cloudflare is a reliable DNS provider – Fast DNS is essential for fast TTFB since DNS and network speed play a big role in website speed.
You don’t have to use Cloudflare directly – these days, multiple providers offer innovative WordPress CDN services that use Cloudflare Enterprise.
There are lots of service providers that offer Cloudflare Enterprise, including FlyingCDN, Rocket.net Hosting, BigScoots Speed, 10Web Booster, etc.
Cloudflare APO:
Most CDNs serve static assets (images, CSS, JS, fonts, etc.) from their POPs. But caching HTML at the CDN level helps your site load faster because almost everything is packed from the CDN.
When you use APO, you can dramatically reduce TTFB, load time, and other site speed metrics for visitors located far from the origin server. It enables you to attain fast site speeds regardless of your web host or server.
Even with Cloudflare’s free CDN, Automatic Platform Optimization is an effective way to speed up your WordPress site. You’ll be required to get a token and add it to Cloudflare’s plugin (make sure caching is enabled) because the plugin caches HTML locally, and APO sends it to Cloudflare’s edges. (CDN for WP)
As these are separate types of caching, it is also essential to enable both.
Cloudflare Pro:
Cloudflare Pro is a solid option if you can afford $25-M. It’d be better to use other CF service providers because they’re cheaper and have better features.
If you wish to customize things according to your own preferences, Pro is the right choice for you – provides fast content delivery to your websites.
It has several useful features, like Polish-Mirage Image Optimization, prioritized loading, CDN monitoring, and automatic platform optimization (APO).
Argo Smart Routing:
You can also use Argo Smart Routing, which can detect network failures in real-time – it can route traffic through the most optimal network path and detect issues related to the Cloudflare network. Cloudflare’s Argo service reduces loading times, increases reliability – saves bandwidth by optimizing routes.
Cloudflare says Argo Smart Routing reduces Internet latency by 30 percent and connection failures by 27 percent. With Argo, you will be charged $5.00 per month + usage. Cloudflare charges you $0.10 per gigabyte over the first GB.
In a nutshell,
Even with the free version, Cloudflare’s WordPress CDN routes traffic to more than 250 data centers. Argo and APO are notably useful for improving TTFB if you’ve got an eCommerce site or multi-page site.
It reduces the geographical distance between your server and your visitors, as well as minimizing the number of requests sent to your origin server.
Although Cloudflare isn’t the fastest CDN, you can get more out of it with other Cloudflare features. Particularly if you’re using Cloudflare’s paid services.
3. BunnyCDN
BunnyCDN is a solid choice and one of the top choices for many web devs and publishers. The primary concern with BunnyCDN is that there’s no full-page cache option for WordPress users, but Bunny can be used with Cloudflare.
In addition to ranking highly on CDNPERF – BunnyCDN offers large edge networks, various configurations, and a simple setup process.
There are more than 120 BUNNY Global POPs, over 30 locations in Europe, and 38 in North and South America. It is also super cheap, and the prices are reasonable compared to other content delivery networks.
Prices are based on regions – If you don’t get traffic from certain places, like South America, Oceania, etc., you can restrict. 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 calculate an approximate monthly charge for traffic.
WordPress users can set up Bunny using the BunnyCDN plugin. Go to advanced configuration to add your access key, which allows you to clear the cache directly from the plugin UI – It can enhance the CDN to serve more content.
If not, you can add the pull zone name with another CDN or cache plugin.
BunnyCDN Perma-Cache: (Perma-cache, AKA geo-replication).
When this setting is enabled, Bunny will routinely copy your web files to the designated storage locations. You will need to select the areas where you would like your files duplicated – pick locations that get a lot of traffic.
Next time, most requests will not be sent to the origin server, as the nearest zone will be used to pull assets – increases cache hit ratios and reduces lag.
Bunny CDN WordPress incurs an additional cost, and I prefer the full-page cache rather than the perma-cache. You can also 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
This optimizer has many features, such as WebP image compression, integrated image optimization, and CSS – JS minification. (Bunny CDN WordPress)
So BunnyCDN is ideal for WordPress users, and yes, there is an additional cost for all of its features – it’s up to you, but I prefer Cloudflare, FlyingCDN, etc.
4. QUIC.cloud
If you are a LiteSpeed server user, QUIC.cloud would be an acceptable CDN with extra security features. QUIC is designed for LiteSpeed and has expanded edge locations with the complete page cache feature.
This CDN is acceptable for users with the technical prowess to set up and customize all the settings. But QUIC.cloud doesn’t appeal to me as much as LiteSpeed Cache.
You can get QUIC.cloud for free, but the free plan only uses 6 points of presence and lacks DDoS protection. But paid plans use more than 80 locations with DDoS. Bandwidth costs 2 to 8 cents per GB in USD under the paid plan.
Advantages:
- QUIC.cloud offers the critical benefit of caching dynamic HTML content (Improve TTFB around the world).
- With QUIC, you get proper HTTP/3 – optimizes the images and pages and handles elements like critical CSS and low-quality images.
- With LiteSpeed’s caching, you can benefit even if your server doesn’t use it.
- QUIC CDN has extra WP security features like Brute Force Defense, captchas, security measures, and XML-RPC restrictions.
On your QUIC.cloud dashboard, you can see all the information you need. And LiteSpeed Cache allows you to use these features. The majority of WP cache plugins have CDN integration.
I think QUIC.cloud isn’t that attractive or easy for the average person to set up. In addition, it doesn’t work as well as other Cloudflare integrations, but if you use LiteSpeed Cache, you may find it useful.
