Company snapshot
| Category | CDNLion | Hetzner |
|---|---|---|
| Status | defunct | active |
| Founded | — | — |
| Headquarters | — | — |
| Website | — | — |
| Docs | — | — |
Overview
CDNLion was a content delivery network provider founded in 2013, offering services to accelerate websites, images, and video streaming through a network of over 110 data centers worldwide. Based in Prague, Czech Republic, it served customers seeking global content delivery. The company is no longer independently operational and has been integrated into LaunchCDN, which continues to offer CDN services leveraging multiple providers.
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
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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 | CDNLion | 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
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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
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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
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- 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
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History & Notes
CDNLion was known for its global reach with over 110 data centers and user-friendly APIs, as noted in comparisons with other CDNs like BlazingCDN. Its integration into LaunchCDN reflects the broader consolidation trend in the CDN industry, where smaller providers merge with platforms offering multi-CDN solutions. No conflicting reports of revival or independent operation were found. For further details, see https://www.launchcdn.com.
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