§07 · Domains and edge · Which CDN?
CDN, DNS and edge security
A CDN caches your site close to visitors; managed DNS answers lookups for your domain from a global network; a WAF blocks malicious traffic. Many providers bundle all three. Bandwidth pricing ranges from free to several cents per GB, so the table compares it directly.
32 tools 12 with a free option Checked 28 Sept 2026
§1
Where we would start, by stage
Editorial picks from the data below, never paid. They change when prices or free tiers do; the full table is underneath.
Hobby $0–10/mo
Cloudflare Free DNS, CDN, SSL and DDoS protection, with bandwidth not metered.
Pro from $20/mo (annual) or $25 month-to-month
Indie up to ~$50/mo
Bunny CDN $0.01/GB in Europe and North America, free DNS for up to 500 zones, $1/mo minimum.
From $0.01/GB (Europe, North America), $1/mo minimum
Startup up to ~$500/mo
Amazon CloudFront Flat-rate plans that include WAF rules and Route 53 DNS, on 750+ PoPs.
Pro flat-rate plan $15/mo per distribution
Scale-up usage-driven
Fastly 100 GB a month free, then from $0.12/GB, with edge compute on the same network.
From $0.12/GB (North America, Europe) after 100 GB free
§2
All 32 compared
A to Z · never paid placement32 tools
| Tool | From | Free option | Free plan | Bandwidth | PoPs | WAF | Stages |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Akamai Ion akamai.com | No | By quote | Not stated on pages read | Separate Akamai security products | |||
| Amazon CloudFront aws.amazon.com · EU | $15/mo | Free tier | Yes: 100 GB/1M requests plan, or 1 TB PAYG free | Flat plans no overage; PAYG from $0.085/GB | 750+ | AWS WAF included: 5 to 75 rules by plan | |
| Amazon Route 53 aws.amazon.com · EU | $0.5/mo | No (DNS is free inside CloudFront flat-rate plans) | n/a (DNS: $0.40 per million queries) | Not stated on pages read | No (Resolver DNS Firewall for outbound queries) | ||
| Azure DNS azure.microsoft.com · EU | $0.5/mo | No | n/a (billed per query) | Not stated on pages read | No (DNS security policy for VNets) | ||
| Azure Front Door azure.microsoft.com · EU | $35/mo | No | $0.083/GB NA/EU first 10 TB, plus base fee | Not stated on pages read | Included in Premium ($330/mo) | ||
| Bunny CDN bunny.net · EU | Usage-based | No; 14-day trial, $1/mo minimum | $0.01/GB EU/NA; $0.005/GB Volume network | 119 (Standard), 10 (Volume) | Bunny Shield: free Basic, Advanced $9.50/mo | ||
| CacheFly cachefly.com | $300/mo | Free tier | Yes: 100 GB/month, 1 domain | $0.05/GB PAYG; $0.03/GB on Business | 65+ (Business), 80 (Enterprise) | Enterprise plan only | |
| CDN77 cdn77.com · EU | $990/mo | No; free trial by arrangement | 250 TB for $990/mo; $3.96/TB overage | 200 PoPs in 130 countries | Not stated; DDoS protection included | ||
| Cloudflare cloudflare.com · EU | $20/mo | Free tier | Yes: DNS, CDN, SSL, DDoS, basic WAF rules | Not metered on Free, Pro, Business plans | 330+ cities | Free managed ruleset; full WAF from Pro | |
| ClouDNS cloudns.net · EU | $2.95/mo | Free tier | Yes: 1 zone, 50 records, 500K queries | n/a (5M-500M queries by plan) | 65 anycast data centres (Premium) | No (DDoS-protected DNS add-on) | |
| deSEC desec.io · OSS · EU | Free tier | Yes, fully free (non-profit) | n/a (DNS only) | Global anycast; count not stated | No | ||
| DigiCert DNS (DNS Made Easy) dnsmadeeasy.com | $300/yr | No | n/a (10M queries, then $5 per 1M) | Anycast; count not stated | No (DDoS-protected DNS on UltraDNS) | ||
| DNSimple dnsimple.com | $0.5/mo | No base fee on Solo; zones $0.50/mo each | n/a (50k queries/zone included on Solo) | Anycast; count not stated | No (multi-layered DNS DDoS defence) | ||
| easyDNS easydns.com | $20/yr | Unicast DNS free with domain registration | n/a (1M-10M queries/month by plan) | 3 to 4 anycast clouds; 15-26 nameservers/POP | No | ||
