Compare CDN services (CloudFront, Azure CDN, Cloud CDN) features and pricing.
Last verified: April 2026
| Feature | AWS | Azure | GCP |
|---|---|---|---|
| Service name | Amazon CloudFront | Azure CDN | Cloud CDN |
| PoP count | ~600+ edge locations across 100+ cities | ~180 PoP locations across 65+ metro areas | ~180+ edge caching locations worldwide |
| Geo-restriction | Built-in geo-restriction by country allowlist/denylist | Geo-filtering rules by country/region codes | Cloud Armor geo-based access policies |
| Feature | AWS | Azure | GCP |
|---|---|---|---|
| HTTP/2 support | Enabled by default on all distributions | Supported on Standard and Premium profiles | Enabled by default on all load-balanced backends |
| HTTP/3 (QUIC) support | Supported; enable per-distribution via policy | Preview support on Azure Front Door | Supported natively via QUIC on global load balancer |
| WebSocket support | Supported via CloudFront distributions | Supported on Azure CDN Standard/Premium and Front Door | Supported through global external Application Load Balancer |
| Custom SSL | Free ACM certificates; SNI and dedicated IP options | Free managed certificates; BYOC via Key Vault | Google-managed SSL certificates; self-managed upload supported |
| Feature | AWS | Azure | GCP |
|---|---|---|---|
| WAF integration | AWS WAF with managed rule groups and custom rules | Azure WAF on Front Door and CDN with OWASP rulesets | Cloud Armor with preconfigured WAF rules and adaptive protection |
| DDoS protection | AWS Shield Standard (free); Shield Advanced for enhanced protection | Azure DDoS Protection Basic (free); Standard tier available | Cloud Armor DDoS protection included; Managed Protection Plus available |
| Feature | AWS | Azure | GCP |
|---|---|---|---|
| Origin shield | CloudFront Origin Shield: additional caching layer to reduce origin load | Origin shielding available on Azure Front Door Premium | Origin-fill optimization with Cloud CDN cache hierarchy |
| Dynamic content acceleration | Optimized TCP and TLS connections; persistent origin connections | Dynamic site acceleration (DSA) profile with route optimization | Dynamic compression and Cloud CDN cache modes for dynamic content |
| Real-time logs | Real-time logs to Kinesis Data Streams; standard logs to S3 | Diagnostic logs to Log Analytics, Storage, or Event Hubs | Cloud Logging integration with per-request log entries |
| Cache purge | 1,000 free invalidation paths/month; $0.005 per additional path | Unlimited cache purge at no extra cost | Cache invalidation at no additional cost |
| Feature | AWS | Azure | GCP |
|---|---|---|---|
| Edge compute | Lambda@Edge and CloudFront Functions for request/response manipulation | Azure Functions and Front Door Rules Engine for edge processing | No native edge compute equivalent; use Cloud Run or Cloud Functions at region level |
| Feature | AWS | Azure | GCP |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Per-request + per-GB data transfer out (tiered by region) | Per-GB data transfer out (varies by profile tier and region) | Per-GB data transfer out + per-cache-fill from origin |
| Cost per GB (first 10 TB) | $0.085/GB (US/EU); varies by region | Varies by profile: ~$0.081/GB (Standard Microsoft); varies by tier | $0.08/GB (North America); varies by region |
[
{
"feature": "Service name",
"category": "General",
"aws": "Amazon CloudFront",
"azure": "Azure CDN",
"gcp": "Cloud CDN"
},
{
"feature": "PoP count",
"category": "General",
"aws": "~600+ edge locations across 100+ cities",
"azure": "~180 PoP locations across 65+ metro areas",
"gcp": "~180+ edge caching locations worldwide"
},
{
"feature": "Geo-restriction",
"category": "General",
"aws": "Built-in geo-restriction by country allowlist/denylist",
"azure": "Geo-filtering rules by country/region codes",
"gcp": "Cloud Armor geo-based access policies"
},
{
"feature": "HTTP/2 support",
"category": "Protocol Support",
"aws": "Enabled by default on all distributions",
"azure": "Supported on Standard and Premium profiles",
"gcp": "Enabled by default on all load-balanced backends"
},
{
"feature": "HTTP/3 (QUIC) support",
"category": "Protocol Support",
"aws": "Supported; enable per-distribution via policy",
"azure": "Preview support on Azure Front Door",
"gcp": "Supported natively via QUIC on global load balancer"
},
{
"feature": "WebSocket support",
"category": "Protocol Support",
"aws": "Supported via CloudFront distributions",
"azure": "Supported on Azure CDN Standard/Premium and Front Door",
"gcp": "Supported through global external Application Load Balancer"
},
{
"feature": "Custom SSL",
"category": "Protocol Support",
"aws": "Free ACM certificates; SNI and dedicated IP options",
"azure": "Free managed certificates; BYOC via Key Vault",
"gcp": "Google-managed SSL certificates; self-managed upload supported"
},
{
"feature": "WAF integration",
"category": "Security",
"aws": "AWS WAF with managed rule groups and custom rules",
"azure": "Azure WAF on Front Door and CDN with OWASP rulesets",
"gcp": "Cloud Armor with preconfigured WAF rules and adaptive protection"
},
{
"feature": "DDoS protection",
"category": "Security",
"aws": "AWS Shield Standard (free); Shield Advanced for enhanced protection",
"azure": "Azure DDoS Protection Basic (free); Standard tier available",
"gcp": "Cloud Armor DDoS protection included; Managed Protection Plus available"
},
{
