Cloudflare vs Max CDN… Which one is more beneficial for you? Getting more traffic and retaining visitors are some of the priorities of a website. But what will happen if your website loads slower than a walking turtle? The very known fact is that you will eventually lose most of your visitors.
This only means one thing: a high bounce rate. People hate slow loading pages. It will make them close your website and search again on the search engine.
Now, this is where CDN can help you with your website speed problem.
Today, the majority of web traffic like Facebook and Netflix is served through the help of CDN. Big digital marketing sites like Hubspot and online advertising sites like Ad Impact make use of CDNs to deliver content in a timely manner.
Content Delivery Network (CDN) is a group of servers. They are geophysically distributed to provide fast delivery of internet content. It allows the quicker transfer of assets that are needed for loading Internet content. And that includes HTML pages, javascript files, stylesheets, images, and videos.
CDN services speed up the delivery of website content with high traffic. CDN’s design goal is to solve delays when a web page loads. Some factors affect delay intervals. The physical distance between you and the website’s hosting server is one of them.
The mission of the CDN is to shorten the physical distance. Its main goal is to improve site rendering speed and performance. Because if you have a slow loading time, it can result in negative effects that are not good for your business.
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How Does a CDN Work?
CDN works by copying the pages of a website to a network of servers. It redirects the user’s request from the original site’s server to a server in the CDN that is closer to the user. It then delivers the cached content.
There are different kinds of CDN service providers available today. But Cloudflare and Max CDN are among the top five providers of CDN services in the world. So let’s get on with this Cloudflare vs Max CDN showdown.
Cloudflare vs Max CDN
Cloudflare and MaxCDN are well-known services. They help you in increasing the performance of your website.
Cloudflare is a US-based content delivery network. It is actually popular for the security features it offers. Aside from CDN, they also offer other services. These are DDoS protection, web application firewall, and authoritative DNS. They also have public DNS resolver, and reverse proxy.
Max CDN was known for its high-speed content delivery network services. Their servers are equipped with fast SSD drives. It is then spread across data centers around the world. It works well with WordPress caching plugins like W3 Total Cache and WP Super Cache.
Yes, both companies may offer CDN services. But they offer distinct services that many of us get confused on which one best suits our needs. So, let the comparison (Cloudflare vs Max CDN) begin.
Location of the Server
MaxCDN has around 57 data centers. Their data centers use fast-paced SSD servers. Each with 10GB connections. 31 data centers are in Europe, 22 in North America, three in Asia and one in Australia. They also work with different internet service providers to establish quick mobile connections.
Cloudflare, on the other hand, has fewer data centers than MaxCDN. But they are well distributed around the world. Cloudflare also has a particular website. This website aims to provide update notifications for the performance of every data center.
Performance
Through load-balancing, Cloudflare reduces latency. It means that network traffic is distributed across multiple servers. Through this, it is ensured that a single server is not under too much pressure.
Technically, Cloudflare spreads out traffic over many servers. This is to let the website respond faster.
Cloudflare Performance Services improve conversions, reduce churn, and improve visitor experiences. They do this by accelerating web and mobile performance while keeping applications available.
Max CDN offers a global traffic management feature. This feature ensures traffic is directed through the available routes. It reduces latency by reducing the distance the data has to travel.
Max CDN is also inbuilt into WordPress engine web hosting for free.
Speed Comparison
Cloudflare at the left and MaxCDN at the right. According to this speed test by Inline Host Blogger, Max CDN performs better. It consistently delivers better load results than Cloudflare. They have tested them both in different locations around the world.
The result shows that in terms of speed, Max CDN is a better option.
Security
Cloudflare can protect your website against DDoS attacks. It can also protect your website from malicious bots, SQL injections, and comment spam among others. It also uses Website Application Firewall (WAF) to defend you from online threats. Its server acts as a proxy between your site and its users by changing the DNS setting.
Max CDN also has some security features. But it is not as comprehensive as Cloudflare. Max CDN allows you to use a two-step authentication process. The process is for your account protection wherein you can even implement IP address whitelisting.
Implementing IP address whitelisting lets you keep track of people who are allowed to access your account.
For applications, additional security is being offered. These are OAuth authorization, HTTP Referrer Whitelist, and Secure Tokens. This feature also enables instant one-click SSL activation.
Optimization
Cloudflare lets your website get cached once the DNS settings are changed. Through different functions, the performance and speed of your website are optimized. This is through local storage caching, cache header optimization, rocket loader, and javascript bundling.
MaxCDN has a network of servers that enables fast loading of your webpage. This is through a server that is closest to your site’s visitor.
These network of servers help optimize the speed of your website. It also empowers your webpage with purge and provisioning. This is to ensure that your new origin deployments are seen.
Through complete integration of API and GitHub, MaxCDN supports the total automation of their CDN. To ensure control over content delivery, Max CDN uses EdgeRules.
There are three types of cached files stored in particular zones. These are the pull zones, push zones, and vod zones.
The Judgment: Cloudflare vs Max CDN
MaxCDN and Cloudflare both offer high-speed performance for your website.
So what’s the judgment between Cloudflare vs Max CDN?
MaxCDN fits well for large traffic websites in which performance optimization is vital. If you are looking for enhanced security, Cloudflare will do better for you. To get the best out of them both, you can combine their services together.