5. KeyCDN
KeyCDN is another well-known content delivery network based in Europe. However, it’s pricey and has fewer server locations than Bunny – Cloudflare. The majority of KeyCDN’s POPs are in Europe and the US.
So, if most of your traffic comes from American, British, or EU regions, KeyCDN is a solid choice with performance features. KeyCDN is outdated since the full-page cache isn’t available, and the dashboard needs to be more compelling.
Costs for KeyCDN
Minimum monthly fee, which applies even if you’ve never used the connection, makes it an expensive option. Besides that, there’s a $50 top-up minimum. For BunnyCDN, it is almost the lowest possible amount for 1 year.
The price of KeyCDN is much higher than BunnyCDN, FlyingCDN, etc. You can also try KeyCDN for free for 14 days without payment.
Advantages:
- In Europe and the US, KeyCDN has a lot of active POPs.
- KeyCDN’s setup is uncomplicated, offering a CDN integration plugin for WordPress users.
- With paid image optimization, you receive all the features you cannot find in a WP plugin.
- Extra security features include bot protection, SSL enforcement, custom robots.txt, and blocklists.
- Have helpful WP documents, blog posts, and tools for measuring global performance.
BunnyCDN, however, is more affordable, has 120 POPs, and comes with an optimizer to optimize static files for your website. So, KeyCDN is a good service, but Bunny is still better due to its many features. They’re good if your target audience is in Europe or US, whereas they are unacceptable for Africa and Asia.
The documentation is helpful, although KeyCDN is too costly and unsuitable for smaller sites. And free resources can be used to analyze websites.
6. 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 used to serve static files from StackPath’s servers, but now they use BunnyCDN.
It is only responsible for delivering static files from BunnyCDN and nothing else. Unlike Cloudflare or other modern CDNs, it doesn’t cache full pages, speeds up images, and uses 120 edge locations. (Other things)
RocketCDN is really expensive compared to Bunny and FlyingCDN. The only thing is that you don’t need a complicated setup like Bunny, and it’s simple.
If you use Bunny directly, you’ll need to do some manual work. However, you can customize things with BUNNY and host more sites.
I don’t see any progress in RocketCDN as a CDN for Woocommerce and WordPress; it’s just another regular CDN, so there’s no reason to use it.
7. 10Web Booster
10Web Booster is a WordPress speed optimization service with multiple features. But I’m only talking about 10Web Booster WordPress CDN.
With 10Web Booster, you get Cloudflare Enterprise CDN like FlyingCDN with better security. It speeds up WordPress websites with optimization techniques, and Cloudflare’s CDN caches static and dynamic content of websites worldwide at over 280 locations.
Yes – Cloudflare’s free and pro-CDN features reduce load times and bandwidth charges. However, Cloudflare Enterprise gives your website optimal static and dynamic content caching for better availability and advanced security features.
10Web Booster Features:
- Enterprise CDN: Powered by Cloudflare Enterprise.
- Page Cache: Page cache, also known as full page caching with Cloudflare, includes HTML page cache, file cache, smart caching, user-based, browser-specific, and others. Visitors get your cache instead of hosting.
- Image Optimization: Automatic image optimization based on device and network type. WebP compression, custom resizing, and image preloading make images load faster. (Utilizing Mirage and Polish)
- Security features: keep website performance stable while protecting websites from DDoS and bot attacks, protect data with Cloudflare’s WAF, and provide a free SSL certificate.
Personal | Premium | Agency | |
---|---|---|---|
Websites | 1 | 3 | 10 |
Bandwidth | 100GB | 200GB | 700GB |
10Web Booster is a solid website option; you can test it for free with their WordPress plugin (free CDN for WordPress). You need paid plans such as Personal, Premium, and Agency if you want full features. Plan costs are reasonable if you pay annually, but monthly fees are high. The personal plan costs $6/month if you pay yearly but $14 if you pay month-to-month.
8. Jetpack
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 has features you are likely not to find useful.
It has a lot of autoloads. There is no doubt that CDNs are an essential part of optimizing our websites, but plugins like Jetpack are not the ideal choice for many websites since they slow down your website with bloated features.
Advantages:
- It offers free WP CDN services to all users.
- Easily install and set up with one click.
- Mobile-friendly image resizing.
- It doesn’t matter how big or how busy your site is.
Negatives:
- Yes, Jetpack is a free CDN for WordPress – but you need the Jetpack plugin, and it’s not a good fit since it’s slow and has unnecessary features.
- You cannot customize anything about the website or its options.
- Features and bandwidth usage aren’t visible to users.
- There’s no info about Automattic CDN POPs or how many they have.
Ultimately, JetPack WP CDN is not an ideal option for most users. Instead, I suggest trying Cloudflare’s free service, which is a more viable option. CDNs are also critical for WordPress’ caching – including server-side and cache plugins.
To Wrap It Up
When your web server isn’t up to the task or isn’t fast enough to handle your website load, a CDN can help reduce the load on your web server. From a performance perspective, you only need it if your traffic comes from a considerable distance.
In other words, if you have significant visitors worldwide, I mean traffic from far away. A CDN for Woocommerce and WordPress is not necessary if your traffic is primarily domestic and from nearby countries.
CDN’s helpful if your site has many plugins and themes. Considering website security, if you have a popular site, a shopping site, or anything vulnerable to spammers, then even a free Cloudflare can make a difference. Most CDNs have built-in security features, like anti-malware, firewalls, DDOS filters, etc.
The best CDN for Woocommerce and WordPress CDN services are mainly helpful for all websites. Still, you don’t need them unless your website has a lot of global visitors or is minimal and doesn’t require more setup.
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