Easily compare ChinaCache and Gcore 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 | ChinaCache | Gcore |
|---|---|---|
| Short profile | Founded in 1998, publicly traded on NASDAQ (CCIH), ChinaCache is the first CDN in China and generally considered to be one of the better CDNs for China delivery because of their network, knowledge and experience from working with (enterprise) multinational customers. The ChinaCache network and services are not limited to mainland China and ChinaCache has been growing steadily outside China in the past years. | Gcore is a global CDN with a focus on gaming: "We expand the geographical presence of your game and speed up downloads for your players". Gcore is headquartered in Luxembourg and employs 400+ people. |
Products
| Product | ChinaCache | Gcore |
|---|---|---|
| Dynamic content deliveryNon-cacheable content delivery. User login, shopping cart ... | Dynamic Content Acceleration | |
| Small file deliveryStatic object delivery; caching of small files (file size <1 MB) | Static Content Acceleration | |
| Large file deliveryStatic object delivery; caching of large files (file size >1 MB) | Download Acceleration | |
| Live videoDelivery of live video. RTMP? Transcoding/transmuxing? | Media Acceleration | Live Streaming |
| Video on demandDelivery of on demand video | Media Acceleration | VoD |
| Image OptimizationAutomatic image transformation/compression/optimization | Image Stack | |
| DNSAuthoritative DNS for customer domain | DNS | |
| WAFWeb Application Firewall | WAF | |
| Anti-DDoSDDoS attack protection. Specific product(s) for this. | DDoS Protection | |
| Private CDNDedicated edge resources & custom configs | ||
| Edge ComputeRun your code on CDN edge servers |
Network
How many POP locations do ChinaCache and Gcore have in different parts of the world?
| Region | ChinaCache | Gcore |
|---|---|---|
| North America | 8 | 15 |
| Latin America | 1 | 17 |
| Europe | 3 | 23 |
| Russia & CIS | 0 | 13 |
| Asia excl. China | 10 | 15 |
| China | 400 | 0 |
| Oceania | 0 | 2 |
| Middle East | 1 | 13 |
| Africa | 1 | 12 |
Pricing
| Pricing & contract duration | ChinaCache | Gcore |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum contract term | 12 months | One month |
| Minimum monthly costs | Unknown | $37 |
| Requests costsCustomers pay for client to CDN requests | None | First 1 billion free, more cost $0.0079/10,000 |
| Ingress costsCustomers pay for origin-to-CDN bytes transferred | Unknown | Yes |
| NA/EU traffic (low volume) | Unknown | $0.024 per GB |
| APAC traffic (low volume) | Unknown | $0.024 per GB |
| LATAM traffic (low volume) | Unknown | $0.024 per GB |
Features
| Web acceleration | ChinaCache | Gcore |
|---|---|---|
| Instant setupSign up, configure, start testing. | ||
| Change propagation delayHow fast do config changes propagate to all POPs? | <5 minutes | ~15 minutes |
Apex/root domain OK  No performance degradation when using http(s)://domain.com |
Non-Anycasted network | Custom solution (host your DNS zone ...) |
| HTTP/2 | ||
| HTTP/3 | ||
| WebSockets | WebSockets docs | |
| IPv6Do the edge servers have IPv6? | At customer request | |
| 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 | 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
|
Can be different from origin host |
| Origin ShieldOne POP pulls from origin, other POPs pull from the shield POP | Enable and configure Origin shielding | |
| Waiting RoomDuring peak traffic, route users to a virtual waiting room | ||
| Push / uploadStore your content directly on CDN, no customer origin | ||
| Cache control - CDN caching |
CDN can honor origin headers
Custom rules can be set by CDN support team
|
Origin or CDN controlled |
| Cache control - client caching | Origin or CDN controlled | |
| Serve Stale CDN serves cached but expired content in case origin is in trouble |
Always Online | |
| Purge Invalidate or delete cached objects on CDN |
<3 minutes delay | Purge Speed |
| Purge - capabilities | Purge all, purge by directory | Purge all, directory, and by file type/pattern |
| Analytics | Many metrics, real-time updates | |
| Log files | Logs are daily or hourly | Export logs to your storage. Logs are exported at the end of each hour. |
| API | Purge, analytics, billing. Not configuration | Purge, analytics, configuration |
| HTTPS & Content Protection | ChinaCache | Gcore |
|---|---|---|
| CDN domain HTTPSUse the CDN's domain, like cloudfront.net | Only for testing | |
| Customer domain HTTPSYour domain in the CDN's certificate | ||
| Customer cert HTTPSYour certificate on the CDN | Manage self in control panel | |
| Token authentication | Secure Token | |
| Geo blocking | Country Access Policy | |
| Hotlink protectionThird parties cannot deeplink to your content | Referer Access Policy | |
| Basic authenticationUser logs in on the CDN to get content | ||
| IP white/blacklisting | IP Access Policy |
Support
| Customer support | ChinaCache | Gcore |
|---|---|---|
| Documentation | Yes, but not public. | Yes, public |
| Humans | Different levels of support are available. | Technical support depends on price plan. Pro plan and up get 24/7 mail, chat and phone support. |