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CDN SECURITY CompARISON №8
AWS Cloudfront VS Azure CDN
The usage of a CDN is highly beneficial for the user experience and SEO of your website, as content delivery networks allow you to serve the content, optimize images and sessions, easily handle peaks in traffic and achieve maximum scalability and security. No wonder that over 6,5k out of 10k top websites use such a tool in 2021.
As CDNs have become a total must for websites and their market size has reached $14,4 billion in 2020, it's become of crucial importance to choose the right solution. Thus, during the selection process we recommend paying attention to security, compatibility with your existing systems, ease of setup if you do not have a tech team, and pricing.
To make your search for the perfect CDN easier, we will compare two major networks, Azure CDN and AWS Cloudfront, based on the criteria explained above.
As CDNs have become a total must for websites and their market size has reached $14,4 billion in 2020, it's become of crucial importance to choose the right solution. Thus, during the selection process we recommend paying attention to security, compatibility with your existing systems, ease of setup if you do not have a tech team, and pricing.
To make your search for the perfect CDN easier, we will compare two major networks, Azure CDN and AWS Cloudfront, based on the criteria explained above.
Which solution is better?
Deployment and setup
Both solutions are very easy to set up. They are not one-click solutions like Google Cloud CDN or Cloudflare but it is still extremely easy to navigate them. There are numerous videos and tutorials on how to set up both CDNs and a person without technical knowledge will easily understand and follow the steps.
Besides, both solutions have support teams if you have any questions. Azure CDN can be reached through Twitter, community, or email but you will have to wait quite some time to get an answer. Cloudfront's support is very responsive but contacting them through email or phone costs extra.
Besides, both solutions have support teams if you have any questions. Azure CDN can be reached through Twitter, community, or email but you will have to wait quite some time to get an answer. Cloudfront's support is very responsive but contacting them through email or phone costs extra.
Scalability and flexibility
Both solutions are infinitely scalable, you just have to make sure that your budget is scalable as well.
AWS CloudFront is a little bit faster than Azure CDN though. The latter has only 118 points of presence while CloudFront offers 225 PoPs in 30 countries.
Please note that security measures in CDNs themselves are quite weak and it is recommended to use other security services provided by Microsoft Azure or AWS Web Services.
AWS CloudFront is a little bit faster than Azure CDN though. The latter has only 118 points of presence while CloudFront offers 225 PoPs in 30 countries.
Please note that security measures in CDNs themselves are quite weak and it is recommended to use other security services provided by Microsoft Azure or AWS Web Services.
Pros and Cons
Pros and Cons of AWS CloudFront
One of the main advantages of AWS CloudFront is that it seamlessly integrates with other AWS solutions and would perfectly complete your AWS ecosystem.
AWS CloudFront offers secure content hosting at no extra fee. AWS Certification Manager also allows the creation and managing of custom SSL certificates for your website free of charge.
Among the disadvantages of AWS CloudFront is that its price is significantly above the market average, it lacks fine-grained access control and reporting functions, and it can be difficult to navigate for new users.
Pros and Cons of Azure
The dynamic site acceleration ensures better performance even for the dynamic content of your website as it speeds up the loading time for real-time data.
With Azure, you can also set up custom caching rules and modify the CDN settings so the website content is being served according to your requirements.
Among the disadvantages of Azure CDN is its tough learning curve as you need to be comfortable with the Azure Cloud logic to easily use this solution. Also, if you need this CDN for the uncommon use case, the final cost will be hard to forecast.
One of the main advantages of AWS CloudFront is that it seamlessly integrates with other AWS solutions and would perfectly complete your AWS ecosystem.
AWS CloudFront offers secure content hosting at no extra fee. AWS Certification Manager also allows the creation and managing of custom SSL certificates for your website free of charge.
Among the disadvantages of AWS CloudFront is that its price is significantly above the market average, it lacks fine-grained access control and reporting functions, and it can be difficult to navigate for new users.
Pros and Cons of Azure
The dynamic site acceleration ensures better performance even for the dynamic content of your website as it speeds up the loading time for real-time data.
With Azure, you can also set up custom caching rules and modify the CDN settings so the website content is being served according to your requirements.
Among the disadvantages of Azure CDN is its tough learning curve as you need to be comfortable with the Azure Cloud logic to easily use this solution. Also, if you need this CDN for the uncommon use case, the final cost will be hard to forecast.
AWS Cloudfront and Azure CDN: Key Differences
Pricing
Both CDNs do not have fixed pricing plans and work on the basis of pay as you go. They have public information about services costs and a price calculator to roughly estimate the budget.
The only upper hand that CloudFront has is their 12 months free trial so that users can understand whether the solution is working for them. The free trial has its limitations though and will not be suitable for big enterprises.
The only upper hand that CloudFront has is their 12 months free trial so that users can understand whether the solution is working for them. The free trial has its limitations though and will not be suitable for big enterprises.
Summary
AWS CloudFront and Azure CDN are very similar solutions. It is the question of what services you already use that can end the debate. AWS Cloudfront is more suitable for those who already use other Amazon services and Azure CDN is for Microsoft fans. It is important for the full compatibility and integrity of services.
Cyberlands.io Team