The Best 7 Content Delivery Network (CDN) Providers For Video Streaming?

We all are aware of the fact that video streaming has become an integral part of the modern internet, with millions of users around the world relying on it for entertainment, education, and communication.

However, delivering high-quality content with video CDN to a global audience can be a challenging task, especially if you don’t have the right infrastructure in place. 

That’s where a content delivery network (CDN) comes into the picture. Basically, a CDN is a global network of servers that helps deliver content more efficiently and reliably to the users around the world.

They work by replicating content and storing it on servers located in strategic locations around the world, allowing users to access it from the server that is closest to them. This helps to reduce latency and improve the overall user experience.

In this blog post, we will be looking at the top 7 CDN providers for video streaming, highlighting their key features and capabilities. Whether you’re a small business owner, a successful content creator, or an online streaming service provider, these CDNs can help you by delivering the best possible video experience to your audience.

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What is a Video Content Delivery Network (CDN)?

What is Video CDN? A video Content Delivery Network (CDN) is a system of distributed servers that are used to deliver video content to users across the internet.

CDNs work by replicating video content and storing it on servers located in different locations around the world. When a user requests to watch a video, the CDN will redirect the request to the server that is nearer to the user, resulting in faster delivery of the video and a better overall viewing experience.

By the way, CDNs are particularly useful for delivering video content. Wondering why? This is because video files are often large and can take more time to download.

By using a CDN, the video content can be delivered faster and more reliably, ensuring that the users can stream HD content without facing any interruption.

CDNs are also beneficial for handling high levels of traffic, as they are designed to distribute the load across multiple servers, which thereby reduces the strain on any single server and improves overall performance.  

 

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Key Benefits Of Using a CDN For Streaming Video 

1. Trouble-Free Scalability

A CDN distributes content across a network of servers located in multiple locations around the world. This allows it to handle a large volume of traffic and support a high number of concurrent users without experiencing performance issues. 

This is particularly important for large events or times of peak traffic, as it ensures that the users can access the content without any interruptions or delays. Overall, the scalability of a CDN ensures that users can access the content seamlessly without any problem. 

2. Superior Quality

A CDN can improve the quality of streaming content by reducing buffering and other interruptions. It does this by storing a copy of the content on each of its servers and serving the content from the server that is closest to the user’s location. 

This reduces the distance that the content has to travel, which can improve the overall speed of the delivery and reduces the chances of interruption due to network congestion or other issues. A CDN can also support HD and UHD streaming, allowing users to enjoy high-quality content. 

3. Blazing Fast Speed

As mentioned in the above section, CDN improves the speed of content delivery by serving content from a server that is a bit closer to the user’s location. This reduces the distance that the content has to travel, which significantly improves the speed of delivery. 

Overall, one can say that the speed of content delivery is an important factor in ensuring a seamless and enjoyable viewing experience for users. This can be especially important for users who are located far from the content origin server, as it can help to reduce the time it takes for content to reach them.

4. Reliability And Rock Solid Security

A CDN can provide additional security measures such as DDoS protection and SSL encryption to protect the content against cyber threats. It can also help to ensure the reliable delivery of streaming content, even during times of high traffic or technical issues. 

This is because a CDN distributes content across a network of servers, which means that if one server goes offline or experiences performance issues, the content can still be taken from another video streaming server. This can help to prevent any unfortunate disruptions in the present or future. 

5. Budget Friendly Infrastructure

Using a CDN can be a cost-effective solution for delivering streaming content, as it allows content providers to outsource content delivery to a third-party provider rather than building and maintaining their own infrastructure. 

This can help to reduce costs and increase efficiency, as content providers can focus on producing and distributing content rather than worrying about the technical aspects of delivery. Additionally, a CDN can provide a flexible and scalable solution that can be easily adjusted to meet changing demand, allowing content providers to meet the needs of their users without incurring additional costs.

List Of Top 7+ Best Video CDN Providers You Should Consider In 2024

1. Akamai

Akamai is a leading provider of cloud-based services for delivering, optimizing, and securing online content and applications.

It operates a global network of servers and uses a variety of technologies to deliver content quickly and efficiently to users around the world. 

Akamai’s services include content delivery, application performance, and security solutions for businesses and organizations of all sizes. In addition to its core services, Akamai also offers a range of complementary solutions for optimizing the delivery of web content and applications, including analytics, cloud security, and cloud storage.   

