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Edgio versus Lumen

Easily compare Edgio 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.

Edgio logo Lumen logo

Company

Company Edgio Lumen
Short profile 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. 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 Edgio Lumen
Dynamic content deliveryNon-cacheable content delivery. User login, shopping cart ... Performance CDN Edge Compute
Small file deliveryStatic object delivery; caching of small files (file size <1 MB) Performance CDN and/or CDN Edge Compute
Large file deliveryStatic object delivery; caching of large files (file size >1 MB) Performance
Live videoDelivery of live video. RTMP? Transcoding/transmuxing? Live Streaming CDN and/or CDN Mesh Delivery
Video on demandDelivery of on demand video Delivery CDN and/or CDN Mesh Delivery
Image OptimizationAutomatic image transformation/compression/optimization Image Optimization part of CDN Edge Compute
DNSAuthoritative DNS for customer domain
WAFWeb Application Firewall Security WAF
Anti-DDoSDDoS attack protection. Specific product(s) for this. Security 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 App Edge Edge Compute

Network

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

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

Pricing

Pricing & contract duration Edgio Lumen
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 Edgio Lumen
Instant setupSign up, configure, start testing. Available through Microsoft Azure Not yet, but coming soon.
Change propagation delayHow fast do config changes propagate to all POPs? A few 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 Anycasted network (regional) Available with Section product for an additional fee
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 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 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 Origin Storage 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 Purge Speed Instant
Purge - capabilities Purge all, purge by directory, by file extension Purge all but not purge by directory or tag or header
Analytics Real-time, with many metrics in the UI
Log files < 60 seconds
API Purge, analytics, configuration Purge, analytics, configuration
HTTPS & Content Protection Edgio Lumen
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 Edgio Lumen
Documentation Yes, public Yes, but not public
Humans All customers get 24/7 email and phone support.