Easily compare Akamai and EdgeNext 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 | EdgeNext |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | EdgeNext is a leading provider of edge cloud services specializing in China, APAC, MEA and global cloud delivery. As the only service provider with extensive POPs in China to be recognized by Gartner as possessing 'global' network capabilities, EdgeNext is one of the fastest-growing companies in the CDN space. |
Products
| Product | Akamai | EdgeNext |
|---|---|---|
| Dynamic content deliveryNon-cacheable content delivery. User login, shopping cart ... | Dynamic Site Accelerator | Dynamic Acceleration |
| Small file deliveryStatic object delivery; caching of small files (file size <1 MB) | Ion | CDN |
| Large file deliveryStatic object delivery; caching of large files (file size >1 MB) | Download Delivery | CDN |
| Live videoDelivery of live video. RTMP? Transcoding/transmuxing? | Adaptive Media Delivery | Streaming |
| Video on demandDelivery of on demand video | Streaming | |
| Image OptimizationAutomatic image transformation/compression/optimization | Image & Video Manager | |
| DNSAuthoritative DNS for customer domain | Edge DNS | Global, including China |
| WAFWeb Application Firewall | Web Application Protector | Part of the Security CDN |
| Anti-DDoSDDoS attack protection. Specific product(s) for this. | Kona DDoS Defender | Part of the Security CDN |
| Private CDNDedicated edge resources & custom configs | ||
| Edge ComputeRun your code on CDN edge servers | EdgeWorkers |
Network
How many POP locations do Akamai and EdgeNext have in different parts of the world?
| Region | Akamai | EdgeNext |
|---|---|---|
| North America | ? | 29 |
| Latin America | ? | 7 |
| Europe | ? | 16 |
| Russia & CIS | ? | 2 |
| Asia excl. China | ? | 35 |
| China | ? | 1100 |
| Oceania | ? | 1 |
| Middle-East | ? | 16 |
| Africa | ? | 4 |
Pricing
| Pricing & contract duration | Akamai | EdgeNext |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum contract term | 12 months | None for self-service customers |
| Minimum monthly costs | Unknown | None for self-service customers |
| 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 | EdgeNext |
|---|---|---|
| Instant setupSign up, configure, start testing. | Can't sign up and get started. Must talk to sales. | Self-service create account and configure account (EdgeNext to approve account) |
| Change propagation delayHow fast do config changes propagate to all POPs? | <5 minutes | |
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 | ||
| 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, or compress on edge
Fetch compressed or uncompressed from origin (configurable)
|
| Origin pull - protocolHTTP only or HTTPS possible too? | HTTP and HTTPS | HTTP and HTTPS |
| Origin pull - Host headerUse client > edge value? Set specific value? |
Configure specific other Host header
CDN can also forward client request Host header to origin
|
|
| 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 | Upload in the portal or via API | |
| 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 |
Cache-Control extensions support | |
| Purge Invalidate or delete cached objects on CDN |
Instant | |
| Purge - capabilities | Purge all, purge by directory, soft purge | |
| Analytics | Many metrics in the UI | |
| Log files | Available for download in Portal or via API. Format can be customized. | |
| API | Purge, configuration, analytics, logs |
| HTTPS & Content Protection | Akamai | EdgeNext |
|---|---|---|
| CDN domain HTTPSUse the CDN's domain, like cloudfront.net | ||
| Customer domain HTTPSYour domain in the CDN's certificate | SNI. Pricing is custom. | |
| Customer cert HTTPSYour certificate on the CDN | Pricing is custom | |
| Token authentication | Not self-service, support is needed | |
| Geo blocking | Not self-service, support is needed | |
| Hotlink protectionThird parties cannot deeplink to your content | Self-service | |
| Basic authenticationUser logs in on the CDN to get content | Self-service | |
| IP white/blacklisting | Self-service |
Support
| Customer support | Akamai | EdgeNext |
|---|---|---|
| Documentation | Akamai techdocs | Good documentation but not public |
| Humans | 24/7 email support and phone support. Multiple support packages are available |