"feature": "Origin shield",
"category": "Caching & Performance",
"aws": "CloudFront Origin Shield: additional caching layer to reduce origin load",
"azure": "Origin shielding available on Azure Front Door Premium",
"gcp": "Origin-fill optimization with Cloud CDN cache hierarchy"
},
{
"feature": "Dynamic content acceleration",
"category": "Caching & Performance",
"aws": "Optimized TCP and TLS connections; persistent origin connections",
"azure": "Dynamic site acceleration (DSA) profile with route optimization",
"gcp": "Dynamic compression and Cloud CDN cache modes for dynamic content"
},
{
"feature": "Real-time logs",
"category": "Caching & Performance",
"aws": "Real-time logs to Kinesis Data Streams; standard logs to S3",
"azure": "Diagnostic logs to Log Analytics, Storage, or Event Hubs",
"gcp": "Cloud Logging integration with per-request log entries"
},
{
"feature": "Cache purge",
"category": "Caching & Performance",
"aws": "1,000 free invalidation paths/month; $0.005 per additional path",
"azure": "Unlimited cache purge at no extra cost",
"gcp": "Cache invalidation at no additional cost"
},
{
"feature": "Edge compute",
"category": "Edge Compute",
"aws": "Lambda@Edge and CloudFront Functions for request/response manipulation",
"azure": "Azure Functions and Front Door Rules Engine for edge processing",
"gcp": "No native edge compute equivalent; use Cloud Run or Cloud Functions at region level"
},
{
"feature": "Pricing model",
"category": "Pricing",
"aws": "Per-request + per-GB data transfer out (tiered by region)",
"azure": "Per-GB data transfer out (varies by profile tier and region)",
"gcp": "Per-GB data transfer out + per-cache-fill from origin"
},
{
"feature": "Cost per GB (first 10 TB)",
"category": "Pricing",
"aws": "$0.085/GB (US/EU); varies by region",
"azure": "Varies by profile: ~$0.081/GB (Standard Microsoft); varies by tier",
"gcp": "$0.08/GB (North America); varies by region"
}
]The Multi-Cloud CDN Compare tool compares content delivery network services across AWS (CloudFront), Azure (Front Door/CDN), and GCP (Cloud CDN). It covers edge network size, caching features, SSL/TLS capabilities, origin types, pricing models, and integration with WAF and DDoS protection. The tool helps you evaluate CDN options for your global content delivery needs.
CloudFront charges per GB of data transfer and per 10,000 requests with tiered pricing by region. Azure Front Door charges per routing rule, per GB transfer, and per request. Cloud CDN charges per GB of cache egress and per 10,000 requests with a separate cache fill charge. CloudFront tends to be cheapest for North America/Europe; pricing varies by region.
CloudFront has 400+ edge locations globally. Azure Front Door uses Microsoft's global network with 170+ edge locations. Cloud CDN leverages Google's edge network with 180+ locations. More edge locations generally means better performance for end users, but the specific location distribution matters more than total count.
CloudFront supports Lambda@Edge (full Lambda at regional edges) and CloudFront Functions (lightweight at all edges). Azure Front Door supports Rules Engine for URL rewriting and header manipulation. Cloud CDN relies on Cloud Load Balancing URL maps. CloudFront offers the most powerful edge compute capabilities.
Your e-commerce platform serves customers in North America, Europe, and Southeast Asia. You need to choose a CDN for static assets (images, CSS, JS) and dynamic API acceleration. Running the comparison, you discover that CloudFront is cheapest for NA/EU traffic but significantly more expensive for Asia-Pacific egress. Cloud CDN's pricing is more uniform across regions. You model your actual traffic split (60% NA, 25% EU, 15% APAC) and find that CloudFront saves $400/month overall despite the APAC premium, largely because of free data transfer from S3 origins through CloudFront.
The comparison tool maintains a structured database of CDN features, pricing tiers, and capabilities across CloudFront, Azure Front Door/CDN, and Cloud CDN. It normalizes feature names across providers (e.g., Lambda@Edge vs. Rules Engine vs. URL maps) and presents them in aligned comparison tables. Pricing is calculated using published list prices for configurable data transfer volumes and request counts, with region-specific adjustments.
Cache invalidation is the hidden cost that catches everyone. CloudFront gives you 1,000 free invalidation paths per month, then charges $0.005 per path. Azure Front Door and Cloud CDN have similar models. If your deployment pipeline invalidates '/*' on every deploy, that's fine — but invalidating thousands of individual paths burns through the free tier fast.
Origin shielding (CloudFront Origin Shield, Azure Front Door caching tiers) adds an extra caching layer between edge POPs and your origin. For origins that can't handle high request rates (like a single EC2 instance), enabling origin shielding can reduce origin load by 90%+ at a small additional cost. It's the most underused CDN feature.
Don't compare CDNs on edge location count alone. CloudFront's 400+ locations include many small POPs that only serve DNS and TLS termination. Azure Front Door and Cloud CDN have fewer but larger POPs. What matters for your users is latency from their actual locations — run synthetic monitoring tests from real user geographies before deciding.
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