MaxCDN is one of the Content Delivery Network services which has grown fast in the last few years. And MaxCDN is close to WordPress bloggers as it integrates very well and boosts WordPress blog performance. You can use either W3 Total Cache or WordPress CDN to integrate it with MaxCDN. MaxCDN’s Network uses the Packet Exchange backbone exclusively for content delivery, featuring direct reach to over 90+ countries and more than 900 peering partners worldwide. Packet Exchange is a robust privately owned network built with state-of-the-art hardware including a full line-rate 10 Gigabit backbone with over 1 Tbps of transit and peering capacity.
As the competitor, Google App Engine (GAE) can also be used as CDN. Read my previous article to create GAE as CDN for free. And everybody knows how big Google’s data center is; there’s no doubt about its speed to deliver your content.
I did some tests to compare MaxCDN vs Google App Engine with simple benchmarking.
MaxCDN vs Google App Engine Testing tools:
1. Firebug 1.6.1
2. Host Tracker
Internet connection speed: downlink 2046 kbps (2Mbps) and uplink 512 kbps (0.5Mbps).
Web browser: Mozilla Firefox 3.6.13
Operating System: Windows Vista SP2
File Size: 1.01MB
MaxCDN vs Google App Engine Test Results:
1. Firebug
MaxCDN test result:
GAE test result:
2. Host Tracker
MaxCDN test result:
GAE test result:
MaxCDN vs Google App Engine Conclusion
Speed Test
When I tested using Firebug, which means using my own bandwidth and location, downloading 1MB using Google App Engine took 1m 29s and MaxCDN 1m 50s. GAE won by 21s over MaxCDN. But this result is subjective based on my location. So I used the second tool (host-tracker.com) to download it from different locations in the world. Here are the test results from Host Tracker:
Maximum Speed
MaxCDN: 22868.66 KB/s from Dallas, TX, US
GAE: 2699.40 KB/s from Dallas, TX, US
Minimum Speed
MaxCDN: 164.44 KB/s from Bangkok, Thailand
GAE: 224.63 KB/s from Bangkok, Thailand
Overall Average Download time and Speed:
MaxCDN: 1.06 sec, 164.44 KB/s
GAE: 1.57 sec, 659.23 KB/s
Setup
MaxCDN: Very easy to set up. Just create a zone, make an alias, then just use it. No need to upload or push files to MaxCDN. MaxCDN will automatically fetch it from your server and spread it to all nodes. Integrates very well using WordPress plugins such as W3 Total Cache or WordPress CDN.
GAE: Needs some time to set up properly, and you need to manually upload to Google App Engine, and every time you make a change you need to re-upload. Not appropriate for testing environments.
Cost
MaxCDN: You need to pay $39.95 to open an account with 1TB bandwidth. And you need to recharge it for $99 for another 1TB, around 9.9 cents per GB.
GAE: No setup fees. It is free to use with a limit of 1GB/day. And 12 cents for 1GB extension. You only pay the over-quota amount.
Overall
For large websites which have many visitors, using MaxCDN will save your time to set up and has a low-rate cost. But for a medium to low size website with a limited budget, using Google App Engine will exactly boost your website performance for free.