Amazon CloudFront vs Azure CDN

Overview

Amazon CloudFront

Stacks21.4K

Followers10.8K

Votes935

Azure CDN

Stacks60

Followers92

Votes2

Amazon CloudFront vs Azure CDN: What are the differences?

In this article, we will compare and highlight the key differences between Amazon CloudFront and Azure CDN, two popular content delivery networks.

Integration with Cloud Services: One key difference between Amazon CloudFront and Azure CDN is their integration with cloud services. Amazon CloudFront integrates seamlessly with other Amazon Web Services (AWS) like S3, EC2, and Elastic Load Balancer, providing a unified experience within the AWS ecosystem. On the other hand, Azure CDN is tightly integrated with Azure services such as Blob storage, Web Apps, and Media Services, allowing for efficient content delivery across the Azure platform.
Network Size and Global Presence: Another difference lies in the network size and global presence of both CDNs. Amazon CloudFront has a vast network of edge locations spread across various countries and continents, ensuring low latency and fast content delivery from a global perspective. Azure CDN also has a significant number of edge nodes but may have a relatively smaller network compared to CloudFront, especially in certain regions.
Pricing and Cost Structure: Pricing and cost structure are other areas where the two CDNs differ. Amazon CloudFront offers flexible pricing options with a pay-as-you-go model, where you are charged based on data transfer and request volumes. Azure CDN, on the other hand, has different pricing tiers based on the type of content being delivered and offers a range of plans that cater to different needs. The specific pricing details for each CDN should be reviewed based on your usage requirements.
Security Features and Capabilities: When it comes to security features, both Amazon CloudFront and Azure CDN offer robust options. CloudFront supports features like SSL/TLS encryption, AWS Web Application Firewall (WAF) integration, and AWS Shield Standard for DDoS protection. Azure CDN provides options such as HTTPS support, Azure Front Door integration for advanced security features, and integration with Azure Web Application Firewall (WAF) for application-level protection.
Customization and Control: The level of customization and control varies between the two CDNs. Amazon CloudFront allows for extensive configuration options, allowing you to fine-tune caching behavior, origin server settings, and content delivery rules. Azure CDN also offers configuration options, but the level of control may not be as granular as CloudFront. The specific needs and preferences of your application will determine the significance of this difference.
Third-Party Ecosystem and Integrations: The availability of third-party ecosystem and integrations is a factor to consider. Amazon CloudFront has a vast ecosystem of third-party tools, services, and integrations, making it easier to incorporate additional functionalities into your content delivery workflow. Azure CDN also offers integrations with various Azure services, but the breadth of third-party ecosystem and tooling may not be as extensive as CloudFront.

In summary, CloudFront reigns supreme in global reach and customization, while Azure CDN shines in seamless Azure integration and diverse pricing options. Choose CloudFront for ultimate control and global delivery, or Azure CDN for tight Azure integration and flexible pricing for specific needs.

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Detailed Comparison

Amazon CloudFront	Azure CDN
Amazon CloudFront can be used to deliver your entire website, including dynamic, static, streaming, and interactive content using a global network of edge locations. Requests for your content are automatically routed to the nearest edge location, so content is delivered with the best possible performance.	It lets you reduce load times, save bandwidth, and speed responsiveness—whether you’re developing or managing websites or mobile apps, or encoding and distributing streaming media, gaming software, firmware updates, or IoT endpoints.
Fast- Using a network of edge locations around the world, Amazon CloudFront caches copies of your static content close to viewers, lowering latency when they download your objects and giving you the high, sustained data transfer rates needed to deliver large popular objects to end users at scale.;Simple- A single API call lets you get started distributing content from your Amazon S3 bucket or Amazon EC2 instance or other origin server through the Amazon CloudFront network.;Designed for use with other Amazon Web Services Amazon CloudFront is designed for use with other Amazon Web Services, including Amazon S3, where you can durably store the definitive versions of your static files, and Amazon EC2, where you can run your application server for dynamically generated content.;Cost-Effective- Amazon CloudFront passes on the benefits of Amazon’s scale to you. You pay only for the content that you deliver through the network, without minimum commitments or up-front fees.;Elastic- With Amazon CloudFront, you don’t need to worry about maintaining expensive web-server capacity to meet the demand from potential traffic spikes for your content. The service automatically responds as demand increases or decreases without any intervention from you.;Reliable- Amazon CloudFront is built using Amazon’s highly reliable infrastructure. The distributed nature of edge locations used by Amazon CloudFront automatically routes end users to the closest available location as required by network conditions.;Global- Amazon CloudFront uses a global network of edge locations, located near your end users in the United States, Europe, Asia, and South America.	Acceleration Data Transfer ; Deep integration; Multiple providers; Advanced analytics
Statistics
Stacks 21.4K	Stacks 60
Followers 10.8K	Followers 92
Votes 935	Votes 2
Pros & Cons
Pros 245 Fast 166 Cdn 157 Compatible with other aws services 125 Simple 108 Global Cons 3 UI could use some work 1 Invalidations take so long	Pros 2 Low Latency
Integrations
No integrations available	WordPress Drupal

What are some alternatives to Amazon CloudFront, Azure CDN?

