Easily compare Lumen and Imperva 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 | Lumen | Imperva |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | Imperva's CDN (formerly Incapsula) makes your websites and applications faster, more reliable and safer. A global network of servers provides content caching, load balancing and failover, while an enterprise-grade cloud web application firewall and DDoS protection safeguard your site from the latest threats. |
Products
| Product | Lumen | Imperva |
|---|---|---|
| Dynamic content deliveryNon-cacheable content delivery. User login, shopping cart ... | CDN Edge Compute | Content Delivery Network |
| Small file deliveryStatic object delivery; caching of small files (file size <1 MB) | CDN and/or CDN Edge Compute | Content Caching |
| Large file deliveryStatic object delivery; caching of large files (file size >1 MB) | ||
| Live videoDelivery of live video. RTMP? Transcoding/transmuxing? | CDN and/or CDN Mesh Delivery | |
| Video on demandDelivery of on demand video | CDN and/or CDN Mesh Delivery | |
| Image OptimizationAutomatic image transformation/compression/optimization | part of CDN Edge Compute | Image Compression |
| DNSAuthoritative DNS for customer domain |
Name Server (NS) Protection
Name Server (NS) Protection is a secure proxy in front of your authoritative DNS
|
|
| WAFWeb Application Firewall | WAF | Web Application Firewall |
| Anti-DDoSDDoS attack protection. Specific product(s) for this. | Lumen DDoS Hyper (on-demand) and DDoS Mitigation Service | DDoS Protection |
| 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 Lumen and Imperva have in different parts of the world?
| Region | Lumen | Imperva |
|---|---|---|
| North America | 28 | 12 |
| Latin America | 11 | 5 |
| Europe | 35 | 12 |
| Russia & CIS | 0 | 0 |
| Asia excl. China | 7 | 12 |
| China | 0 | 0 |
| Oceania | 5 | 3 |
| Middle East | 4 | 3 |
| Africa | 3 | 2 |
Pricing
| Pricing & contract duration | Lumen | Imperva |
|---|---|---|
| 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
| Web acceleration | Lumen | Imperva |
|---|---|---|
| Instant setupSign up, configure, start testing. | Not yet, but coming soon. | |
| Change propagation delayHow fast do config changes propagate to all POPs? | No longer than 15 minutes - Often instant | Instant |
Apex/root domain OK  No performance degradation when using http(s)://domain.com |
Available with Section product for an additional fee | Anycasted network (regional) |
| HTTP/2 | FAQ | |
| HTTP/3 | ||
| WebSockets | WebSockets docs | |
| IPv6Do the edge servers have IPv6? | IPv6 support | |
| Compression Reduce file size for faster delivery |
Resend from origin, or compress on edge | Compress on the edge |
| Origin pull - protocolHTTP only or HTTPS possible too? | HTTP and HTTPS. |
HTTP and HTTPS.
Can be IP address
|
| 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 configure specific other Host header.
Forward client request Host header is possible
|
| Origin ShieldOne POP pulls from origin, other POPs pull from the shield POP | ||
| Waiting RoomDuring peak traffic, route users to a virtual waiting room | Waiting Room | |
| Push / uploadStore your content directly on CDN, no customer origin | FTP, SFTP, rsync. Storage costs apply | |
| Cache control - CDN caching | Granular control/override rules possible | |
| Cache control - client caching | Granular control/override rules possible | |
| Serve Stale CDN serves cached but expired content in case origin is in trouble |
||
| Purge Invalidate or delete cached objects on CDN |
Instant | Instant |
| Purge - capabilities | Purge all but not purge by directory or tag or header | Purge all, by directory, by file extension, by tag(s) |
| Analytics | Real time perf and security events dashboard | |
| Log files |
Available via UI, API, or full SIEM integration
Logs are not delayed
|
|
| API | Purge, analytics, configuration | Purge, analytics, configuration |
| HTTPS & Content Protection | Lumen | Imperva |
|---|---|---|
| CDN domain HTTPSUse the CDN's domain, like cloudfront.net | CDN and SSL/TLS | |
| Customer domain HTTPSYour domain in the CDN's certificate | ||
| Customer cert HTTPSYour certificate on the CDN | ||
| Token authentication | Via authentication header | |
| Geo blocking | ||
| Hotlink protectionThird parties cannot deeplink to your content | ||
| Basic authenticationUser logs in on the CDN to get content | Two Factor Authentication | |
| IP white/blacklisting | IP address/ranges/subnets, self-service in UI |
Support
| Customer support | Lumen | Imperva |
|---|---|---|
| Documentation | Yes, but not public | Yes, public |
| Humans | Imperva’s team of support engineers deliver technical assistance 24x7x365 via phone, email, or online via the self service portal |