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CDNetworks versus Lumen

Easily compare CDNetworks and Lumen for POP locations, products, pricing, features & support. We hope this helps you better understand the similarities and differences between these content delivery networks.

CDNetworks logo Lumen logo

Company

Company CDNetworks Lumen
Short profile As a leading network with over 2,800 global Points of Presence and more than 20 years of technology experience, CDNetworks has made huge leaps forward in edge computing, from basic CDN services to elastic, stable, and secure content delivery services and all-in-one WAAP Protection Solution. Recognized in Gartner Competitive Landscape: CDN and Edge Services in 2022. Lumen (formerly known as Centurylink or Level 3) owns and operates a global Tier-1 network and - logically - their CDN runs on top of it. Lumen CDN has POPs on many continents and their product focus is on video, large object delivery and edge computing.

Products

Yes
Sort of/partially
No
Extra costs
Unknown
Product CDNetworks Lumen
Dynamic content deliveryNon-cacheable content delivery. User login, shopping cart ... Dynamic Web Acceleration CDN Edge Compute
Small file deliveryStatic object delivery; caching of small files (file size <1 MB) Content Acceleration CDN and/or CDN Edge Compute
Large file deliveryStatic object delivery; caching of large files (file size >1 MB) Content Acceleration
Live videoDelivery of live video. RTMP? Transcoding/transmuxing? Media Acceleration Live Broadcast CDN and/or CDN Mesh Delivery
Video on demandDelivery of on demand video Media Acceleration VoD CDN and/or CDN Mesh Delivery
Image OptimizationAutomatic image transformation/compression/optimization Image Processing part of CDN Edge Compute
DNSAuthoritative DNS for customer domain Cloud DNS+
WAFWeb Application Firewall Application Firewall WAF
Anti-DDoSDDoS attack protection. Specific product(s) for this. Flood Shield Lumen DDoS Hyper (on-demand) and DDoS Mitigation Service
Private CDNDedicated edge resources & custom configs CDN Mesh Delivery for Enterprise
Edge ComputeRun your code on CDN edge servers Edge Computing Platform Edge Compute

Network

How many POP locations do CDNetworks and Lumen have in different parts of the world?

Region CDNetworks Lumen
North America 13 28
Latin America 6 11
Europe 14 35
Russia & CIS 27 0
Asia excl. China 35 7
China 66 0
Oceania 3 5
Middle East 10 4
Africa 7 3

Pricing

Pricing & contract duration CDNetworks Lumen
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

Yes
Sort of/partially
No
Extra costs
Unknown
Web acceleration CDNetworks Lumen
Instant setupSign up, configure, start testing. CDN Pro has self signup and getting started. For other products you must talk to sales Not yet, but coming soon.
Change propagation delayHow fast do config changes propagate to all POPs? ~ 15 minutes No longer than 15 minutes - Often instant
Apex/root domain OK Blog: Root domain on CDN and performanceNo performance degradation when using http(s)://domain.com Available with Section product for an additional fee
HTTP/2 Docs
HTTP/3
WebSockets Docs
IPv6Do the edge servers have IPv6? Docs
Compression CDN Guide: CompressionReduce 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? Configure specific other Host header
tooltip CDN can also forward client request Host header to origin
Configure specific other Host header
tooltip CDN can also forward client request Host header to origin
Origin ShieldOne POP pulls from origin, other POPs pull from the shield POP Multiple POPs can act as shield
Waiting RoomDuring peak traffic, route users to a virtual waiting room
Push / uploadStore your content directly on CDN, no customer origin FTP, SFTP, rsync. Storage costs apply
Cache control - CDN caching Full and granular control
Cache control - client caching Full and granular control
Serve Stale CDN Guide: Serve StaleCDN serves cached but expired content in case origin is in trouble
Purge CDN Guide: PurgeInvalidate or delete cached objects on CDN Completion time is 5 - 10 minutes Instant
Purge - capabilities Purge all, by directory, by cache tag Purge all but not purge by directory or tag or header
Analytics
Log files
API Purge, analytics, configuration Purge, analytics, configuration
HTTPS & Content Protection CDNetworks Lumen
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
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 CDNetworks Lumen
Documentation Yes, public Yes, but not public
Humans All customers get 24/7 email and phone support