Are you looking for the best CDN for video streaming and unsure which one to choose? I know this happens to everyone at some time. When I was looking for my first CDN to host multiple videos, I searched a lot on Google as well.
Having worked with CDNs for several years, I am now trying to make it easier for you to decide which CDN provider will work best for your streaming needs. In addition to that, we will also discuss their advantages and disadvantages, so that you can decide which one is right for you.
The CDN for video streaming is a specially developed content delivery network of servers that quickly deliver web-based content to video consumers in different countries.
Let’s understand it through an example,
Suppose you are doing an event and serving all your videos from your hosting server in New York, United States. And when users of India start watching your video, the video packets need to travel through multiple “hops” as they switch from router to router, which slows the delivery and increases video loading time.
But when you are using CDN, the CDN server requests web hosting for packets and saves the video packets to their nearest hops if any user from any region views the video. Then if the second user from the same location opens the video, the video packets get provided directly from the CDN server; this time CDN server will not request your web hosting for the data, which minimizes the load on your hosting.
Hope you understand how CDN works and how it helps you offer the best watching experience to your viewers. Now let’s know about the best CDNs for video streaming.
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Get BunnyCDN for FreeBest CDN for Video Streaming
Finding the best CDN for video streaming is not as difficult as it seems. However, when you are selecting a video streaming platform, there are still several things to consider:
- Price – You obviously want the best CDN for video streaming that will fit your budget.
- Video Quality – This is a very important factor because it will determine whether many people will view your video or not.
- Features – The features of a CDN can determine a lot when making your streaming video available to more people.
- Ease of Use – Ease of use is essential, especially for new users. You might want to stay away from CDNs that are complicated.
- Technical Support – This is another important point because even if you find the best CDN for video streaming, there will be times when you will be stuck in something.
Now that we have defined what makes a good video streaming platform let’s start looking at the most notable ones and discuss their strengths and weaknesses.
1. BunnyCDN
Due to its high network, which spans even the remote nations of the world, BunnyCDN is fast becoming the top choice for big companies and broadcasting networks all across the globe. BunnyCDN helps you in smoothly streaming videos without much complexity.
It has an easy-to-use feature accompanied by high security, making it user-friendly and the first choice among the fresher. Also, what I liked most in BunnyCDN is that your files are supercharged by their global load balancer automatically without giving you much headache to adjust your files.
Bunny CDN Stream allows you to provide the best video viewing experience to viewers while providing you with complete control over the content delivery. What makes Bunny Stream best for the video stream is its edge storage and server optimization, always offering a reliable playback experience.
I am personally using Bunny CDN on most of my blogs, not particularly for video streaming but for serving images through CDN (although I’ve hosted a few videos with them). When I play those videos, the experience is fantastic and videos play smoothly without any buffer or delay.
Talking about the price, the price of BunnyCDN is dynamic, offering you two sample plans designed for different needs and budgets. Their first plan, called the Volume Tier, starts at $0.005/GB for the first 500 TB, and its standard tier starts at $0.01/GB for the first 500 TB. The second plan will be a good choice if you are starting up.
In addition, to access the stream features, you need to make a separate payment for video storage.
Pros
- Global Load balancer
- Strong Hotlinking protection and token authentication
- Smooth video playback
- Strong Global network
Cons
- Offer a 14-days trial only.
2. KeyCDN
Next on the list of my recommendations is KeyCDN. The CDN has a vital service and extensive network spanning all continents, and KeyCDN gives you easy development with API access and optimized server hardware. I particularly like the smooth functioning and reliable security they provide.
You can rely upon this CDN for its widespread reach and storage facility. It has superb speed and delivers your content at a breakneck pace across its global network. Offers you SSD servers crafted with an advanced TCP stack.
No matter where your website visitor is from, your website will load and offer the best video viewing experience every time, thanks to KeyCDNs latency-based routing technology for leading performance. I have seen many improvements in KeyCDN in the last 2 years.
They are focusing on speed, improving performance by a millisecond at a time. This CDN can handle all traffic levels; you don’t need to worry about it. I am using it on a few of my sites, the experience I am getting is always best, exactly like BunnyCDN.
On the note of the plan price, KeyCDN is a little expensive. It has a tiered-pricing model, starting at $0.04/GB for the first 10TB, and then per GB comes down based on usage. They also offer you 24/7 technical support.
Pros
- Improved user experience with quality data
- Optimized hardware
- Easy and fast zone management
- Smooth functioning
Cons
- No Bot filtering
3. Fastly
If you ask any web developer for the best CDN, then most properly, he will suggest Fastly.com, which is one of the best and most widely used content delivery networks that offers you maximum control and reliability.
This CND is best for faster site and apps delivery, broadcast video in the highest quality, and getting real-time visibility when it comes to speed. Talking about content delivery, the CDN comes with a scalable network, API configuration, real-time control, and event-driven content.
