3 Price Considerations To Keep in Mind When Choosing A CDN Service
With users increasingly demanding better website performance, and with search engines prioritizing speed as a ranking factor, it has never been more necessary for website owners to use CDNs. Therefore, by increasing the speed with which websites load, Content Delivery Networks not only enhance a website's overall user experience, but also play an important role in helping it to rank higher in the search engine results.
However, not all CDNs are created equal. They differ in the bandwidths they provide, the user interfaces they offer, and the overall terms and conditions on which they provide their service to website owners. As a result, your choice of CDN service can go a long way in determining your website's performance, the convenience with which you use it, and your overall experience as a client.
One of the main things that you should consider when choosing which content distribution network companies to go for is pricing. Generally, simply choosing the more affordable option is usually recommended. However, in practice, a CDN service being cheaper doesn't always mean that it is as pocket-friendly as it seems. Here are the things that you should keep in mind when deciding which pricing option is better for you.
Cost per website
Looking just at the overall price of the basic plan can be misleading. This is so because while some CDN services offer the listed price for only one website, others do so for multiple websites. Therefore, while one may seem to be clearly cheaper than the other, when you factor in the number of websites that are included in the offer, things may turn out to be way more different than they seemed.
Generally, you should always consider the cost of the CDN service per website. This is a more objective pricing metric mainly because if you have multiple websites, the cost usually adds up. However, if you only have one website that you want to optimize by using a CDN, the cost-per-website metric will not be as useful when it comes to making pricing comparisons.
Length of the free trial
Free trials are useful because they allow you to test out the CDN service for a time before paying for it. With a free trial, you get to get a feel of a CDN's user interface, the customer support behind the service, and the overall effect it has on your website's performance.
However, even though free trials are primarily meant to provide a test-driving opportunity, you are still getting to use the CDN service for free. Therefore, a service that offers a 30-day free trial is giving you a free month of their service, while one that is providing you with a 7-day free trial is only offering 7 days of free use. Therefore, you should consider the difference when calculating the total cost of the services you are evaluating.
Diversity of pricing plans
With time, your traffic is bound to grow. This increase in traffic will call for more bandwidth, and this may mean having to upgrade your plans. This is a process that is inevitable for any growing business, and therefore, it makes sense for you to consider the pricing of the other plans that the CDN company is offering.
While some companies may provide an attractive price for their basic plan, the next tier in their plan may feature an extreme increase in price to such an extent that it may prove to be financially unsound for you to upgrade. This will mean having to switch CDN companies. And since this process of migration usually features a lot of inconveniences like having to familiarize yourself with a new system, it is always advisable that you think about the cost of upgrading your plan right at the beginning.
Generally, a company that offers more pricing options is better than one which offers fewer options. When you are comparing the pricing of CDN services, look for options like pay-as-you-go plans and any other creative pricing structures that are designed to make it easy, convenient, and affordable for you to upgrade in case the need arises. This is because companies that feature these creative pricing options, in addition to yearly and monthly plans, tend to be cheaper in the long run. Therefore, price-wise, they eventually prove to be better options for people who are looking to minimize the cost of using a CDN service.
However, it is important to keep in mind that cheaper options are not always great for your website. Therefore, while the price of a service is an important consideration, it should always be looked at in addition to other features that the CDN provider includes in the given package.