StackPath is moving out of the CDN business.
On August 24 2023, StackPath announced the shutdown of its CDN after seven years of accelerating thousands of websites from their global edge network. Customers were notified by email:
We have some important news to share. StackPath has decided to commit its entire focus to being the industry's best cloud computing platform built at the Internet's edge.
With this decision, we will discontinue our StackPath CDN and legacy Highwinds CDN products. StackPath CDN and Highwinds CDN services will cease operations at 12:00 a.m. Central (UTC-6:00) on November 22, 2023.
Akamai has acquired approximately 100 enterprise accounts from StackPath, but what about the many smaller customers?
Customers of StackPath CDN must migrate to a different content delivery network in the next few months. Let's look at some StackPath CDN alternatives.
StackPath CDN Alternatives
StackPath CDN always had a focus on delivery of static content, typically website objects like images and scripts. Every CDN can cache and deliver static content, but not all CDNs provide this service at a comparable price. CacheFly, Bunny CDN, Gcore and CDN77 are probably a good fit for most StackPath CDN customers. They offer self-service signup, easy configuration and pricing is on par or better than what they are paying for StackPath CDN.
CacheFly, based in US, has been around since 2002 and were the first CDN to use Anycast for routing traffic to the closest POP. Over the years, they've steadily and silently built out the CDN (POPs, features, etc). CacheFly is a good StackPath CDN alternative for companies that want excellent support and have 10+ TB/m traffic.
Special Offer for StackPath CDN CustomersStackPath customers switching to CacheFly are offered a special deal: 64 TB for $595. Visit the CacheFly for StackPath customers page.
Pros & Cons of CacheFly versus StackPath CDN| Support by senior engineers |  |
CacheFly takes pride in acting as 'consultants to our customers' and go out of their way to help the customer. The CTO still works on support tickets. |
| More POPs | |
Especially in LATAM but on other continents as well, CacheFly has edge servers in (a lot) more locations. Network comparison StackPath CDN - CacheFly |
| Smart Image Optimization | |
Not just convert and compress, but also watermarking, intelligent cropping images and more. CacheFly Smart Image Optimization |
| Dynamic content delivery | |
Accelerate your full website, not just the images, fonts and other static assets |
| No on the fly compression |  |
CacheFly edge servers can forward compressed content but don't compress on the fly |
| Cange propagation delay is higher | |
Changing the config on StackPath CDN takes seconds, while on CacheFly it takes 5 - 180s depending on the change |
View our full StackPath CDN - CacheFly comparison
Bunny has grown fast in the past years and is now an established CDN provider with a good network and feature set.
Looking for a good, low-cost CDN for website acceleration? Consider Bunny a good StackPath CDN alternative.
| Cheaper | |
Low rates in NA/EU and APAC. Volume network (10 POPs) at $5 per TB. Bunny CDN pricing |
| More POPs | |
120 POPs versus 42 POPs at StackPath CDN. Network comparison StackPath CDN - Bunny CDN |
| Log files | |
All Bunny CDN customers get access to edge server log files, while StackPath offers streaming log files to customers with larger volume plans only |
| No phone support | |
Bunny CDN customers get 24/7 support but not by phone unless you buy Premium Support. |
| No WebSockets | |
Bunny CDN does not support WebSockets.
CDN Guide: WebSockets |
View our full StackPath CDN - Bunny CDN comparison.
Gcore is a Europe based company offering CDN, DNS, Hosting and other related services.
Their CDN network is impressive and continues to grow fast.
Gcore makes for a good StackPath CDN alternative if you have users in Africa, Middle East and Russia & CIS.
| Cheaper | |
$0.0315/GB on the PAYG plan, $0.024/GB in the 1.5 TB and $37/m plan. Gcore CDN pricing |
| More POPs | |
150+ POPs versus 42 POPs at StackPath CDN. Network comparison StackPath CDN - Gcore CDN |
| Brotli edge compression | |
Gcore CDN supports Gzip and Brotli edge compression. Brotli only if Origin Shield (paid) is active.
Configure GZip and Brotli compression CDN Guide: Origin Shield CDN Guide: Compression |
| Phone support not in all price plans | |
24/7 phone support is included in the Pro plan ($100/m) and up. The lower plan is 8/5 email support only |
| Pay for requests | |
Gcore charges for requests. First 1 billion are free, more cost $0.0079 per 10,000 requests. |
| Origin Shield is not free | |
Gcore charges extra for Origin Shield.
Gcore CDN Origin Shield docs CDN Guide: Origin Shield |
View our full StackPath CDN - Gcore CDN comparison.
Based in Europe, CDN77 is a safe bet for delivery of cacheable content around the globe.
Pros & Cons of CDN77 versus StackPath CDN| Single global rate | |
$0.033 per GB in the smallest monthly plan, dropping to 1 cent per GB at 100 TB/m. |
| All security features included | |
DDoS, origin & hotlink protection, Secure tokens and more. |
| More POPs in EU and Middle East | |
Network comparison StackPath CDN - CDN77 |
| Predefined monthly plans don't have all POPs | |
Predefined monthly plans include all PoPs in North & South America, Europe, Hong Kong, Jeddah, Singapore & Tokyo. Monthly plans |
| $199/m minimum | |
Smallest traffic monthly plan is 6 TB at $199/month. |
View our full StackPath CDN - CDN77 comparison.
StackPath CDN FAQ
- Is StackPath CDN the same as MaxCDN?
- Is Highwinds CDN shutting down too?
- Can I migrate from StackPath CDN to StackPath Edge Compute?
- How can I contact StackPath support?
- Were StackPath CDN customers happy?
Is StackPath CDN the same as MaxCDN?
MaxCDN came to life in 2010 as a brand within the NetDNA company. MaxCDN was a simpler CDN for both small and large businesses. In 2013, NetDNA rebranded the company and its services as MaxCDN. StackPath acquired MaxCDN in July 2016. The MaxCDN part of StackPath CDN was retired on December 31, 2022.
MaxCDN acquisition [TechCrunch]
Is Highwinds CDN shutting down too?
Yes, the legacy Highwinds CDN is end of life on November 22, 2023. StackPath acquired Highwinds CDN soon after acquiring MaxCDN, in February 2017. StackPath integrated Highwinds services and platform with StackPath offerings and operations.
Highwinds at Wikipedia
Can I migrate from StackPath CDN to StackPath Edge Compute?
No, StackPath Edge Compute is not a good choice for serving cacheable static content because it simply (much) more expensive than a CDN.
StackPath Edge Compute
How can I contact StackPath support?
StackPath has different support packages, ranging from Standard to Platinum. StackPath CDN customers can log in to the StackPath customer portal to submit or manage support tickets.
StackPath Support overview page,
StackPath customer portal
Were StackPath CDN customers happy?
Based on Trustpilot StackPath reviews in 2023, it seems customers of StackPath CDN were far from satisfied. StackPath had been increasing prices significantly and sometimes without prior warning. Customers also report support was going downhill.
Trustpilot StackPath reviews,
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