Company snapshot
| Category | CacheFly | Hetzner |
|---|---|---|
| Status | active | active |
| Founded | — | — |
| Headquarters | — | — |
| Website | — | — |
| Docs | — | — |
Overview
CacheFly, founded in 2002 and based in Chicago, IL, is a content delivery network (CDN) provider specializing in high-performance delivery of static and dynamic content. It serves businesses in video streaming, gaming, software distribution, and e-commerce, emphasizing speed and reliability. CacheFly pioneered TCP Anycast routing in 2002, which optimizes traffic delivery to the nearest point of presence (PoP). Its customers range from startups to enterprises seeking efficient content delivery. The company has gained attention for capitalizing on recent CDN industry consolidation, positioning itself as an alternative to providers like StackPath and Lumen Technologies.
Hetzner, founded in 1997, is a German hosting provider offering cloud servers, dedicated servers, and storage solutions. It operates data centers in Germany, Finland, the United States, and Singapore, serving developers, SMBs, and enterprises. Known for cost-effective pricing, Hetzner provides scalable infrastructure for web hosting, applications, and storage-heavy workloads. While it does not market a traditional CDN, its cloud and object storage services support content delivery use cases, particularly for European customers. Hetzner’s customer base includes startups, developers, and businesses prioritizing affordability and performance.
Network & Architecture
CacheFly operates over 75 points of presence (PoPs) across all seven continents, with a strong presence in North America, Europe, Asia, South America, Australia, Africa, and the Middle East. Its network uses TCP Anycast for efficient routing, ensuring low-latency delivery. CacheFly reports a 98% cache hit ratio, with 100% availability for its S.O.S. (Storage Optimization Service) customers. The network is optimized for high-throughput use cases like large file downloads and media streaming. It has a notable footprint in Latin America compared to some competitors but may have fewer PoPs in certain regions compared to larger providers like Cloudflare or Akamai.
Hetzner operates data centers in Nuremberg and Falkenstein (Germany), Helsinki (Finland), Ashburn (Virginia, USA), Hillsboro (Oregon, USA), and Singapore. Specific POP counts are not publicly detailed, but its infrastructure leverages high-speed connectivity within Europe, with extensions to North America and Asia-Pacific. The network is optimized for low-latency delivery in EMEA, with growing presence in APAC and NA. Limitations include less coverage in LATAM, Africa, and the Middle East compared to global CDNs like Cloudflare or Amazon CloudFront. Object Storage supports S3-compatible APIs, enabling content delivery for static assets.
Feature comparison
| Feature | CacheFly | Hetzner |
|---|---|---|
waf | ✗ | ✗ |
bot_mitigation | ✗ | ✗ |
ddos | ✓ | ✓ |
rate_limit | ✗ | ✗ |
http3_quic | ✓ | ✗ |
tls13 | ✓ | ✓ |
tiered_cache | ✓ | ✗ |
origin_shield | ✓ | ✗ |
instant_purge | ✓ | ✗ |
stale_while_revalidate | ✗ | ✗ |
stale_if_error | ✗ | ✗ |
image_optimization | ✓ | ✗ |
video_vod | ✓ | ✗ |
video_live | ✓ | ✗ |
drm | ✗ | ✗ |
hls_dash_packaging | ✗ | ✗ |
websockets | ✓ | ✗ |
signed_urls | ✓ | ✗ |
edge_compute | ✗ | ✗ |
functions | ✗ | ✗ |
kv_storage | ✗ | ✗ |
api_first | ✓ | ✓ |
realtime_logs | ✓ | ✗ |
log_push | ✓ | ✗ |
terraform | ✗ | ✓ |
Legend: ✓ = Supported, ✗ = Not supported, — = Not listed
Pricing
CacheFly offers pay-as-you-go (PAYG) and enterprise plans, with a free tier providing 5TB of monthly usage. Pricing is flexible with month-to-month billing and no long-term contracts. A special offer for former StackPath customers includes 64TB for $595. New users can access a free month of service. Detailed pricing is available at https://www.cachefly.com/pricing/.
Hetzner uses a pay-as-you-go (PAYG) model with no long-term commitments, appealing to SMBs and developers. Cloud server pricing starts at €3.79/month for shared vCPU plans, and Object Storage begins at €4.29/month. No free tier is available, but pricing is transparent with per-GB rates for storage and traffic. For example, Object Storage costs €0.00429/GB/month. Full details at https://www.hetzner.com/cloud/pricing.
Integrations & DevEx
CacheFly provides an API-first platform for configuration and management, with comprehensive documentation at https://www.cachefly.com/docs/. Realtime logs and analytics support performance monitoring, and log push enables integration with external systems. A dedicated Slack channel is available for enterprise accounts to ensure responsive support. Migration guides are provided for customers transitioning from StackPath and Lumen Technologies, including self-service setup and white-glove onboarding for accounts using over 150TB monthly. Terraform support is not documented.
Hetzner supports Terraform for infrastructure provisioning and offers a RESTful API for managing servers, storage, and DNS. SDKs are available for languages like Python and Go, facilitating automation. CI/CD integration is possible via APIs, though no specific plugins for tools like GitHub Actions are documented. The Hetzner Console provides a user-friendly interface for managing resources, with detailed documentation at https://docs.hetzner.com.
When it fits
- Businesses needing high-throughput CDN for video streaming, gaming, or large file downloads, particularly with global audiences.
- Companies migrating from StackPath or Lumen Technologies, leveraging CacheFly’s dedicated transition support.
- Developers seeking an API-first CDN with flexible pricing and a free tier for testing or small-scale projects.
- Developers and SMBs need cost-effective cloud hosting or storage in EMEA with S3-compatible APIs.
- Projects require flexible, API-driven infrastructure with Terraform support.
- Workloads prioritize affordability and performance over extensive global CDN coverage.
When it doesn’t
- Organizations requiring advanced edge compute or serverless functions, which CacheFly does not currently offer.
- Users needing robust WAF, bot mitigation, or rate-limiting features, as these are not publicly documented.
- Companies focused on China-specific delivery, where CacheFly lacks a specialized license compared to providers like Tencent CDN.
History & Notes
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