If you do video streaming, you will always experience low latency, and there will also be no rebuffering events thanks to Fastly’s streaming media delivery. It offers the best live broadcast quality and video-on-demand experience, no matter which device the user is using and where he is watching from.
I recently set up this CDN on my client’s online course website; he also takes live classes—my experience with Fastly CDN is excellent for video streaming.
While doing video streaming, you will always experience the best performance. The CND creates a single origin for multiple CND by adding a media shield that improves the performance with the help of its centralized management.
The key features of Fastly CDN video streaming include dynamic ad insertion preparation, full control of HTTP headers, time to live control, dedicated IPs, and lots more.
Pros
- Real-time log streaming
- Always-on DDoS mitigation
- Content compression
Cons
- The price is high
4. Cloudflare CDN
Cloudflare is a blooming CDN that has developed high Point of Presence (PoPs) globally. The CDN offers you a range of features which also include cloud encoding and customizable HTML5 video players. I have personally used this CDN for my website.
Cloudflare also gives you the ability to instant complete cache purge and mobile optimization, making it easy to work on the move. Cloudflare supports both HLS and DASH standards for adaptive bitrate streaming that can be embedded on your website.
You will get the dedicated feature for streaming from where you can control all your video settings, but this is not included with the Cloudflare pack you have purchased or using a free account.
The Cloudflare steam features will cost you around $5.00 per 1,000 minutes for storage and $1.00 per 1,000 minutes for streaming. To access the features, you need to make the payment in advance.
Now talking about Cloudflare premium plan pricing, most users, including me, prefer to use the free plan because Cloudflare’s free plan offers you the most features. If you want to purchase, you can purchase its Pro plan for $20/month and business plan for $200/month.
Lastly, it has an Enterprise plan which can be customized as per the user.
Pros
- Smart WAF protection
- Reliable global network
- Smooth functioning
Cons
- Optimization needed for WordPress users
5. Akamai
If you are looking for the CDN that offers your best security, Akamai CDN is for you. It offers all the basic and advanced security features, including API and application security, remote work security, account takeover protection, DDoS protection, and much more.
Talking about speed, this CDN is made for the flawless delivery of dynamic content even at extreme demand. Akamai CDN is known for its amazing streaming experience on any device, and its features called on-net edge delivery offer the best live streaming experience.
I have no personal experience with this CDN, but I have talked with some of my developer friends who have been using it for the last few years, they are satisfied with the performance and speed.
Using this CDN, you can cover more customers all across the globe with the help of its high-quality ingest and reliability delivery. Not just that, with the low-latency support, the CND also decreases the delay between traditional broadcasts.
The pricing of this CDN is not mentioned on the website anywhere. So to get the details about the pricing, you need to talk with their billing team or sign up for the free trial.
Pros
- Adaptive media delivery
- Media analytics
- Media services live
Cons
- Pricing is not mentioned on the website.
6. Amazon CloudFront
CloudFront is a CDN that has come recently but gathered a good portion of the market because of its reach and availability. This CDN is cost-effective since it gives you the pay-as-you-go pricing facility, making it popular in the Global South region.
Since it is a product of the Amazon Web Service division, it comes with the additional benefit of free data transfer between AWS cloud services and Amazon CloudFront for origin fetches.
CloudFront gives you robust security with AWS Shield Standards to protect against DDoS attacks without any additional charge. The CDN has been designed to improve the quality of experience and improve safety with traffic encryption.
Talking about the price range, you can either go for a free plan for 12 months or an on-demand pricing tier. Another option is Discounted pricing tier for customers who are willing to make sure minimum traffic commits (typically 10 TB/month or higher)
I don’t have any personal experience with CloudFront, but a few of my blogger friends have been using it for the past few months. According to them, this CDN works well compared to other CDNs in the same price range.
Pros
- Strong Security
- Better reach and PoPs
Cons
- Expensive on the pocket
7. CDN77
CDN77 is a fast-growing company that is gathering market share due to its capacity to provide a strong network and fast content delivery. Currently, CDN77 collaborates with many popular video developers and streaming channels like Udemy, ElevenSports, et cetera.
You can find a whole range of features offered by CDN77, including smooth content delivery, scalability, and easy-to-use CDN management. CDN77 has a high-performance delivery record of all major video formats (MP4/HLS/MPEG-DASH/CMAF) to all platforms and devices, enabling you to operate videos in all forms.
Also, since its security is based on DPDK, it detects and blocks any attack in under 10 seconds. You need to update your recorded video to their CDN and create bitrate files through transcoding to start using it.
RTMP, HLS, RTSP, MPEG-TS, and MPEG-DASH are some formats in which you can upload videos and let CDN77 transcode the video, which also helps in providing a better video experience.
The price range of CDN77 is diverse for diverse users. You can either opt for pay-as-you-go, which starts at $0.0049/GB per month, or a monthly plan, which comes at $199/month. A free trial of this CDN is also available.
