Categories: Hosting

StackPath vs Cloudflare Comparison 2025: Which One Is Better CDN?

In this article, we will cover the comparison of StackPath and Cloudflare in order to determine which content delivery network is best. So let’s begin. 

You’ve heard the age-old phrase: “All that glitters is not gold.” Well, it turns out that applies to the internet as well. Your website could be slow, or your videos could take forever to load.

With right CDN, your content will be delivered faster. Faster loading means a better user experience, which means more satisfied customers.

You can avoid the situation altogether with StackPath and Cloudflare, which will ensure that your content is delivered fast and efficiently.

What is CDN?

CDN stands for Content Delivery Networks are responsible for the delivery of content all over the internet, including articles on the news sites and videos on the internet.

Through this network’s latency can easily be reduced which is generally a delay that takes place from when you click on for the loading of the page till the moment the content appears on your page.

The delay is also caused by a number of factors, of which few are specific to the page itself. In each case, latency is affected by the actual physical distance between the server from where the website is hosted and the location of the user.

A CDN also shortens the distance by storing cached versions of the web page’s content on servers in different geographical locations concurrently, which means users can access it faster.

Such as when someone gets access to the website hosted in the US it is done by the local Italian PoP.

StackPath and Cloudflare are among the top five providers of CDN Services of the world. These are the two best service providers and with their services targeted at small scale clients which are yet able to handle large scale websites.

Bottom Line Upfront: StackPath vs Cloudflare

Cloudflare

Cloudflare is a reverse proxy, which implies it was designed with encryption in mind but has significantly improved the speed of websites. As a result, Cloudflare is no longer just decent protection against malware attacks and a clever CDN.

StackOverflow, FounderLY, CodeGuard, Montecito Bank, and thousands of other websites are among the most prominent Cloudflare users. If you want to try out a free CDN program, Cloudflare is the way to go.

It offers the highest free package with a lot of options. Overall, Cloudflare is the way to go if you have a global audience, and the privacy of your websites is the most critical factor for you.

StackPath 

StackPath is an excellent choice for websites that need specialized authentication and tracking. There are no secret fees, and the price system is adjustable. WPBeginner, BuySellAds, 9gag, WPLift, The Next Web, and other standard websites use StackPath CDN.

If you look closely, a trend can be seen. Normal WordPress blogs with less bandwidth-intensive content use StackPath.

StackPath is a safer choice than WordPress, which is expected because it can draw a large amount of traffic. It previously purchased MaxCDN, which has more WordPress setup options, making it a better fit for WordPress pages.

Their prices and services are affordable and scalable, respectively its no matter that a website has 100 or 100000 visitors per month.

StackPath vs Cloudflare Comparison 2025: Which One Is Better??

About Cloudflare

Cloudflare was created in 2009 by Lee Holloway, Matthew Prince, and Michelle Zatlyn. Basically, it is a US-based content delivery service.

From the day it was engaged in founding, it has grown exponentially and has become famous for the security features it offers.

In 2014, it was able to mitigate a DDoS attack that peaked at 400Gbit seconds, and at that time, it had made the largest history record.

In November of the same year, the company also reported another larger attack that peaked at 500 gigabytes per second.

The company offered DDoS protection services, a web application firewall, authoritative DNS, a public DNS resolver, and a reverse proxy, in addition to content delivery services.

About StackPath

StackPath is known for its high-speed content delivery services. StackPatch bought MaxCDN back in 2015. 

At that time, StackPath continued to offer MaxCDN as a separate service as both use the same in-house technologies and hardware.

They had started to integrate StackPath into their own service so that in the future, these two could be merged into one, but in this case, they had not specified any time, which means that they can be either a month, a year or more that.

At that time it is offering the same services as MaxCDN in addition to a number of security measures.

Therefore if you try for the access of official StackPath website then you will be directly redirected to StackPath for making the purchase.

MaxCDN (StackPath) Customers.

When trying to find the MaxCDN website through a search, it will only appear as a subpage on the StackPath website.

In other words, new customers are required to sign up through StackPath in order to access MaxCDN services, while old customers still have access to the old website.

However, this will not last long, as they will eventually be migrated to StackPath.

Don’t have time to read the full article, here is an expert summary of StackPath vs Cloudflare

Which CDN is Better?

The StackPath CDN! For more information, here are 5 ways StackPath beats the competition:

1) TTFB (Time-To-First Byte): 2 to 3x faster server performance test cases.

2) Small File Delivery and Full Site Delivery: 20 to 60 ms faster in small files (<100KB).

