Easily compare Akamai and Tata Communications for POP locations, products, pricing, features & support. We hope this helps you better understand the similarities and differences between these content delivery networks.
Company
| Company | Akamai | Tata Communications |
|---|---|---|
| Short profile | Akamai is one of the oldest CDNs and generally considered to be the largest global CDN. They have 'servers everywhere' and a wide range of products and services. The company is actively involved in Let's Encrypt and is pushing HTTP/2 adoption. | Tata Communications is a full service, carrier grade, global CDN that has been in operation since their acquisition of BitGravity in 2012. The CDN rides on Tata’s global infrastructure which is the largest Tier 1 network in the world. Tata’s ownership of the network and peering relationships enable it to be very competitive when it comes to price. |
Products
| Product | Akamai | Tata Communications |
|---|---|---|
| Dynamic content deliveryNon-cacheable content delivery. User login, shopping cart ... | Dynamic Site Accelerator | Dynamic Site Acceleration |
| Small file deliveryStatic object delivery; caching of small files (file size <1 MB) | Ion | Whole Site Acceleration |
| Large file deliveryStatic object delivery; caching of large files (file size >1 MB) | Download Delivery | Large Object Rapid Delivery |
| Live videoDelivery of live video. RTMP? Transcoding/transmuxing? | Adaptive Media Delivery | Live Streaming |
| Video on demandDelivery of on demand video | Video On Demand | |
| Image OptimizationAutomatic image transformation/compression/optimization | Image & Video Manager | |
| DNSAuthoritative DNS for customer domain | Edge DNS | |
| WAFWeb Application Firewall | Web Application Protector | CDN Security |
| Anti-DDoSDDoS attack protection. Specific product(s) for this. | Kona DDoS Defender | CDN Security |
| Private CDNDedicated edge resources & custom configs | ||
| Edge ComputeRun your code on CDN edge servers | EdgeWorkers |
Network
How many POP locations do Akamai and Tata Communications have in different parts of the world?
| Region | Akamai | Tata Communications |
|---|---|---|
| North America | ? | 8 |
| Latin America | ? | 0 |
| Europe | ? | 4 |
| Russia & CIS | ? | 0 |
| Asia excl. China | ? | 10 |
| China | ? | 0 |
| Oceania | ? | 1 |
| Middle East | ? | 1 |
| Africa | ? | 0 |
Pricing
| Pricing & contract duration | Akamai | Tata Communications |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum contract term | 12 months | Unknown |
| Minimum monthly costs | Unknown | Unknown |
| Requests costsCustomers pay for client to CDN requests | Unknown | Unknown |
| Ingress costsCustomers pay for origin-to-CDN bytes transferred | Unknown | Unknown |
| NA/EU traffic (low volume) | Unknown | Unknown |
| APAC traffic (low volume) | Unknown | Unknown |
| LATAM traffic (low volume) | Unknown | Unknown |
Features
| Web acceleration | Akamai | Tata Communications |
|---|---|---|
| Instant setupSign up, configure, start testing. | Can't sign up and get started. Must talk to sales. | |
| Change propagation delayHow fast do config changes propagate to all POPs? | <10 minutes | |
Apex/root domain OK  No performance degradation when using http(s)://domain.com |
If you also use their Fast DNS for your domain |
Global Anycasted network
Tata recommends against root domain though, as they may make changes in DNS at any time
|
| HTTP/2 | End of 2017 | |
| HTTP/3 | HTTP/3 announcement | |
| WebSockets | WebSockets docs | |
| IPv6Do the edge servers have IPv6? | ||
| Compression Reduce file size for faster delivery |
Resend from origin, or compress on edge |
Resend from origin
Always fetch compressed from origin
|
| Origin pull - protocolHTTP only or HTTPS possible too? | HTTP and HTTPS | HTTP and HTTPS |
| Origin pull - Host headerUse client > edge value? Set specific value? | Can't configure specific other Host header | |
| Origin ShieldOne POP pulls from origin, other POPs pull from the shield POP |
Tiered architecture, not single POP shield
Tata support is needed to enable/configure this
|
|
| Waiting RoomDuring peak traffic, route users to a virtual waiting room | Virtual Waiting Room | |
| Push / uploadStore your content directly on CDN, no customer origin | ||
| Cache control - CDN caching | Full and granular control | |
| Cache control - client caching | Full and granular control | |
| Serve Stale CDN serves cached but expired content in case origin is in trouble |
||
| Purge Invalidate or delete cached objects on CDN |
No longer than 2 mins, often much faster | |
| Purge - capabilities | Purge all, purge by directory, not by tag or header | |
| Analytics |
Many metrics in the UI
2 seconds refresh ('instant') possible at extra charge
|
|
| Log files |
Refreshed every 24h. Available via FTP
15m refresh possible at extra charge
|
|
| API | Purge, configuration. Not analytics |
| HTTPS & Content Protection | Akamai | Tata Communications |
|---|---|---|
| CDN domain HTTPSUse the CDN's domain, like cloudfront.net | ||
| Customer domain HTTPSYour domain in the CDN's certificate | ||
| Customer cert HTTPSYour certificate on the CDN |
SNI. Pricing is custom.
Update cert via UI or API
|
|
| Token authentication | ||
| Geo blocking | ||
| Hotlink protectionThird parties cannot deeplink to your content | Their support team is needed | |
| Basic authenticationUser logs in on the CDN to get content | ||
| IP white/blacklisting |
White or black listing. IP addresses and CIDR blocks
Customer can configure self in UI
|
Support
| Customer support | Akamai | Tata Communications |
|---|---|---|
| Documentation | Akamai techdocs | Some documentation, not public |
| Humans | All customers get 24/7 email and phone support. |