Company snapshot

CategoryCDNSunHetzner
Statusactiveactive
Founded
Headquarters
Website
Docs

Overview

CDNSun, founded in 2012, is a content delivery network provider based in Prague, Czech Republic. It offers services like website acceleration, video streaming, and software delivery through a network of over 50 points of presence (PoPs) worldwide. Its customer base includes businesses seeking cost-effective CDN solutions, particularly small to medium-sized enterprises. CDNSun emphasizes affordability with a pay-as-you-go model and a 15-day free trial. The service supports HTTP/2 and provides free shared SSL on its *.r.worldssl.net domain.
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

CDNSun operates more than 50 PoPs across five continents, including locations in North America (e.g., Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas), Europe (e.g., Amsterdam, Frankfurt, London), Asia (e.g., Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo), South America (e.g., Sao Paulo), and Australia (e.g., Sydney). All edge servers use SSD drives for faster data access and have redundant connectivity to robust internet networks. The network supports global content delivery with a focus on reducing latency for websites and streaming services. Specific routing or peering details are not publicly disclosed, but the provider claims strong performance for global audiences.
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

FeatureCDNSunHetzner
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

CDNSun uses a pay-as-you-go (payg) model with no monthly or setup fees. A 15-day free trial (free-tier) is available for all services. Pricing is transparent, with custom options for high-volume users, but specific per-GB rates are not publicly listed. SMB-friendly pricing targets smaller businesses. The official pricing page is https://cdnsun.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

CDNSun offers an API-first approach for managing CDN services, including access to real-time logs. It provides integration support via a dashboard and API, with 24/7 technical support through email, phone, and live chat. No specific Terraform or CI/CD integrations are documented. The service includes tools for testing performance gains, such as ping tests and downloadable test files (1 MB and 20 MB).
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

  • Small to medium-sized businesses needing affordable, pay-as-you-go CDN services with a free trial.
  • Companies targeting global audiences with video streaming or software delivery needs.
  • Developers seeking an API-driven CDN with real-time logs for monitoring.
  • 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

  • Enterprises requiring advanced security features like WAF, DDoS protection, or bot mitigation.
  • Businesses needing specialized edge compute, key-value storage, or advanced video features like DRM.
  • Users prioritizing extensive integrations with Terraform, CI/CD pipelines, or specific cloud platforms.
  • Applications need extensive global POP coverage, especially in LATAM, Africa, or the Middle East.
  • Advanced CDN features like WAF, image optimization, or video streaming are critical.
  • Enterprises require dedicated support or complex traffic steering, better served by providers like Akamai or Fastly.

History & Notes