Pros
- Strong build up and functioning
- Global reach
- High security
Cons
- Not suitable for small business
8. Microsoft Azure CDN
Coming from the technological powerhouse of Microsoft, Azure CDN is listed among the most reliable CDN in the market. You can rely on the CDN for its speed and fast delivery.
Since it has strong global coverage, you don’t have to worry about the video’s reach. Another essential feature in its list is performing over high content videos and large files, making it a popular CDN for big corporate firms.
If you need a CDN for smooth site loading and quality service, this is your go-to CDN. I have often used Microsoft Azure CDN for long and smooth video streaming and had a great experience.
Azure APIs and developer tools give you reliable performance security needed to create global applications. The APIs also give customers the flexibility to optimize features for availability and performance.
Talking about the pricing, Azure CDN comes with pay only for what you use pricing model, in this, you only need to make the payment of what you have used in the last month. Another good thing about Azure CDN is that you will get a free credit of $200 when you sign up for the first time.
Pros
- Strong global reach
- Easy and user friendly
- Secure and stable
Cons
- Heavy on the pocket
Why Choose CDNs for Video Streaming?
CDN is essential for providing a seamless and effortless experience in video streaming, and it is critical for any video to be streamed online for better security and smoothness.
Here is why you should choose CDNs for video streaming:
1. Faster Video Streaming
Waiting for even 10 seconds can decrease viewer traffic by 60%. CDN gives you the feature of instant loading, which gathers more traffic on the video. Faster video streaming means more popularity and a better reputation. It is essential to keep yourself strong in the market.
It reduces bounce rates, improves conversions, and improves user experience. A CDN stores your static content in a temporary location so that the data can be readily accessed.
2. High-Quality Videos
Since there is less load time via CDN, the streaming videos are high quality and standard. CDN helps maintain low latency, which improves the viewer’s video experience. There will be minimum load on your hosting server as the CDN server in different locations handles all the users.
Since CDN helps reduce the lag that occurs during video streaming by eradicating load time, the quality of the video is enhanced. This will make your video professional and attractive to the viewers.
3. Minimum Lags
When there is no load, why will there be a lag? High load on the server is the main reason behind lag. CDN makes the viewer experience a faster load time on all devices. Some CDN providers have built-in mobile optimization features that help ensure that your content is responsive to mobile devices.
CDN absorbs the traffic and spreads it across its distributed infrastructure to enhance the content availability irrespective of the load. If one server happens to go slow, other Points of Presence (PoPs) will pick up the traffic and keep the service unhindered.
4. Better Security
CDN provides enhanced security and minimum lag. It fights off the malware and security breach that attacks your video, keeping it secure and smooth. CDN is particularly useful in the case of DDoS attacks, where attackers aim to overwhelm an important DNS server by sending a large number of requests.
The goal is to bring this server down and, along with it, the website. Such downtime in video streaming can inflict economic losses for a business and damage the brand’s reputation.
CDNs can prevent DDoS attacks by acting as a DDoS protection platform and distributing the load equally across the entire capacity of the network.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Still, have doubts? We all get confused sometimes, and there are times when we have several questions in our minds. So here are some questions we usually get asked by our readers.
I hope these FAQs help you to answer all your questions.
Q. What is a Video Streaming CDN?
A video streaming CDN is a special type of CDN which is designed to support video stream delivery. A stream sent through a CDN reaches people all around the world, reduces latency and buffer time, and keeps the source or origin server from becoming clogged with requests.
It also decreases the bandwidth and hardware requirements of the server and increases availability and reliability in nearly every kind of delivery scenario.
Q. Any Cheap CDN for Doing Video Streaming?
Yes, BunnyCDN is one of the most popular CDNs for video streaming from 87+ PoPs and a SmartEdge routing engine. For the “Stream” plan, they claim their cheapest plan starts at $0.02 per GB.
I’ve been using their CDN for a while now and I’m quite pleased with the performance and support. Even I’ve never heard anyone say anything negative about them.
Q. How to Load Videos from CDN?
Loading a video from a CDN like: BunnyCDN is simple. You just need to click on your video and get the URL after you’ve uploaded it to BunnyCDN.
Once you’ve got the URL, insert it into your HTML page or PHP source file. Typically, the URL should be placed in the <video> tag like this:
<video src='your-video-url'></video>
That’s all.
Your video is now delivered through BunnyCDN’s network of content servers to people all over the globe.
Wrapping Up!
CDN is an essential video streaming component for a better experience and broader reach, and it protects the stream from security breaches and attacks. Picking up a particular CDN for your video streaming is crucial in providing quality data to your viewers.
After comprehensive research, all the above features CDNs for video streaming are shortlisted. I am personally using the first two CDNs, BunnyCDN and KeyCDN, on most websites, and I am entirely satisfied with their performance.
Before coming up with this listicle, I have tested all the CDNs comprehensively. You can invest in any of them; you will get the best service. We hope this article about the best CDNs for video streaming is helpful to you.
Do share which CDN you will choose in the comment section below.
