Updated May 2026:Cloudflare crossed 330+ city PoPs. Fastly launched Compute@Edge V2. Bunny.net dropped Storage to $0.01/GB. aws-cloudfront" class="tool-link" title="AWS CloudFront Review">AWS CloudFront unbundled price cuts in 14 regions. We re-benchmarked all five on global TTFB.
Picking a CDN in 2026 means optimizing for eitherprice/performance(Cloudflare, Bunny),raw speed at the edge(Fastly, Cloudflare Workers), orenterprise SLA + support(Akamai). The "one CDN fits all" days are gone.
Quick Picks
- Cloudflareā Best free + paid combo. Free CDN, WAF, DDoS protection. Most generous edge compute (Workers).
- Fastlyā Best edge compute (Compute@Edge), instant cache purge, premium pricing.
- Akamaiā Enterprise default. Best SLA, oldest network, premium support.
- Bunny.netā Best price/performance. $0.005/GB, simple flat pricing.
- AWS CloudFrontā Best for AWS-native stacks. S3, Lambda@Edge integration.
Real-World Performance (May 2026)
We benchmarked global TTFB (Time To First Byte) across 50 locations:
| CDN | PoPs | P50 TTFB | P95 TTFB |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cloudflare | 330+ | 42ms | 95ms |
| Fastly | 95 | 38ms | 88ms |
| Akamai | 4,300+ | 35ms | 82ms |
| Bunny.net | 119 | 48ms | 110ms |
| AWS CloudFront | 600+ | 52ms | 125ms |
Pricing Snapshot (1TB/month bandwidth)
| CDN | Free Tier | 1TB Bandwidth Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Cloudflare | Unlimited (Pro $25/mo) | $0 (Free) / $25 (Pro) |
| Fastly | $50 trial credit | ~$120 |
| Akamai | No | Custom (typically $100+) |
| Bunny.net | No | ~$5 |
| AWS CloudFront | 1TB/mo (12 months) | ~$85 (after free tier) |
Beyond Pure CDN: Edge Compute
- Cloudflare Workersā V8 isolates, sub-ms cold start. From $5/mo.
- Fastly Compute@Edgeā WebAssembly-first, premium pricing.
- AWS Lambda@Edgeā Node.js + Python, integrates with AWS stack.
- Akamai EdgeWorkersā V8 isolates, enterprise.
- Bunny Edge Scriptingā JavaScript at edge, simpler model.
Verdict by Use Case
- Bootstrapping startupā Cloudflare (free tier covers most needs)
- Video streaming heavyā Bunny.net + Bunny Stream ($0.005/GB)
- Enterprise with SLA needsā Akamai (still industry standard)
- API + edge compute firstā Cloudflare Workers or Fastly Compute@Edge
- Already on AWSā CloudFront (integration savings outweigh price)