The best CDNs, according to hackers
7 CDNs were recommended on Hacker News between November 2025 and November 2026. We rank them by how many separate people recommend each one, and 2 earn the Hacker Approved badge.
Top picks
The two most recommended CDNs with the badge. Each figure is 10 people. RecommendsCriticizes One comment
European, GDPR-friendly Cloudflare alternative
A cheap, pay-as-you-go European CDN with edge scripting, popular as a Cloudflare alternative, though critics cite a data-loss bug downplayed for 15 months and a poorly handled security incident.
Free tier and low cost
Recommended for cheap, fast content delivery with a free tier and tight S3 integration. Critics note its SLA is only three 9s.
All 7 CDNs, ranked
Select a column heading to sort. Approval share is recommenders out of everyone who gave an opinion; the tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs. Months counts the months, out of 13, in which someone recommended it.
| Rank | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cloudflare | 744 | 1,249 | 37% | 13 | 3 yrs26 owners | — |
| 2 | Bunny.net | 121 | 52 | 70% | 12 | 2 yrs16 owners | Approved |
| 3 | Amazon CloudFront | 24 | 11 | 69% | 9 | — | Approved |
| 4 | Cloudflare CDN | 12 | 15 | 44% | 9 | — | — |
| Tied 5 | Fastly CDN | 10 | 7 | 59% | 8 | — | — |
| Tied 5 | Cloudflare Workers Cache | 10 | 2 | 83% | 1 | — | — |
| 7 | Akamai CDN | 9 | 18 | 33% | 5 | — | — |
How we rank
Rank is the number of separate people who recommend a product in a Hacker News comment over the past year. Someone who praises the same CDN in five threads counts once.
The badge goes to CDNs that at least 10 people recommend, with recommenders outnumbering critics at least 2 to 1, recommended in at least 4 of the 13 months.
Rankings are never for sale. We may earn a commission when you buy through our links. It never changes the order.