3) It also outperformed Cloudflare: By 300ms when bypassing cache for full website load time and 100ms difference with Time To First Byte, coming “pretty close” to unproxied latency.

4) Large File Delivery: StackPath Wins!

5) Stackpath beat Cloudflare: In all five large file (17MB) speed tests, delivering the same file up to 25% faster.

This is an excellent result for those looking to use a CDN with more low-latency nodes and less reliance on expensive edge caches.

StackPath vs Cloudflare: Performance

Cloudflare:

In terms of performance, it reduces latency with the help of load balancing, offers Railgun, and has 152 centres across 74 countries.

It should be noted that only business and higher-tier plans offer access to all the data centres, while the free and pro plans are provided with limited access.

The reduction of latency through load balancing means that network traffic is distributed among multiple servers to ensure that a single server is not under high pressure. By spreading the traffic over multiple servers, the website responds faster.

Cloudflare’s Railgun is a web proxy system designed to overcome the challenge of caching dynamic website content like HTML, JavaScript, CSS, and images.

While about 66% of the content can be cached, the remaining content can only be accessed from the original server.

Railgun addresses this issue by allowing dynamically generated or personalized website content to be cached, reducing bandwidth usage and improving loading times.

This service is available with a business plan that typically costs $200 per month. Additionally, Cloudflare offers various content optimization features, including automated content caching, Argo smart routing, accelerated mobile links, and Rocket Loader.

Rocket Loader prioritizes content loading to ensure faster webpage rendering.

The advantage of all this is that it is featured to be built into the right Cloudflare, and customers also do not focus on installing any third-party plugins so that they can ensure that the content is optimized and cached for delivering the best performance.

Furthermore, the pro plan of Cloudflare is built into SiteGround and Bluehost web hosting for free, which also means you get free access to Cloudflare when you buy SiteGround and Bluehost web hosting. But Cloudflare is integrated with just a few clicks.

StackPath vs Cloudflare: Integration of WordPress

Every day, WordPress websites draw a significant amount of traffic, making WordPress incorporation a critical aspect.

None of the CDN services provide an easy-to-integrate feature. StackPath, on the other hand, provides a viable option. After establishing your pull zone with StackPath CDN, you can use the W3 max cache plugin to incorporate StackPath.

Cloudflare also has WordPress integration, and they have their plugin, which is very easy to set up.

FROM WORDPRESS.ORG

  • Download Cloudflare
  • Upload the “cloudflare” directory to your “/wp-content/plugins/” directory, using ftp, sftp, scp etc.
  • Activate Cloudflare from your Plugins page.

StackPath vs Cloudflare: Network Reach and Server Location

When choosing the CDN resources to use, the position of the servers is critical. You don’t want to waste money on a network that doesn’t really serve the areas you’re interested in.

Cloudflare now has about 200 data centres around the world. They’ve set up servers in nearly every country on the planet.

StackPath, on the other hand, runs about 45 data centres, which is a somewhat smaller number. StackPath recently expanded its locations by establishing edge POPs in Latin America in January 2021. Compare the host locations of Cloudflare and Stackpath.

Cloudflare:

CloudFlare has a total reach of 224 cities in 9 countries around the world. The most connected regions are in North America, with 46 network connections, followed by Europe, with 42 connections.

Then, there are 35 network connections in Asia (excluding China) and 23 in Latin America.

China and both have 17 network connections from Cloudflare, and Russia and Oceania have at least 6 connections each.

StackPath:

StackPath has a total reach in 21 cities of 9 countries around the world. The most connected regions are in North America with 14 network connections, followed by Europe with 8 connections.

Then there are 5 connections in Asia (excluding China) and the least at Latin America and Oceania with 2 network connections each. Other than that, it has no network connections in Russia, China, Middle-East and Africa.

StackPath’s Performance

Similar to Cloudflare’s loading balancing feature, it also offers a global traffic management feature that ensures that traffic is directed by the best available routes’ latency by minimizing the distance that the data has to travel.

The StackPath is established by the StackPath as they use the latter’s server network by which all servers are equipped with the help of SSDs.

In fact, solid-state drives offer the fastest write or read times, excellent data resilience, and improved uptimes. This results in excellent performance.

Cloudflare StackPath is also built into WP engine web hosting for free. Hence, this engine is a good choice, but when you are planning to choose MAXCDN as a CDN provider, MAXCDN does not offer any content optimization feature.

They offer a guide on how webmasters can optimize their own content using the third plugin, WP Super Cache, and WP Rocket. They also offer the same features regardless of the planned use in terms of speed.