Basic Functionality Of Akamai Video CDN

Akamai improves the delivery of both static and dynamic web content. This is accomplished by keeping copies of content on servers across the world and serving the content to users from the server nearest to them.

This shortens the distance the content must travel and increases the speed with which it is delivered to the users. Akamai also offers its customers security and protection against web attacks such as DDoS attacks.

Key Features Of Akamai’s Video Streaming CDN

• Provides security against web attacks.
• Stores copies of content on its servers, improving delivery speed.
• It can handle large amounts of traffic.
• Allows customization of CDN configurations.
• Optimizes the delivery of content to mobile devices and improves the load time of pages.
• Akamai is designed to optimize the delivery of web content and improve the overall performance of websites and applications. 

Pricing Details

When it comes to pricing, Akamai does not publicly disclose its pricing details. The cost of using Akamai’s CDN services will depend on a number of factors, including the type and volume of content being delivered, the level of security and protection needed, and the specific features and services required. 

It is generally recommended to contact Akamai directly for a customized quote based on your specific needs. Additionally, Akamai offers a variety of pricing models, including pay-as-you-go, volume-based pricing, and long-term contracts, to meet the needs of different customers.

2. Amazon CloudFront

Amazon CloudFront offers a number of features to improve the performance and security of web content. This includes the ability to deliver content over the Amazon Web Services (AWS) global network, which has over 100 points of presence around the world. 

CloudFront also integrates with other AWS services, such as Amazon S3 and Amazon EC2, making it easy to use in conjunction with other cloud-based applications and services. In addition, CloudFront offers a range of security features, such as SSL/TLS encryption and support for custom SSL certificates.

Basic Functionality Of Best CDN For Video Streaming

CloudFront supports a wide range of content types, including audio and video streaming, live streaming, and software downloads. It also offers a range of security features, including support for custom SSL certificates, to help protect the confidentiality and integrity of transmitted data.

CloudFront can be configured to deliver content using different methods, such as using a custom domain name or using a subdomain of the CloudFront domain.

Key Features Of Amazon CloudFront’s Media Delivery Network

• Offers a range of tools and features to help monitor and optimize the performance of content delivery. 
• Real-time analytics and the ability to set up alerts for performance issues.
• Allows users to create custom policies to control how content is delivered, such as setting caching rules and specifying which regions to deliver content from.
• This CDN is cost-effective as it offers pay-as-you-go pricing.
• It can be integrated with a variety of other services, such as Amazon Route 53, AWS WAF, and Amazon CloudWatch, to further customize and optimize content delivery.
• Provides powerful security with AWS Shield Standards to protect against DDoS attacks at no extra cost.

Pricing Details

Amazon CloudFront pricing is based on the volume of data transferred, the number of requests made, and the type of content being delivered.

There are several pricing options available, including a pay-as-you-go model and a volume-based pricing model. In the pay-as-you-go model, customers pay for the data transferred and the number of requests made on a per-gigabyte and per-request basis.

The cost of data transfer and requests varies depending on the location of the user and the origin server.

In the volume-based pricing model, customers can purchase a predefined amount of data transfer and requests at a discounted rate. This option is generally suitable for customers with predictable traffic patterns and higher volume usage.

There are also additional charges for certain features and services, such as using a custom SSL certificate or streaming video content. It is generally recommended to contact Amazon directly for a customized quote based on your specific needs.

3. Gcore CDN

Gcore provides top-notch infrastructure, ready to broadcast events with an audience of more than 10M viewers. Gcore CDN is a well-suited and optimized solution for video on demand (VOD) and live streaming, for any ambitious media projects, whether it’s a large-scale broadcasting event with a global audience or a mobile app’ live stream. 

Basic Functionality Of Best CDN For Video Streaming

Gcore CDN helps to deliver stutter-free playback even for hi-res video files, providing your audience with an almost real-time image of the event. For live streaming, Gcore CDN ingests the video segments right from the video recording device in real time and caches them on edge servers.

Caching at the edges prevents bandwidth issues and ensures a smooth video experience for the event audience. For video on demand streaming, Gcore CDN requests the stored video from your origin server and delivers it to the globally distributed audience without interruptions and with minimal delays.