| Fastly fastly.com | Usage-based | Free tier | 100 GB and 1M requests per month | $0.12/GB NA/EU; $0.19-$0.28 elsewhere | Not stated; fewer, larger POPs (622 Tbps) | Next-Gen WAF (priced separately) | |
| Gandi gandi.net · EU | $11/yr | ||||||
| Gcore CDN gcore.com · EU | Usage-based | Free tier | Yes: 1 TB/month on PAYG | €0.01/GB to 500 TB; €0.005/GB above 2 PB | 210+ | Separate Gcore WAF product | |
| Google Cloud CDN cloud.google.com · EU | Usage-based | No (new accounts get $300 credit) | $0.08/GiB NA/EU first 10 TiB; to $0.20 China | Not stated for Cloud CDN; Media CDN 3,000+ | Cloud Armor integration (billed separately) | ||
| Google Cloud DNS cloud.google.com · EU | $0.2/mo | No (Google states there is no free tier) | n/a (queries $0.40 per million) | Not stated on pages read | No (DNS Armor threat detection for VPCs) | ||
| Hetzner DNS hetzner.com · EU | Free tier | Yes, free; 25 zones by default | n/a (DNS only) | Not stated on pages read | No | ||
| Hurricane Electric Free DNS dns.he.net | Free tier | Yes, fully free | n/a (DNS only) | Geographically diverse servers; count not stated | No | ||
| IBM NS1 Connect ibm.com | $99/mo | Trial | No; 30-day free trial | n/a (30-80M queries on Essentials) | 26 anycast PoPs on six continents | No (DNS DDoS spike protection on Standard) | |
| Imperva Cloud WAF imperva.com | No | By quote; AWS Marketplace plan billed per GB | Not stated on pages read | Yes, managed PCI-certified cloud WAF | |||
| INWX inwx.com · EU | $15.72/yr | ||||||
| jsDelivr jsdelivr.com · OSS | Free tier | Yes, free for open-source files | Free; 5,000+ TB served per month | 540+ (multi-CDN) | No | ||
| KeyCDN keycdn.com · EU | Usage-based | No; $4/mo minimum usage | $0.04/GB NA/EU; $0.08 Asia; $0.10 Africa/LatAm | 60+ data centres, 40+ countries | No WAF; DDoS protection and bad-bot blocking | ||
| LuaDNS luadns.com | $29/yr | Free tier | Yes: 3 domains, 30 records | n/a (unlimited queries on all plans) | 22 anycast PoPs | No | |
| Myra Security myrasecurity.com · EU | €399/mo | No | By quote | Not stated on pages read | Yes, WAF with optional managed service | ||
| Namecheap namecheap.com | $10.98/yr | ||||||
| Porkbun porkbun.com | $11.08/yr | ||||||
| QUIC.cloud quic.cloud | Usage-based | Free tier | Yes: unlimited bandwidth on 6 PoPs | $0.02/GB NA/EU; $0.08 Asia, LatAm, Africa | 78+ (Standard), 6 (Free) | WordPress WAF rules, CAPTCHA, L7 DDoS (Standard) | |
| Sucuri Website Firewall sucuri.net | $9.99/mo | No; 30-day money-back guarantee | Not metered on the pages read | Anycast network; count not stated | Yes, cloud WAF with virtual patching |
No tools match these filters.
§3
How to choose a CDN
- For a typical website, a free CDN plan with DNS and TLS covers most needs. Pay when you need a WAF with custom rules, image optimisation or large media delivery.
- For heavy bandwidth, compare the per-GB price in the regions your visitors are in; some providers charge more for Asia, South America and Africa.
- Standalone DNS providers are worth it for multi-provider redundancy or advanced traffic steering.
Questions
Is a free CDN good enough?
For most small and medium sites, yes: free plans typically include caching, TLS and basic DDoS protection. The table lists what each free plan includes.
§4
Comparisons and pricing changes
Recent changes
-
.com price to rise to about $11.81
Porkbun · source ↗
-
Price increase on 226 Identity Digital extensions
Namecheap · source ↗
-
Bunny DNS drops query fees and becomes free
Bunny CDN · source ↗
-
CloudFront adds flat-rate plans with no overages
Amazon CloudFront · source ↗
-
Fastly moves self-serve accounts to a new free tier and usage pricing
Fastly · source ↗