StackPath vs Cloudflare: (Speed Comparison)

After testing two services using the same website hosted with the same provider but using different accounts, we used one test StackPath and the other for testing Cloudflare.

For the latter, we signed up for the pro account, which is similar to the free account but also offers access to more data centres.

We also found a new one, and it was a little confusing because Italy’s bandwidth costs are not mentioned as it is expensive, which is the reason we are not aware that it’s only a feature.

It would be better if they mention somewhere in the notes that nodes are free and which are part of the pro plan.

StackPath LLC Speed Test

One does not understand the exact difference between plans, so one should contact the company and converse with a customer service rep.

Another explanation is that if one is connected from Italy to a site on the free plan, it would use the Germany node, which is not close. Hence, if a website is not upgraded to Pro, Italy nodes are the best.

StackPath vs Cloudflare: (Security Comparison)

It does not offer any built-in protection to keep its customers safe, but its engineers constantly monitor the network and apply measures to mitigate any attacks its customers encounter. 

MaxCDN will offer the same speed as StackPath but only in case if you are signed up with the account.

You will also receive additional settings and security measures such as Layer 7 DDoS protection, malware defence, and excellent physical security at the data centres, including safeguard features and biometric protection.

The DDoS protection includes multiple layers of security that can automatically detect and mitigate any type of attack targeting application resources.

Cloudflare

On the other hand, Cloudflare specializes in security and is better known for the security it provides. 

Some of the features they include are as follows:

  • Protecting the original infrastructure
  • Improved control for protecting the applications
  • Identifying abnormal traffic and protecting it along with automatic mitigation rules.
  • Protecting against direct attacks via a security tunnel between the data centre and the origin infrastructure.
  • Anticipating attacks thanks to being shared intelligence across the entire network.
  • Blocking malicious bot abuse by multiple security approaches.
  • Prevention of customer data breaches for protection against DNS spoofing.
  • Argo tunnel protects web servers from direct attacks

StackPath vs Cloudflare: Customer Support

The quality of the customer is also a vital factor when it comes to comparing two services.

One of the most important things is that you need to be able to quickly contact the service provider and the problems which can be quickly resolved. Problems such as:

  • Your website is going down
  • Requiring additional bandwidth
  • Experiencing problems setting up CDN services with your website
  • Also, it was discovered that your website is slow from certain locations

Your website can go down for many hours if you set up a document for delivery for the first time and have problems changing the DNS name to propagate the website correctly.

If you are not able to do this and something goes wrong, then this situation arises.

Cloudflare Pricing Plans

1) For free: It provides free access for those individuals with a personal website and anyone who would like to explore Cloudflare. It also includes the following features: 

  • Shared SSL certificates
  • Global content delivery network
  • Unmetered mitigation of DDoS attacks

2) Pro ($20): It provides faster access to professional websites, blogs, and portfolios for basic security and performance. It also includes the following features: 

  • HTTP/2 prioritization
  • More control with advancement
  • Enhanced performance with image and mobile optimization
  • Enhancement of security with Web Application Firewall(WAF)

3) For Business ($200): It has the fastest access to websites and businesses, which requires advanced security and prioritized support. It also includes the following features: 

  • 100% uptime guarantee
  • CNAME setup
  • Custom SSL certificate
  • 24*7 availability of chat and emails
  • WAF rules
  • Up to 100k image resizing request

4) For Enterprise (Contact Them): It leads with the custom-tuned for maximum performance for those companies which require enterprise-grade security and performance. It also includes the following features: 

  • 24*7 availability of chat and emails
  • 100% uptime guarantee
  • Enterprise-grade DDoS protection with network prioritization
  • Role-based account access
  • Up to 10M image resizing requests
  • WAF with unlimited custom rulesets
  • Access to raw logs
  • Access to account audit logs
  • Named solution and customer success engineers
  • 100-page rules are included
  • Multiple custom SSL certificate uploads
  • Access to China data centers

StackPath vs Cloudflare: Pros and Cons

StackPath Pros:

  • Offers robust CDN and edge computing solutions with low latency.
  • Advanced DDoS protection, WAF (Web Application Firewall), and edge rules.
  • Flexible configurations and custom edge rules to tailor services to specific needs.
  • Round-the-clock customer support to assist with any issues.

StackPath Cons:

  • This can be more expensive compared to other CDNs, especially for small businesses.
  • While strong in some regions, it may not have as extensive a network as some competitors.

Cloudflare Pros:

  • Offers a generous free plan that includes CDN, basic security, and performance features.
  • Extensive network with data centres in numerous locations worldwide, ensuring fast content delivery.
  • User-friendly interface and straightforward setup process.
  • Comprehensive security features, including DDoS protection, SSL/TLS encryption, and a WAF.