Video CDN Features

• Reduced TTFB — Deliver better video experience with near-instant playback.
• Low Latency Protocols — Use Low Latency and Ultra-Low Latency streaming protocols to provide the best possible user experience.
• Global Coverage — Provide fast video streaming to the most remote regions with 160+ points of presence worldwide.
• Restricted Access — Configure public or restricted access to a video using signed URLs, cookies, or tokens.
• HTTP/3 — Reduce video rebuffer time with the newest and safest version of HTTP.
• HTTP/1.1 Chunked Transfer Encoding (CTE) – Transfer any part of the video chunks over the old HTTP/1.1 protocol.
• Origin Shielding — Prevent the origin from being overloaded during a traffic surge
• Multi-CDN — Use our CDN as a part of your multi-CDN environment.

Pricing details

Gcore CDN offers flexible pricing models including a completely free plan for everyone without any time limitations. The cost of Gcore CDN services are determined by various factors, such as the nature and quantity of content being distributed, the level of security and safeguarding required, as well as the particular features and services desired. Gcore CDN pricing is publicly available.

4. Azure CDN 

Azure CDN can be used to deliver a variety of content, including HTML, CSS, JavaScript, images, videos, and other types of media.

It integrates with other Azure services, such as Azure Storage and Azure Web Apps, and can be easily configured and managed through the Azure portal. 

Additionally, Azure CDN offers a range of features, including custom domain support, real-time analytics, and support for popular protocols like HTTP/2 and QUIC. Azure CDN can help improve the performance of websites and applications by reducing the time it takes for content to be delivered to end users.

It can also help to reduce the load on web servers, allowing them to focus on dynamic content and application logic.

Basic Functionality Of Video Content Delivery Network

The basic functionality of Azure CDN is to improve the performance and availability of static and dynamic web content by caching it on servers located in strategic locations around the world.

When a user requests content that is stored on the CDN, the content is delivered from the closest server to the user’s location, reducing the time it takes for the content to be delivered.

Overall, Azure CDN helps to improve the performance and availability of web content for users around the world.

Key Features Of Azure CDN 

• Content is delivered from remote locations throughout the world.
• Real-time analytics and reporting.
• Protocol support, including HTTP/2 and QUIC.
• Integration with Azure services.
• Easy management through the Azure portal.
• Security features, including TLS/SSL and DDoS protection.

Pricing Details

There are three pricing tiers available:

Standard: This is the default pricing tier and it is suitable for most scenarios. It offers a balance between price and performance.

Premium: This pricing tier is optimized for high-bandwidth scenarios and it offers additional features and performance improvements over the Standard tier.

Custom: This pricing tier allows users to create custom policies based on their specific requirements.

In addition to the usage charges, Azure CDN also has a monthly charge for each CDN profile and each custom domain. It is recommended to use the Azure CDN pricing calculator to get an estimate of the cost for your specific usage.

5. Cloudflare

Cloudflare operates a global network of servers that cache content and act as a reverse proxy, routing traffic through its network to help protect against cyber threats and improve the performance of websites.

Apart from this, it offers a range of services, including a CDN, DNS, and web security. 

Its CDN service helps to improve the performance of websites by caching content on servers located around the world and delivering it to users from the nearest location.

Its DNS service allows users to manage their domain names and DNS records, while its web security services help to protect against a variety of cyber threats, such as DDoS attacks, malware, and phishing. 

Basic Functionality Of Cloudflare Video Content Delivery Network

Cloudflare offers tools for analytics and monitoring, as well as APIs for integrating its services into custom applications. It provides a range of services to help improve the speed, reliability, and security of websites.

Cloudflare allows website owners to control how their content is cached on the CDN, which can help improve the performance of their sites.

Key Features Of Cloudflare CDN Stream

• Cloudflare offers a CDN to improve website speed and reliability.
• DDoS protection helps keep websites available during traffic surges.
• Async JavaScript loading with rocket loader.
• The WAF protects against online threats like XSS and SQL injection attacks.
• SSL/TLS encryption secures communication between a user’s browser and a website.
• Analytics and reporting tools provide insight into website performance and security.

Pricing Details

The free plan is only accessible for personal websites and does not permit video hosting. It includes basic CDN, DDoS protection, and SSL/TLS encryption, as well as some limited WAF and analytics features. This plan is suitable for smaller websites and personal blogs.

