Easily compare Akamai and QUANTIL 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 | QUANTIL |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | QUANTIL launched their CDN services in 2012. They have a strong focus on live stream delivery with continued support for RTMP, L-HLS, HDS, HTTP TS and HTTP FLV. QUANTIL has a full-featured IPv4+IPv6 network and a big network of POPs in 34 countries including mainland China (ChinaNetCenter). |
Products
| Product | Akamai | QUANTIL |
|---|---|---|
| Dynamic content deliveryNon-cacheable content delivery. User login, shopping cart ... | Dynamic Site Accelerator | Website Acceleration |
| Small file deliveryStatic object delivery; caching of small files (file size <1 MB) | Ion | |
| Large file deliveryStatic object delivery; caching of large files (file size >1 MB) | Download Delivery | Download Acceleration |
| Live videoDelivery of live video. RTMP? Transcoding/transmuxing? | Adaptive Media Delivery | Live Stream Acceleration |
| Video on demandDelivery of on demand video | Video On Demand Acceleration | |
| Image OptimizationAutomatic image transformation/compression/optimization | Image & Video Manager | |
| DNSAuthoritative DNS for customer domain | Edge DNS | |
| WAFWeb Application Firewall | Web Application Protector | |
| Anti-DDoSDDoS attack protection. Specific product(s) for this. | Kona DDoS Defender | Cloud Security |
| Private CDNDedicated edge resources & custom configs | ||
| Edge ComputeRun your code on CDN edge servers | EdgeWorkers |
Network
How many POP locations do Akamai and QUANTIL have in different parts of the world?
| Region | Akamai | QUANTIL |
|---|---|---|
| North America | ? | 10 |
| Latin America | ? | 0 |
| Europe | ? | 6 |
| Russia & CIS | ? | 1 |
| Asia excl. China | ? | 22 |
| China | ? | 550 |
| Oceania | ? | 3 |
| Middle East | ? | 4 |
| Africa | ? | 6 |
Pricing
| Pricing & contract duration | Akamai | QUANTIL |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum contract term | 12 months | 12 months |
| Minimum monthly costs | Unknown | $1000 |
| Requests costsCustomers pay for client to CDN requests | Unknown | None |
| Ingress costsCustomers pay for origin-to-CDN bytes transferred | Unknown | None |
| NA/EU traffic (low volume) | Unknown | Unknown |
| APAC traffic (low volume) | Unknown | Unknown |
| LATAM traffic (low volume) | Unknown | Unknown |
Features
| Web acceleration | Akamai | QUANTIL |
|---|---|---|
| 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? | Depends on number of POPs turned on | |
Apex/root domain OK  No performance degradation when using http(s)://domain.com |
If you also use their Fast DNS for your domain | Purchase auth DNS that integrates with their CDN |
| HTTP/2 | ||
| 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 | |
| Origin pull - protocolHTTP only or HTTPS possible too? | HTTP and HTTPS | |
| Origin pull - Host headerUse client > edge value? Set specific value? | ||
| Origin ShieldOne POP pulls from origin, other POPs pull from the shield POP | Custom config, done by their support team | |
| Waiting RoomDuring peak traffic, route users to a virtual waiting room | Virtual Waiting Room | |
| Push / uploadStore your content directly on CDN, no customer origin | One-time $500 setup fee, $150/TB per month | |
| Cache control - CDN caching | ||
| Cache control - client caching | ||
| Serve Stale CDN serves cached but expired content in case origin is in trouble |
Custom config, done by their support team | |
| Purge Invalidate or delete cached objects on CDN |
Sometimes takes up to 10 min | |
| Purge - capabilities | ||
| Analytics | Many metrics. API outputs near real-time data. The customer portal is updated every 1-2 hours | |
| Log files | Delay is 1-3 hours. Download through API or from portal | |
| API | XML output |
| HTTPS & Content Protection | Akamai | QUANTIL |
|---|---|---|
| CDN domain HTTPSUse the CDN's domain, like cloudfront.net | ||
| Customer domain HTTPSYour domain in the CDN's certificate | SNI. Custom pricing | |
| Customer cert HTTPSYour certificate on the CDN | SNI. Custom pricing | |
| Token authentication | ||
| Geo blocking | ||
| Hotlink protectionThird parties cannot deeplink to your content | ||
| Basic authenticationUser logs in on the CDN to get content | ||
| IP white/blacklisting |
Support
| Customer support | Akamai | QUANTIL |
|---|---|---|
| Documentation | Akamai techdocs | Yes, but not everything is public. API docs are public. |
| Humans | Standard support (Monday to Friday, 9-6 pm PST) for small customers, and emergency support (24/7) for large customers. Support Availability. |