Why Should You Use a CDN?
When I launched my very first website, I made several efforts to optimize it for search engines. I used multiple keyword research and link building tools, yet there was no significant change in traffic.
Then I got to know that Google considers site speed in search engine rankings. I checked my website’s speed, and it was freaking slow. So, I started to explore solutions to make my website load faster and a CDN seemed to be the most viable option to improve site speed as well as overall performance.
Just a month after implementing a CDN, I noticed significant improvements. My website loaded faster than ever; rankings improved drastically, traffic doubled, and users were happy too!
The Internet has evolved, and now it’s all about speed and efficiency. Yes, everyone hates slow websites. Even you do!
A recent survey found that most of the visitors expect a site to load in under 2 seconds and are likely to abandon a website taking more than 3 seconds to load.
If you also want to make your site load blazingly fast and save bandwidth as well as improve overall user experience then you should definitely consider using a CDN. A while back CDNs used to be really expensive, but today they are super cheap. As low as few cents a Gigabyte!
What is a CDN?
A Content Delivery Network, better known as CDN, is a distributed network of servers deployed strategically in multiple datacenters over the globe. The CDN keeps multiple copies of your content on these servers. It caches, stores, and distribute your content to the end users simultaneously based on their proximity. The ultimate goal of a CDN network is to take off the load from the root server and serve static content from the closest node server thus, ensuring quick loading and high performance.
Which One to Choose?
With so many different options available it gets tough to choose one that has all the features you desire and fits your budget too. In my case, I found CDN77 to work best for me. Although quite new in the industry, it has built a reputation amongst the big players. All because of their highly efficient and reliable CDN services.
CDN77 Review
I have tested various CDN service providers and the one that enticed me the most was the CDN77. With over 33 PoPs worldwide, an easy to use control panel and transparent and affordable pricing, CDN77 literally has much more to offer than simply using yet another traditional CDN. To top it off, you also get the option of a 14 day risk-free trial before you make any decision.
Features:
33 Data Centers Worldwide
With over 33 SSD-based points of presence (POPs) in 26 Countries, on 5 Continents, CDN77 offers worldwide coverage. Although they may not have the highest number of servers, they do give you the best global distribution.
All the servers are SSD based, offering 20% faster page load than native HDDs and ensure 100% performance and stability. You have full control over data center activation which means that at any point of time, you have the option to enable or disable a particular data center for more efficient distribution of your website’s content. You also get real-time updates of each data center’s status. Theses updates include: the bandwidth that your site uses at each datacenter, specific HIT/MISS rates, and costs.
User-friendly Control Panel
You don’t need to be a professional to manage or set up CDN77 on your website. CDN77 offers a simple and user-friendly control panel so that you can navigate and handle the CDN with ease. From website statistics to billing structure, everything is right in place and easy to navigate. Detailed how-to guides make the task even simpler! Also their friendly support team is available 24/7 to help you understand anything you need to know.
HTTP/2 Ready
HTTP/2 is the advanced version of the traditional HTTP/1.1 and packs features such as parallelization and advanced compression to reduce your page load time by up to 50%. CDN77 lets you use CDN resources on HTTP/2 without any extra cost.
Supports Brotli
Introduced by Google, Brotli is the new compression algorithm and the successor of Zopfli. It claims to improve the compression by 20-26%, which not only will decrease the file size but also help you reduce costs significantly.
CDN Storage
Want to reduce the load on your root server further? Why not serve large files directly through CDN storage?
With CDN77, it’s possible. Using their API, you can allocate storage resources. Once you allocate the storage, you can add the files using FTP or R-Sync. R-Sync would be a much better choice if you want to automate your file uploads. Not only will it speed up the transfer of these files to the visitors more efficient, but will also help you save a significant amount of space on your root server. All your data will remain safe and secure. Also, your data will be backed up daily.
The pricing of CDN storage starts at $0.049/GB if you chose to go for “Pay as you use”. However, CDN77 is too generous and gives you the first 50 GB of CDN storage absolutely free as long as you are their customer. If you are looking for high storage capacity, you might want to opt for the monthly plans which come down to as low as $0.007/GB for the highest storage block.
CDN77 is too generous and gives you the first 50 GB of CDN storage absolutely free as long as you are their customer. Bigger storage plans are also available and come at very reasonable prices.
Easy Integration
WordPress now powers over 28% of the internet! And it’s super easy to integrate CDN77 on your WordPress website using 4 WordPress plugins that CDN77 offers for free. Other major CMS’s are supported too.
Free SSL
CDN77 understands that security is to be taken seriously, thus they provide free SSL certificates of any CDN CNAME to all its customers and also let them use their own SSL certificate at no extra cost! You can also purchase a custom SAN SSL from their website.
Dedicated support
CDN77 has one of the most competent support teams I’ve ever come across. You don’t get replies from auto-bots or staff that keep on repeating the same scripted lines over and over again. Their in-house engineers will assist you and solve your issue in no time. They maintain a live chat response time of fewer than 50 seconds. Pretty impressive! You can also get in touch with them over a call or email anytime you want.
Transparent Pricing
To be a customer of CDN77, you won’t have to burn a hole in your pocket. CDN77 has adopted a simple and straightforward ‘pay as you go’ system so that you have to pay only for what you use. There is no minimum monthly usage, and at any point of time, you can disable the more expensive regions making it super affordable!
The pricing starts from $0.049/GB (US and Europe) and is even lesser if you exhaust 20 TB+ data each month. Without making any compromise on quality, CDN77’s services are much more affordable than major CDN providers. This is what makes it stand out of the crowd!
Summing Up
After testing their service for a while, I am very satisfied with the performance. Over that, the pricing fits my pocket. I find it much better than other leading CDN providers and highly recommend CDN77 to site owners who are looking to optimize their site speed for more traffic and better user experience! Go ahead and grab their 14 days risk-free trial and assess them by yourself. Also, let me know your views about CDN77 and this review in the comments section.
