AWS Global Accelerator vs CloudFront CDN Networking
When it comes to cloud networking, businesses often find themselves choosing between AWS Global Accelerator and CloudFront CDN Networking. Both services are excellent and offer unique features that cater to different needs.
AWS Global Accelerator
AWS Global Accelerator is a service that improves the performance of applications by routing network traffic over the AWS global network. It uses the Anycast routing protocol to send traffic to the optimal AWS endpoint for a specific user.
Key Features
- Global coverage with automatic failover: AWS Global Accelerator uses the AWS global network, which has over 200 Points of Presence (PoPs) in over 80 cities, to route traffic to the closest endpoint. Additionally, if an endpoint fails, AWS Global Accelerator automatically routes traffic to the next available endpoint.
- Intelligent traffic distribution: AWS Global Accelerator's intelligent traffic distribution algorithm routes traffic to the endpoints based on the location of the user and the health of the endpoint.
- Security: AWS Global Accelerator provides security features such as Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) protection, encryption of data in transit, and integration with AWS WAF.
Performance
AWS Global Accelerator guarantees a minimum of 99.99% network availability and is designed to deliver low-latency performance. According to AWS, Global Accelerator can reduce networking jitter and latency by up to 60%.
CloudFront CDN Networking
CloudFront CDN Networking is a content delivery network that delivers data, videos, applications, and APIs with low latency, high transfer speeds, and high data transfer rates. It has a massive global network of servers that cache content and deliver it to the user from the nearest edge location.
Key Features
- Low latency and fast transfer speeds: CloudFront CDN Networking provides low latency and fast transfer speeds by caching content at multiple edge locations across the globe, giving users quick access to the content.
- Security: CloudFront CDN Networking provides a suite of security features, including SSL/TLS encryption, AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM), and AWS WAF.
- Customization: CloudFront CDN Networking offers several customization features, such as the ability to add custom headers, cookies, query-string parameters, and origin response headers.
Performance
CloudFront CDN Networking offers excellent performance, with a global average latency of 36 ms, according to Cedexis' last quarter 2017 State of the Internet Report.
Which One to Choose?
Choosing between AWS Global Accelerator and CloudFront CDN Networking depends on your company's specific needs. If you want to improve the performance of applications that require low latency and high data transfer rates globally, AWS Global Accelerator is an excellent choice. However, if you want to serve content, videos, and APIs with low latency and fast transfer speeds, CloudFront CDN Networking is the way to go.
Table Comparison
| Service | Key Features | Performance |
|---|---|---|
| AWS Global Accelerator | Global coverage with automatic failover, intelligent traffic distribution, security | Low-latency performance, 99.99% network availability |
| CloudFront CDN Networking | Low latency and fast transfer speeds, security, customization | Low latency (36ms global average), high data transfer rates |