CDN Provider Comparison
CDN Acceleration
Source: 16idc
A comprehensive comparison of global and China-focused CDN providers — pricing, features, performance, and use case recommendations.
Global CDN Providers
| Provider |
Free Tier |
Starting Price |
Nodes |
Best For |
| Cloudflare |
Yes |
Free / $20 Pro |
330+ |
Small-medium sites, security + CDN |
| Bunny CDN |
No |
~$1.40/TB |
119 |
Budget-friendly, pay-as-you-go |
| AWS CloudFront |
No |
~$0.085/GB |
600+ |
AWS ecosystem users |
| Fastly |
No |
~$0.12/GB |
150+ |
High-performance, edge computing |
| Google Cloud CDN |
No |
~$0.08/GB |
200+ |
GCP users |
| Azure CDN |
No |
~$0.08/GB |
150+ |
Microsoft/Azure users |
China-Focused CDN Providers
| Provider |
Pricing |
Nodes in China |
Best For |
| Alibaba Cloud CDN |
~$0.03/GB |
2800+ |
China domestic traffic |
| Tencent Cloud CDN |
~$0.03/GB |
2000+ |
Cost-effective in China |
| UPYun |
~$0.02/GB |
100+ |
Image-heavy sites |
| Qiniu |
~$0.02/GB |
100+ |
Media processing |
Feature Comparison
| Feature |
Cloudflare |
Bunny CDN |
AWS CloudFront |
| WAF |
✅ (included) |
❌ |
✅ (extra cost) |
| DDoS Protection |
✅ Unlimited |
✅ Basic |
✅ Shield ($$$) |
| Edge Computing |
✅ Workers |
❌ |
✅ Lambda@Edge |
| Image Optimization |
✅ Polish |
✅ Optimizer |
✅ (extra cost) |
| Free SSL |
✅ |
✅ |
✅ (ACM) |
| HTTP/3 Support |
✅ |
✅ |
✅ |
| China Access |
❌ (requires ICP) |
❌ |
✅ (China regions) |
Pricing Comparison Example
For a site with 100GB/month traffic:
| Provider |
Estimated Monthly Cost |
| Cloudflare (Free) |
$0 |
| Bunny CDN |
~$1.40 |
| AWS CloudFront |
~$8.50 |
| Fastly |
~$12.00 |
| Alibaba Cloud CDN |
~$3.00 |
Recommendation by Use Case
| Scenario |
Recommended |
Reason |
| Personal blog |
Cloudflare Free |
Free, easy setup, security included |
| Business site (global) |
Cloudflare Pro ($20) |
WAF + performance + DDoS |
| High-traffic (global) |
Bunny CDN |
Low cost per GB, simple pricing |
| China-focused |
Alibaba Cloud CDN |
Best coverage mainland China |
| AWS-integrated |
CloudFront |
Deep AWS ecosystem integration |
| Video streaming |
Bunny CDN |
Affordable large-volume delivery |
Dual-Line Strategy
For sites serving both China and global users:
┌──────────────────┐
User DNS Query →│ Smart DNS (NS1/ │
│ Alibaba DNS) │
└────────┬─────────┘
│
┌───────────┴───────────┐
│ │
China User Global User
│ │
┌────────▼────────┐ ┌─────────▼────────┐
│ Alibaba Cloud │ │ Cloudflare / │
│ CDN │ │ Bunny CDN │
└─────────────────┘ └──────────────────┘