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Lumen versus Edgio

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

Lumen logo Edgio logo

Company

Company Lumen Edgio
Short profile 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. Edgio is the result of the merger between well-known CDNs Edgecast and Limelight Networks and now a global edge platform with 300+ edge locations across the globe. The Edgio platform has four pillars: Delivery, Streaming, Security and AppOps.

Products

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

Network

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

Region Lumen Edgio
North America 28 18
Latin America 11 12
Europe 35 15
Russia & CIS 0 0
Asia excl. China 7 12
China 0 100
Oceania 5 3
Middle East 4 3
Africa 3 2

Pricing

Pricing & contract duration Lumen Edgio
Minimum contract term Unknown 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 Lumen Edgio
Instant setupSign up, configure, start testing. Not yet, but coming soon. Available through Microsoft Azure
Change propagation delayHow fast do config changes propagate to all POPs? No longer than 15 minutes - Often instant A few minutes
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 Anycasted network (regional)
HTTP/2
HTTP/3 Q4 2023
WebSockets WebSockets docs
IPv6Do the edge servers have IPv6?
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
Origin ShieldOne POP pulls from origin, other POPs pull from the shield POP Single POP shield or multiple. Full control
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 Origin Storage
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 Instant Purge Speed
Purge - capabilities Purge all but not purge by directory or tag or header Purge all, purge by directory, by file extension
Analytics Real-time, with many metrics in the UI
Log files < 60 seconds
API Purge, analytics, configuration Purge, analytics, configuration
HTTPS & Content Protection Lumen Edgio
CDN domain HTTPSUse the CDN's domain, like cloudfront.net
Customer domain HTTPSYour domain in the CDN's certificate Non-SNI. Pricing is custom. Wildcard possible
Customer cert HTTPSYour certificate on the CDN Pricing is custom
Token authentication Included as core feature
Geo blocking Included as core feature
Hotlink protectionThird parties cannot deeplink to your content Included as core feature
Basic authenticationUser logs in on the CDN to get content Supported via special configuration
IP white/blacklisting Included as core feature

Support

Customer support Lumen Edgio
Documentation Yes, but not public Yes, public
Humans All customers get 24/7 email and phone support.