Pro plan: $20 per month.

Business plan: $200 per domain per month.

Enterprise plan: Comes with individual pricing for each user.

It’s worth noting that prices may vary depending on the location and currency of the customer. It’s a good idea to check the Cloudflare website for the most up-to-date pricing information.

6. CDNetworks

CDNetworks is a global leading network with over 2800 global Points of Presence(CDN PoPs) and more than 20 years of technology experience. 

CDNetworks’ products and services include Web Performance, Media Delivery, Cloud Security, Zero Trust Security, Edge Computing, and Colocation Services, all of which are uniquely designed to spur business innovation. CDNetworks embraces the era of Edge, and their comprehensive product portfolio and the powerful CDN infrastructure leverage the edge to provide customers with the fastest, most secure services.

Basic Functionality Of CDNetworks’ Video Streaming CDN

CDNetworks streaming CDN delivers high-quality video content to any device running any operating system in any location.

Features such as customized caching, intelligent scheduling and control system ensure your media content is always delivered to end users over optimal paths for peak performance and reliability.

Integration with Object Storage, Media Processing Center, and security protection, CDNetworks provides flexible and secure video streaming acceleration services.

CDNetworks also provide other customized media solutions and value-added services that best fit their target markets to achieve unmatched performance, spur their growth roadmap, and deliver substantial business results.

Key Features of CDNetworks’ Video Streaming CDN

• Abundant resources with 200,000+ deployed servers, 2,800+ CDN PoPs, 1000 PB of storage, and 200+ global ISP partners.
• Flexible cache policies for video content cache configuration, dynamic bit rate, and intelligent video buffering.
• Protect your online content by encrypting the content itself, securing the distribution process, and controlling viewing access.
• Support multiple streaming protocols such as RTMP, HDL, HLS, DASH, WebRTC, QUIC and provide adaptive bitrate streaming to best suit your viewers.
• A rich set of video transcoding features to convert the media content to multiple bitrates, resolutions, and encoding formats.
• Provide high-quality CDN distribution and media content management services at affordable prices to reduce your cost.

Pricing Details

CDNetworks offers 14-day free trial for new users and provides a flexible pricing model. Generally, two billing methods are available: pay-by-bandwidth and pay-by-traffic.

The actual cost of using CDNetworks’ video streaming CDN services also depend on various factors, such as the type and volume of content being delivered, the level of security and protection required, and the specific features and services needed.

For more information, please contact CDNetworks directly for a personalized quote based on your specific requirements.

7. Fastly 

Fastly provides a range of services to help improve the performance, reliability, and security of websites and applications.

These services include a CDN to store and serve content from locations around the world, load balancing to distribute incoming traffic across multiple servers or locations. 

Fastly comes with DDoS protection to keep websites and applications available during traffic surges or attacks, a web application firewall to protect against online threats, and an edge computing platform to allow customers to run code and perform other computing tasks at the edge of the network.

Basic Functionality Of Top Video CDN Providers

Fastly helps websites and apps load faster and more reliably for their users. It works by caching a copy of the website or app’s content on servers located around the world so that users can access the content from the server that is closest to them.

This reduces the time it takes for the content to be delivered, as it does not have to travel as far over the internet. Apart from this, Fastly provides various security and performance-enhancing features. 

Key Features Of Fastly’s CDN Streaming

• CDN for faster and more reliable content delivery.
• DDoS protection to keep websites and apps available.
• Image optimization for faster load times.
• SSL/TLS termination to encrypt traffic without sacrificing performance.
• Real-time analytics and monitoring.
• Customization with Edge Language programming.

Pricing Details

Fastly charges a fee according to the region to which you are streaming. Streaming to North America, for example, costs $0.12/GB for the first 10 TB, $0.08/GB for the next 10 TB, and $0.0075 every 10,000 requests.

Fastly also offers volume discounts for larger usage levels. For a complete list of bandwidth and request costs for other locations, please visit the Fastly pricing page.  

8. KeyCDN 

KeyCDN speeds up the delivery of static content for websites. It works by caching content such as images, CSS, and JavaScript files on a network of servers located around the world.

When a user visits a website that uses KeyCDN, the static content is delivered from the server nearer to the user, rather than from the website’s origin server, which can be located far away and result in slower delivery times. 

