Easily compare StackPath and Akamai 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
StackPath Akamai
Short profile
StackPath launched in 2016 and promises global, high performance content delivery + top notch security (integrated web application firewall and DDoS mitigation) while keeping things simple, transparent and affordable. StackPath is developer-friendly with 24/7/365 support and a fully-documented API.
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.
Products
Network
How many POP locations do StackPath and Akamai have in different parts of the world?
Region
StackPath Akamai
North America
15
?
Latin America
6
?
Europe
12
?
Russia & CIS
0
?
Asia excl. China
6
?
China
0
?
Oceania
2
?
Middle East
0
?
Africa
1
?
Pricing
Pricing & contract duration
StackPath Akamai
Minimum contract term
One month
12 months
Minimum monthly costs
$25
Unknown
Requests costsCustomers pay for client to CDN requests
None
Unknown
Ingress costsCustomers pay for origin-to-CDN bytes transferred
Unknown
Unknown
NA/EU traffic (low volume)
$0.04 per GB
Unknown
APAC traffic (low volume)
$0.04 per GB
Unknown
LATAM traffic (low volume)
$0.04 per GB
Unknown
Features
Web acceleration
StackPath Akamai
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?
Instant
Apex/root domain OK No performance degradation when using http(s)://domain.com
If you also use their Fast DNS for your domain
HTTP/2
HTTP/3
HTTP/3 announcement
WebSockets
WebSockets docs
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, or compress on edge
Origin pull - protocolHTTP only or HTTPS possible too?
HTTP and HTTPS
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
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 with EdgeRules
Cache control - client caching
Full and granular control with EdgeRules
Serve Stale CDN serves cached but expired content in case origin is in trouble
Purge Invalidate or delete cached objects on CDN
Instant!
Purge - capabilities
Purge all, purge by directory/header,
Analytics
Real-time!
Log files
Only for larger volume plans
API
Purge, analytics, configuration
HTTPS & Content Protection
StackPath Akamai
CDN domain HTTPSUse the CDN's domain, like cloudfront.net
Free. SNI
Customer domain HTTPSYour domain in the CDN's certificate
Customer cert HTTPSYour certificate on the CDN
Free. SNI
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
StackPath Akamai
Documentation
Yes, public
Akamai techdocs
Humans
24/7 phone and email support included in all plans. Higher volume plans get a dedicated technical account manager
No performance degradation when using http(s)://domain.com