Cloudflare Cons:

  • Advanced features and enterprise-level services can be expensive.
  • Limited support options for free and lower-tier plans.

FAQs

✅ Is StackPath compatible with Cloudflare?

Cloudflare DNS records can be modified to point to StackPath CDN/WAF. This can be accomplished by StackPath DNS (whether the nameservers have already been migrated) or by the new DNS provider if StackPath DNS is not being used. Adjust the WWW subdomain record to be a CNAME Record that resolves to the given Edge Address.

✨ Is CDN the way of the future?

The content distribution network (CDN) business was worth USD 9.24 billion in 2018 and is projected to hit USD 38.97 billion by 2024, growing at a 27.30 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) (2019-2024).

What is the abbreviation CDN?

A CDN (Content Delivery Network) is a highly dispersed network of servers that minimizes loading times for web pages by reducing the physical gap between the site and the customer. This enables consumers worldwide to access the same high-quality content without experiencing long loading times.

‍♀️ Is StackPath Good?

Their dependability and uptime have been outstanding. StackPath provides a world-class CDN for applications with a dynamic design. Thanks to the extreme pace offered, high FPS gaming is feasible. Each CDN caching server will significantly increase the system's overall productivity.

Does Cloudflare use AWS?

Cloudflare helps you keep your website safe. It also makes it fast and reliable. You can put Cloudflare on AWS and it will work well with your security, performance, and load balancing needs.

Is CloudFlare the best CDN?

Cloudflare is one of the most popular CDN providers for people who blog, small businesses, and professionals. It has a free plan with no limit on bandwidth. So that makes it one of the best free CDN providers for WordPress. Cloudflare has more than 180 data centers around the world.

What is StackPath used for?

StackPath is a company that provides both infrastructure as a service and applications. It is closer to the end-users than other solutions from hyper-scale, core cloud providers.

Is Cloudflare faster?

Cloudflare is the fastest cloud network for web applications. Faster speeds are better for business, because it means that people will be able to use their website easily. Faster speeds also mean that more people will want to use your website, and it will be easy to find your website in search engines.

Is StackPath Cdn free?

StackPath wants to make it easy to figure out how much you will pay. They have plans from $10/m to $2000/m. There are no long-term contracts and all plans include free SSL, WAF, and DDoS protection. Sign up is easy too! You do not need to talk with a sales representative.

How does StackPath CDN work?

The StackPath CDN stores your website content in different locations. They are close to people who want to use your website. This way, the CDN will have what it needs for people in that area, and they can go online easier.

What is StackPath WAF?

The StackPath WAF offers protection against Application Layer (Layer 7) DDoS. This type of attack is done in bursts and can be not be volumetric. The WAF uses multiple techniques to detect and mitigate incoming attacks. The protection is always active, even if the WAF is on Monitor mode.

Is Stackpath a CDN?

StackPath is a provider of cloud computing and services that are set up in densely populated areas. If you're looking for CDN's, VPNs, or even your own edge clouds - they have the solutions to suit what you need!

What is MaxCDN?

MaxCDN delivers what they say with a speedy network and industry-leading features. MaxCDN will speed up your website, reduce server load, offer instant purge and provisioning, full API integration for GitHub access to settings or content updates remotely from the command line on their new site using NodeJS libs like Express & React Router.

Quick Links:

Conclusion: StackPath vs Cloudflare | Which One Is Better??

If you are looking for speed, StackPath is obviously the best choice for security features.

Cloudflare also offers good security features, but StackPath provides better security and a one-month free trial for testing its services. It’s worth trying out StackPath due to its free trial offer.

While Cloudflare offers an unlimited free plan, it only provides very basic and unimpressive performance. On the other hand, StackPath offers quality speed and security at a reasonable price, making it the better choice in our opinion.

I hope StackPath vs Cloudflare comparison suits your purpose well and if you liked the post then kindly share it on various social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. 

Anikesh Singh

Anikesh Singh has an impressive 5-year track record in writing about WordPress, page builders, and plugins. With a rich history at prominent platforms, including Yourstory, Bloggerideas, and Tweak Your Biz, Anikesh has refined his expertise in website building and web hosting. Since 2018, he has been dedicated to the world of themes, website building, and WordPress, offering comprehensive insights and recommendations. Away from the digital landscape, Anikesh finds joy in exploring new destinations and immersing himself in the world of literature. Stay updated on Anikesh's latest insights and recommendations by following him on LinkedIn and Twitter.

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