Looking for the best WordPress CDN?
I’ve ranked the top CDNs based on speed, price, PoPs (points of presence), popularity in Facebook polls, and even TrustPilot ratings. I have also personally used most CDNs in the list.
If you want to know the CDN I use, it’s BunnyCDN. It’s a paid CDN (still relatively cheap) but typically has better performance than Cloudflare, RocketCDN (StackPath), and other popular CDNs. Cloudflare is fine for most WordPress websites, especially if you’re on a budget. And if you’re using a LiteSpeed server + LiteSpeed Cache, of course I recommend using QUIC.cloud.
Tip #1: The best CDN is somtimes the one with the closest PoPs to your visitors. Be sure to check each CDN’s data center page to see if they make sense for your location.
Top #2: Once a CDN is setup, check your source code to make sure CSS, JavaScript, image and other files are served from the CDN. You can try the CDN Rewrite plugin, although most plugins like WP Rocket (CDN CNAME field), Perfmatters, BunnyCDN, and other plugins have a CDN rewrite setting where you should paste your CDN URL.
Tip #3: Regardless of your CDN, I recommend Cloudflare or DNS Made Easy for DNS.
1. BunnyCDN
A lot of serious bloggers like WPCrafter (and myself) use BunnyCDN.
The performance from BunnyCDN is typically better than Cloudflare, which can sometimes have a negative effect. It’s also relatively cheap considering you only pay for the CDN locations you actually use. If a lot of visitors are from Europe and North America, just select that location.
BunnyCDN has easy setup instructions. Sign up, create a pull zone, only select the CDN locations you want to use, grab your CDN URL, and paste it into their BunnyCDN plugin.
Use the BunnyCDN plugin to setup your CDN, then also add your CDN URL in your cache plugin (WP Rocket → CDN → CDN CNAME) to make sure more files are served from the CDN.
Finally, view your source code to make sure the files you want are being served from the CDN.
They also have storage zones where you can upload files via FTP, caching, security, and header options, and Bunny Optimizer to minify CSS/JS (better to do this with your CDN than cache plugin) and image optimization. This costs more and most sites can just use them for the CDN.
2. QUIC.cloud CDN
QUIC.cloud’s CDN is built specifically to work on LiteSpeed servers.
In other words, you will need to choose a host that uses LiteSpeed (i.e. A2 Hosting or NameHero), install the LiteSpeed Cache plugin, then use it to setup QUIC.cloud CDN. NameHero does a solid job in showing you how to setup QUIC.cloud in this video at 6:41.
QUIC.cloud and LiteSpeed are still relatively new and lack documentation. But since LiteSpeed has blown up and is faster than Apache servers, moving to a LiteSpeed host and using LiteSpeed Cache and QUIC.cloud has quickly become one of the most popular setups in Facebook Groups.
3. Cloudflare
Cloudflare is my #3 choice because it’s a free CDN you can use on any host (many hosts even have Cloudflare activation built-in to their platform) with the largest network of data centers compared to most CDNs. SiteGround, Kinsta, Bluehost, and many other hosts use Cloudflare.
Once you sign up for Cloudflare, you’re prompted to change nameservers so you can use them for your DNS (which is very fast compared to GoDaddy, NameCheap, and other DNS providers). To activate their CDN go to Cloudflare’s DNS settings and toggle your website from “DNS Only” to “Proxied.” Without that last step, you’re not actually using Cloudflare CDN. Test your results!
You can use the Claire Chrome Extension to make sure Cloudflare is working.
In addition to their CDN, Cloudflare has tons of features. Changing nameservers to use Cloudflare’s DNS is much faster than using GoDaddy, NameCheap, and other slow DNS providers. Then you have page rules, firewall rules, speed optimization settings, network settings, and workers. You’ll find tons of great features even most paid CDNs don’t include.
Although Cloudflare is great for smaller websites on a budget, if you have a larger website, you may want to use a more performant CDN than Cloudflare, which is where BunnyCDN comes in.
4. CloudFront
Amazon’s CloudFront is one of the fastest CDNs ranked by CDNPerf.
But they’re not as easy to setup as other CDNs (so use the video tutorial below or see written instructions). You would create an S3 bucket, then create a CloudFront distribution. They also have their AWS for WordPress plugin and 275+ POPs which is about 25 more than Cloudflare.
5. KeyCDN
KeyCDN is another consistently performant CDN with great reviews on TrustPilot, but it’s more expensive with less data centers than BunnyCDN.
Most of KeyCDN’s data centers are located in Europe, so it would only make sense if that’s where most visitors are. They also developed the CDN Enabler plugin which rewrites CSS, JavaScript, and images so they’re served from a CDN, although the plugin has poor reviews.
KeyCDN’s performance test is a great tool that measures TTFB in 10 global locations. This is a better way of measuring your TTFB than the single location in other testing tools like GTmetrix.
6. StackPath
StackPath is a CDN also used by RocketCDN (from WP Rocket) and CloudwaysCDN.
Even though they make it easy to setup, I wouldn’t lean towards StackPath. WP Johnny and others have reported StackPath can be slower than other CDNs (you can check their TrustPilot reviews). Ever since they took over MaxCDN, there has been increased complaints about them.
If you do decide to test StackPath, you might be better off purchasing it through RocketCDN which has a different pricing structure (it’s much cheaper) than found on StackPath’s website.
7. Your Hosting CDN (WPX, GoDaddy)
WPX, GoDaddy, and other hosts have built their own CDN.
If using WPX, I recommend using LiteSpeed Cache + QUIC.cloud CDN since WPX uses LiteSpeed. And if using GoDaddy, I would use another CDN because GoDaddy isn’t great at much. Most hosts use third-party CDNs in this list, so be sure to check who they actually use.
8. Statically
Statically is a free CDN you can setup using their plugin.
It can serve images, CSS, JavaScript, fonts, and even OpenGraph images from their CDN. Statically is also a multi-CDN which means the CDN provider is chosen based on which CDN has good “health and performance.” and is chosen from Cloudflare, Fastly, BunnyCDN, Google Cloud, and CloudFront. Statically is also used by the Flying Images plugin from Gijo Varghese.
9. Sucuri CDN
Sucuri is a security service at heart so I would personally lean towards a company that specializes in the CDN field, or at least speed optimization. Plus, they only have 14 locations which is unattractive. I haven’t had a chance to try their CDN, just know it’s not widely used.
10. JetPack
JetPack’s CDN is another option, but I never recommend using JetPack.
It’s a slow plugin with features you probably don’t need. If you’re using JetPack, learn which features you’re using and install other plugins (or do things manually), then delete it. If you insist on trying it, it can serve all your images, photos, CSS, and static JavaScript files from their CDN.
The Best WordPress CDN In Facebook Polls
Polls are sometimes more of a popularity contest than anything. But Cloudflare is usually #1 (probably because it’s free and tons of people use it), while BunnyCDN is usually #2. Google Cloud CDN isn’t in this list because you have to be using a host that Google Cloud (i.e. Closte).
CDN performance test (source: CDNPerf)
Do You Agree?
Do you agree with these CDN rankings? I’d love to hear your own experience in the comments. And of course, any suggestions you would like to see me add to this guide are always welcome.
Cheers,
Tom
Tom Dupuis writes WordPress speed and SEO tutorials out of his apartment in Denver, Colorado. In his spare time, he plays Rocket League and watches murder documentaries. Read his bio to learn 50 random and disturbing things about him.
Keep reading the article at Tom Dupuis. The article was originally written by Tom Dupuis on 2021-10-15 19:48:15.
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