Overview

Universal CDN, founded in 2015 and headquartered in Sofia, Bulgaria, offers a global content delivery network focused on delivering web content, video streaming, and live media. It serves businesses ranging from small startups to large enterprises, particularly those needing video-on-demand and live streaming capabilities. The service emphasizes an API-first approach, enabling developers to integrate and manage CDN services programmatically. Universal CDN supports a variety of use cases, including e-commerce, media, and gaming, with a focus on performance and real-time analytics.

Network & Architecture

Universal CDN operates a global network with points of presence (PoPs) across North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America. Specific PoP counts are not publicly disclosed, but the provider claims broad coverage with optimized routing for low latency. It leverages partnerships with major ISPs for peering, enhancing delivery speeds. The service is particularly strong in Europe and North America but has less presence in Africa and the Middle East, which may limit performance in those regions.

Features

Universal CDN provides DDoS protection (ddos) to secure content delivery. It supports image optimization (image-optimization), video-on-demand (video-vod), and live streaming (video-live) with HLS/DASH packaging (hls-dash-packaging) and RTMP ingest (rtmp-ingest). The platform includes TLS 1.3 (tls1-3) for secure connections, WebSockets (websockets) for real-time applications, and signed URLs (signed-urls) for access control. Instant purge (instant-purge) allows rapid content updates, and real-time analytics (analytics-realtime) with an API-first design (api-first) enable detailed performance monitoring. Realtime logs (realtime-logs) are available for troubleshooting and optimization.

Pricing Snapshot (2025-08-16)

Universal CDN offers a pay-as-you-go (payg) model with no minimum commitments, suitable for variable traffic needs. Pricing starts at approximately $0.05 per GB for standard delivery, with discounts for higher volumes. A free trial is available for testing, and enterprise plans are offered for custom needs. Detailed pricing is available at https://www.ucdn.com/pricing.

Integrations & DevEx

Universal CDN provides an API-first design for seamless integration with developer workflows. It supports real-time logs for immediate performance insights but lacks Terraform support or advanced IaC tools. SDKs are available for common programming languages, facilitating integration with CI/CD pipelines. The platform does not offer built-in migration tools but provides documentation for transitioning from other CDNs.

When it fits / When it doesn’t

When it fits:

  • Businesses needing video-on-demand or live streaming with HLS/DASH packaging and RTMP ingest for media-heavy applications.
  • Developers seeking an API-first CDN with real-time analytics for programmatic control and monitoring.
  • Small to medium-sized businesses looking for a pay-as-you-go model with global coverage for web and video content.

When it doesn’t:

  • Organizations requiring advanced security features like WAF, bot mitigation, or rate limiting, which are not offered.
  • Companies needing extensive edge compute capabilities or key-value storage for serverless applications.
  • Users focused on regions like Africa or the Middle East, where Universal CDN’s network presence is limited.