Easily compare Gcore 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.
Company
| Company | Gcore | Lumen |
|---|---|---|
| Short profile | 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. | 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
| Product | Gcore | Lumen |
|---|---|---|
| Dynamic content deliveryNon-cacheable content delivery. User login, shopping cart ... | CDN Edge Compute | |
| Small file deliveryStatic object delivery; caching of small files (file size <1 MB) | CDN and/or CDN Edge Compute | |
| Large file deliveryStatic object delivery; caching of large files (file size >1 MB) | ||
| Live videoDelivery of live video. RTMP? Transcoding/transmuxing? | Live Streaming | CDN and/or CDN Mesh Delivery |
| Video on demandDelivery of on demand video | VoD | CDN and/or CDN Mesh Delivery |
| Image OptimizationAutomatic image transformation/compression/optimization | Image Stack | part of CDN Edge Compute |
| DNSAuthoritative DNS for customer domain | DNS | |
| WAFWeb Application Firewall | WAF | WAF |
| Anti-DDoSDDoS attack protection. Specific product(s) for this. | DDoS Protection | 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 Compute |
Network
How many POP locations do Gcore and Lumen have in different parts of the world?
| Region | Gcore | Lumen |
|---|---|---|
| North America | 15 | 28 |
| Latin America | 18 | 11 |
| Europe | 31 | 35 |
| Russia & CIS | 14 | 0 |
| Asia excl. China | 17 | 7 |
| China | 0 | 0 |
| Oceania | 2 | 5 |
| Middle East | 12 | 4 |
| Africa | 20 | 3 |
Pricing
| Pricing & contract duration | Gcore | Lumen |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum contract term | None month | Unknown |
| Minimum monthly costs | $0 | Unknown |
| Requests costsCustomers pay for client to CDN requests | First 1 billion free, more cost $0.0079 per 10,000 | Unknown |
| Ingress costsCustomers pay for origin-to-CDN bytes transferred | Yes | Unknown |
| NA/EU traffic (low volume) | $0.0315 per GB | Unknown |
| APAC traffic (low volume) | $0.0315 per GB | Unknown |
| LATAM traffic (low volume) | $0.0315 per GB | Unknown |
Features
| Web acceleration | Gcore | Lumen |
|---|---|---|
| Instant setupSign up, configure, start testing. | 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  No performance degradation when using http(s)://domain.com |
CNAME flattening | Available with Section product for an additional fee |
| HTTP/2 | ||
| HTTP/3 | ||
| 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 |
| 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 be different from origin host |
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 | 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 | FTP, SFTP, rsync. Storage costs apply | |
| Cache control - CDN caching | 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 |
Purge Speed | Instant |
| Purge - capabilities | Purge all and by pattern | Purge all but not purge by directory or tag or header |
| Analytics | Detailed statistics by server and by user | |
| Log files | Log Viewer | |
| API | Purge, analytics, configuration | Purge, analytics, configuration |
| HTTPS & Content Protection | Gcore | 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 | 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 | Gcore | Lumen |
|---|---|---|
| Documentation | Yes, public | Yes, but not public |
| Humans | 8/5 email support for low volume plans. Volume and Enterprise customers get 24/7 chat, phone and email support |