CloudFlare

Cloudflare speeds up and protects millions of websites, APIs, SaaS services, and other properties connected to the Internet.

KeyCDN

KeyCDN offers super fast and secure content delivery for minimal loading time. In addition to the CDN, it also offers advanced image processing and many other features such as live logs and Let's Encrypt SSL.

Fastly

Fastly's real-time content delivery network gives you total control over your content, unprecedented access to performance analytics, and the ability to instantly update content in 150 milliseconds.

MaxCDN

The MaxCDN Content Delivery Network efficiently delivers your site’s static file through hundreds of servers instead of slogging through a single host. This "smart route" technology distributes your content to your visitors via the city closest to them.

jsDelivr

jsDelivr is a free CDN for open source developers, with advanced features for javascript projects with access to NPM and Github It uses multiple CDN providers, resulting in the best possible uptime and performance.

Moovweb XDN

All-in-one platform to develop, deploy, preview, experiment on, monitor, and run your frontend.

Limelight CDN

Whether it’s your website, mobile applications, videos, music, software, games, or APIs, your content needs to reach customers quickly, reliably, and securely. It provides the capacity, coverage, and performance to cost-effectively deliver a better experience for you and your customers.

cdnjs

Everyone loves the Google CDN? Even Microsoft runs their own CDN. The problem is, they only host the most popular libraries. We host it all - JavaScript, CSS, SWF, images, etc! Powered by CloudFlare.

Statically

A free, fast, & modern CDN for open source projects, WordPress, images, and any static assets.

Incapsula

Through an application-aware, global content delivery network (CDN), Incapsula provides any website and web application with best-of-breed security, DDoS protection, load balancing and failover solutions.

Related Comparisons

Amazon CloudFront vs Azure CDN: What are the differences?

In this article, we will compare and highlight the key differences between Amazon CloudFront and Azure CDN, two popular content delivery networks.

Integration with Cloud Services: One key difference between Amazon CloudFront and Azure CDN is their integration with cloud services. Amazon CloudFront integrates seamlessly with other Amazon Web Services (AWS) like S3, EC2, and Elastic Load Balancer, providing a unified experience within the AWS ecosystem. On the other hand, Azure CDN is tightly integrated with Azure services such as Blob storage, Web Apps, and Media Services, allowing for efficient content delivery across the Azure platform.
Network Size and Global Presence: Another difference lies in the network size and global presence of both CDNs. Amazon CloudFront has a vast network of edge locations spread across various countries and continents, ensuring low latency and fast content delivery from a global perspective. Azure CDN also has a significant number of edge nodes but may have a relatively smaller network compared to CloudFront, especially in certain regions.
Pricing and Cost Structure: Pricing and cost structure are other areas where the two CDNs differ. Amazon CloudFront offers flexible pricing options with a pay-as-you-go model, where you are charged based on data transfer and request volumes. Azure CDN, on the other hand, has different pricing tiers based on the type of content being delivered and offers a range of plans that cater to different needs. The specific pricing details for each CDN should be reviewed based on your usage requirements.
Security Features and Capabilities: When it comes to security features, both Amazon CloudFront and Azure CDN offer robust options. CloudFront supports features like SSL/TLS encryption, AWS Web Application Firewall (WAF) integration, and AWS Shield Standard for DDoS protection. Azure CDN provides options such as HTTPS support, Azure Front Door integration for advanced security features, and integration with Azure Web Application Firewall (WAF) for application-level protection.
Customization and Control: The level of customization and control varies between the two CDNs. Amazon CloudFront allows for extensive configuration options, allowing you to fine-tune caching behavior, origin server settings, and content delivery rules. Azure CDN also offers configuration options, but the level of control may not be as granular as CloudFront. The specific needs and preferences of your application will determine the significance of this difference.
Third-Party Ecosystem and Integrations: The availability of third-party ecosystem and integrations is a factor to consider. Amazon CloudFront has a vast ecosystem of third-party tools, services, and integrations, making it easier to incorporate additional functionalities into your content delivery workflow. Azure CDN also offers integrations with various Azure services, but the breadth of third-party ecosystem and tooling may not be as extensive as CloudFront.

Amazon CloudFront vs Azure CDN

Overview