Introduction

The use of content delivery networks (CDNs) has become an integral part of the digital landscape. As a result, cloud service providers have introduced their own CDN solutions. In this article, we'll compare two of the major cloud CDN providers – AWS CloudFront and Google Cloud CDN.

Pricing

Pricing is often the deciding factor when choosing between cloud service providers. AWS CloudFront has a simple pricing model that is based on usage. The cost is calculated based on the amount of data transfer out and the number of HTTP/HTTPS requests. The pricing in the United States starts at $0.085 per GB for the first 10 TB of data transfer out per month.

On the other hand, Google Cloud CDN has a more complex pricing model that is based on the geographical location of the user. The cost varies depending on whether the user is located in North America, Europe, or Asia. The pricing in the United States starts at $0.08 per GB for the first 10 TB of data transfer out per month.

Based on pricing alone, AWS CloudFront is slightly cheaper than Google Cloud CDN for customers located in the United States.

Performance

Performance is a critical aspect of a CDN. AWS CloudFront has a global network of servers that is spread across 220+ edge locations in 85 cities. This makes it one of the largest CDN networks in the industry. They also support HTTP/2 and SSL/TLS encryption, which improves the performance and security of the content delivery.

Google Cloud CDN has fewer edge locations than AWS CloudFront. As of the time of writing, Google Cloud CDN has 100+ edge locations in 33 cities. However, they have an advantage in terms of integration with Google Cloud Platform services. This enables them to automatically route content to the nearest edge location, which improves the performance of the content delivery.

Based on global network size alone, AWS CloudFront is the clear winner. However, Google Cloud CDN's integration with Google Cloud Platform services gives them an edge when it comes to performance.

Caching

Caching is an important aspect of a CDN, as it can dramatically improve the performance of the content delivery. AWS CloudFront supports both origin caching and edge caching. Origin caching enables the caching of data at the origin server, while edge caching enables the caching of data at the edge locations. This provides flexibility in terms of caching configuration.

Google Cloud CDN supports edge caching, which enables the caching of data at the edge locations. However, they do not support origin caching, which limits the caching configuration options.

Based on caching configuration options, AWS CloudFront is the winner.

Conclusion

Both AWS CloudFront and Google Cloud CDN are excellent CDN solutions. AWS CloudFront has a larger global network and a simpler pricing model. On the other hand, Google Cloud CDN has better integration with Google Cloud Platform services and a simpler configuration for edge caching. Ultimately, the choice between the two would depend on the needs of the customer.

References

• AWS CloudFront [https://aws.amazon.com/cloudfront/]
• Google Cloud CDN [https://cloud.google.com/cdn/]