Easily compare CloudFront 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 | CloudFront | Gcore |
---|---|---|
Short profile | CloudFront is the CDN of AWS (Amazon Web Services), the world's largest cloud services provider. CloudFront offers a mature set of content delivery products and has a big network of POPs on many continents. Solid documentation and APIs make CloudFront a developer-friendly CDN. | Gcore is a global edge platform providing AI, cloud, network, and security solutions, all seamlessly integrated at the edge. With over 180 POPs across six continents, Gcore ensures fast, reliable, and secure delivery of dynamic and static content worldwide. |
Products
Product | CloudFront | Gcore |
---|---|---|
Dynamic content deliveryNon-cacheable content delivery. User login, shopping cart ... | Dynamic Content Delivery | |
Small file deliveryStatic object delivery; caching of small files (file size <1 MB) | ||
Large file deliveryStatic object delivery; caching of large files (file size >1 MB) | ||
Live videoDelivery of live video. RTMP? Transcoding/transmuxing? | Streaming Media | Live Streaming |
Video on demandDelivery of on demand video | VoD | |
Image OptimizationAutomatic image transformation/compression/optimization | Image Stack | |
DNSAuthoritative DNS for customer domain | AWS Route53 | DNS |
WAFWeb Application Firewall | AWS WAF | WAF |
Anti-DDoSDDoS attack protection. Specific product(s) for this. | AWS Shield | DDoS Protection |
Private CDNDedicated edge resources & custom configs | ||
Edge ComputeRun your code on CDN edge servers | Lambda@Edge |
Network
How many POP locations do CloudFront and Gcore have in different parts of the world?
Region | CloudFront | Gcore |
---|---|---|
North America | 19 | 15 |
Latin America | 7 | 18 |
Europe | 31 | 31 |
Russia & CIS | 0 | 14 |
Asia excl. China | 18 | 17 |
China | 4 | 0 |
Oceania | 5 | 2 |
Middle East | 5 | 12 |
Africa | 5 | 20 |
Pricing
Pricing & contract duration | CloudFront | Gcore |
---|---|---|
Minimum contract term | None | None month |
Minimum monthly costs | None | $0 |
Requests costsCustomers pay for client to CDN requests | $0.0075 - $0.022 per 10k requests | First 1 billion free, more cost $0.0079 per 10,000 |
Ingress costsCustomers pay for origin-to-CDN bytes transferred | $0.02 - $0.16 per GB (free if origin is AWS) | Yes |
NA/EU traffic (low volume) | $0.085 per GB | $0.0315 per GB |
APAC traffic (low volume) | $0.12 per GB (India: $0.109) | $0.0315 per GB |
LATAM traffic (low volume) | $0.11 per GB | $0.0315 per GB |
Features
Web acceleration | CloudFront | Gcore |
---|---|---|
Instant setupSign up, configure, start testing. | ||
Change propagation delayHow fast do config changes propagate to all POPs? | ~10 minutes | ~15 minutes |
Apex/root domain OK |
Only if used together with AWS Route53 | CNAME flattening |
HTTP/2 | HTTP/2 announcement (Sep 2016) | |
HTTP/3 | HTTP/3 announcement | |
WebSockets | Using WebSockets with CloudFront distributions | WebSockets docs |
IPv6Do the edge servers have IPv6? | IPv6 support announcement (Oct 2016) | |
Compression |
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? | Can't configure specific other Host header | Can be different from origin host |
Origin ShieldOne POP pulls from origin, other POPs pull from the shield POP | Origin Shield docs | Enable and configure Origin shielding |
Waiting RoomDuring peak traffic, route users to a virtual waiting room | Virtual Waiting Room on AWS | |
Push / uploadStore your content directly on CDN, no customer origin | ||
Cache control - CDN caching | Origin or CDN controlled | |
Cache control - client caching | Origin or CDN controlled | |
Serve Stale |
Supports Cache-Control extensions | Always Online |
Purge |
Purge Speed | Purge Speed |
Purge - capabilities | Purge all and by directory/file type (wildcards) | Purge all and by pattern |
Analytics | Amazon CloudFront Reports & Analytics | Detailed statistics by server and by user |
Log files |
Only delivered to S3
|
Log Viewer |
API | Purge, analytics, configuration | Purge, analytics, configuration |
HTTPS & Content Protection | CloudFront | Gcore |
---|---|---|
CDN domain HTTPSUse the CDN's domain, like cloudfront.net | Free (not SNI) | |
Customer domain HTTPSYour domain in the CDN's certificate | ||
Customer cert HTTPSYour certificate on the CDN | Free (SNI) or $600/m for non-SNI | Manage self in control panel |
Token authentication | Serving Private Content through CloudFront | Secure Token |
Geo blocking | Restricting the Geographic Distribution of Your Content | Country Access Policy |
Hotlink protectionThird parties cannot deeplink to your content | Use AWS WAF for Referer Checking | Referer Access Policy |
Basic authenticationUser logs in on the CDN to get content | ||
IP white/blacklisting | Use AWS WAF to Block IP Addresses | IP Access Policy |
Support
Customer support | CloudFront | Gcore |
---|---|---|
Documentation | Yes, public. API docs | Yes, public |
Humans | Community support is free. Email and phone support (AWS Support) available at extra costs | 8/5 email support for low volume plans. Volume and Enterprise customers get 24/7 chat, phone and email support |