This can improve the performance and speed of the website for users, particularly for those located far from the origin server. KeyCDN also offers additional features such as SSL support, real-time analytics, and a customizable content delivery network.

It also has a global Anycast network, which means that it uses anycast routing to automatically direct traffic to the nearest server, further improving the speed and performance of the website. 

Basic Functionality Of Content Delivery Network

In addition to its core CDN services, KeyCDN also offers video security features to protect websites from common threats such as DDoS attacks and content scraping.

Above all, KeyCDN is a popular choice for website owners and developers who want to improve the performance and security of their sites, and it is especially useful for websites with a global audience or those that receive a lot of traffic.

Key Features Of KeyCDN 

• Offers real-time analytics and customizable content delivery network options.
• Provides security features to protect websites from cyber attacks. 
• Uses anycast routing to automatically direct traffic to the nearest server.
• Supports SSL to ensure secure connections between websites and users.
• Integrates with popular web development tools and platforms.
• Offers a pay-as-you-go pricing model with no upfront costs or long-term contracts.

Pricing Details

KeyCDN offers a pay-as-you-go pricing model, which means that you only pay for the resources you use. Prices are based on the amount of data transferred and the number of requests made to the CDN. 

KeyCDN has a base price of $0.04 per GB for the first 10 TB of data transferred, and the price decreases as the volume of data transferred increases.

There are no upfront costs or long-term contracts, and you can easily view and pay your bill online. It also offers a free trial to allow you to test out its services before committing to a paid plan.

You can find more information about KeyCDN’s pricing and billing on its website.

9. CDN77 

CDN77 is a reliable and scalable solution for businesses of all sizes. Whether you are a small business looking to improve the performance of your website, or a large enterprise with complex web-based applications, CDN77 has the tools and resources you need to succeed.

With a global network of servers and a range of advanced features, CDN77 can help you deliver a fast, secure, and reliable online experience to your users.

One of the key features of this CDN is its ability to deliver content quickly and efficiently. Indeed, it uses advanced caching techniques and smart routing algorithms to ensure that the content is delivered from the most available server and the nearer one, resulting in faster load times and a better user experience.

Additionally, CDN77 provides a comprehensive range of analytics and monitoring tools, enabling businesses to track the performance of their online video platforms and make informed decisions on how to optimize the content delivery.

Basic Functionality Of Popular Video CDN

CDN77 not only improves the performance of websites and apps, but it also helps to reduce the risk of cyber threats because the network’s distributed design makes it harder for attackers to target a single point of failure. Overall, CDN77 is an excellent resource for companies wanting to improve the customer experience of their online platforms.

Key Features Of CDN77’s Content Delivery Networks For Video Streaming

• Uses advanced caching techniques to store frequently accessed content, allowing it to be delivered quickly to users without having to hit the origin server.
• Smart routing algorithms to ensure fast content delivery, resulting in faster load times and a better user experience.
• CDN77 offers DDoS protection to help keep websites and apps from malware. 
• Provides SSL encryption to secure the connection between users and the content they are accessing.
• Range of analytics and monitoring tools, enabling businesses to track the performance of their online platforms and make informed decisions about how to optimize their content delivery.
• Offers customizable options, such as the ability to choose specific locations for your content to be stored, allowing businesses to tailor the service to their specific needs.

Pricing Details 

Below are the pricing details of CDN77’s Monthly traffic. However, it is worth mentioning that a free trial is available.

• 6 TB for $199 ($0.033/GB overage)
• 25 TB for $385 ($0.015/GB overage)
• 50 TB for $580 ($0.012/GB overage)
• 100 TB for $990 ($0.010/GB overage)
• 150 TB for $1,390 ($0.009/GB overage)

Summing Up 

In conclusion, a content delivery network (CDN) is an essential tool for any business looking to improve the performance and reliability of their online video streaming.

By now, you could have understood how each of the above mentioned CDN works and what they have to offer for the end-user. There are many CDN providers to choose from, each with their own unique set of features and pricing plans. 

The 7 CDN providers discussed above are among the best in the industry and offer a range of options to suit different needs and budgets.

Ultimately, the best CDN for your business will depend on your specific requirements and goals. It is important to carefully consider the features and pricing of each CDN provider before coming to a conclusion.