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Technology · Servers

Google Cloud CDN

cloud.google.com

Cloud CDN uses Google's global edge network to serve content closer to users. It works with the global external Application Load Balancer or the classic Application Load Balancer.[1]

Google Cloud CDN is a powerful content delivery network that utilizes Google's extensive global edge network to serve content closer to users, significantly reducing latency and improving website performance. It integrates seamlessly with Google Cloud's other services, such as Cloud Storage and Compute Engine, making it an ideal choice for businesses already using the Google Cloud ecosystem. Google Cloud CDN offers features like automatic cache invalidation, HTTPS support, and detailed analytics. It can handle both static and dynamic content, and supports video streaming. With its global reach and the backing of Google's robust infrastructure, Google Cloud CDN is a reliable solution for businesses of all sizes looking to enhance their content delivery and user experience worldwide.

Google Cloud CDN belongs toCDNcategory.

Made for

Websites and apps on Google Cloud or other origins[2]

Cache data out

$0.02 to $0.20 per GiB, by usage and region[3]

Cache fill

$0.01 to $0.04 per GiB[3]

Security

Works with Cloud Armor at the edge[2]

82websites

use it — 3.2% of the 2,555 websites we scanned in the last 12 months

#10of 29

tools in its category seen in our scans (we recognize 69)

32public pages

on UptimeCard — open any of them to see how that site is doing

In short: a pay-as-you-go CDN that suits sites already behind a Google Cloud load balancer. Watch charges for content that cannot be cached.[3]

2.61% of all websites we track run Google Cloud CDN▼ 0.01 points since 20 Sep

Should you use Google Cloud CDN?

The 10-second version, from the vendor’s own pages and what we see in our scans

Google Cloud CDN fits if…

  • Your site or API already runs behind a Google Cloud external Application Load Balancer[1]
  • You serve files from Cloud Storage and want to keep the bucket private[4]
  • You need fine control over what gets cached[2]

Look elsewhere if…

  • You stream large amounts of video[2]Google sells Media CDN separately for that.
Content that cannot be cached is billed at normal data transfer rates, not the cache rates[3]
Cache lookups are billed per request on top of data transfer[3]

How Google Cloud CDN sites protect themselves

Share of the 82 sites we scanned that run each protection

HSTS81% · 66 sites

HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS) informs browsers that the site should only be accessed using HTTPS

Cloudflare Bot Management27% · 22 sites

Cloudflare bot management solution identifies and mitigates automated traffic to protect websites from bad bots

reCAPTCHA22% · 18 sites

reCAPTCHA is a free service from Google that helps protect websites from spam and abuse

Protections add up, they do not replace each other: a site can run all of them.

What sites use Google Cloud CDN for

An estimate from UptimeCard's technology map of 24 public sites

Runs the whole site18 sites

adereso.ai · array.com · betconstruct.com

Hosts help, docs or support content3 sites

expo.dev · neo4j.io · starkbank.com

Runs the marketing site2 sites

appspace.com · lightspeedhq.com

Runs a shop or catalog1 sites

easyship.com

Rough guide, not a measurement: each description is written automatically from the site’s technology stack and the site has not confirmed it. A site is counted once, in the first group its description fits (shop, help and docs, blog, marketing site; otherwise the whole site). Descriptions that only guess (“likely”, “may”) are left out.

At a glance

UptimeCard's own scans and tests of 2,555 websites · refreshed weekly

How Google Cloud CDN sites scoreout of 100 · hover or tap a score for details

56PerformanceLowaverage site: 5088AccessibilityGoodaverage site: 8996Best practicesGoodaverage site: 9392SEOGoodaverage site: 92

Page load time

Loads about 12% faster than the average site

Google Cloud CDN sites
3.8 s
All sites
4.3 s

Most Google Cloud CDN sites load in 2.8–5.7 s. Home page weight: 2.4 MB vs 3.3 MB for all sites. 28 public sites measured.

Where are they hosted?

Mostly Google Cloud and Cloudflare

  • Google Cloud53%
  • Cloudflare13%
  • Amazon Web Services6%
  • Akamai Technologies3%
  • Other25%
United States 66%Canada 9%Germany 3%

Who uses it?

Technology and Software is the biggest group

Technology and Software59%
Business Services13%
Music and Audio6%
Cloud Storage and Computing3%

Share of 32 classified public sites. “× average” compares with all 961 public sites.

How Google Cloud CDN sites are built

Closest partners. The number says how many times more often the tool runs on Google Cloud CDN sites than on an average website. Hover a partner for its share of sites.

styled-components3×Sentry3×Envoy3×Google Sign-in3×Lodash2×React2×

Stacks we see most. Tools that tend to run together with Google Cloud CDN on the same websites. The percentage is the share of all 82 Google Cloud CDN sites that run the whole stack.

3 stacks · swipe, drag or use the arrows
#1

Google Cloud CDN + React + Sentry + Wix

8.5%7 of 82 sites
#2

Google Cloud CDN + React + Tailwind CSS

8.5%7 of 82 sites
#3

Google Cloud CDN + React + Google Sign-in

6.1%5 of 82 sites

Usually installed alongside

The bigger the bubble, the more of the 82 Google Cloud CDN sites also run the tool. Colour shows what the tool does. Hover or tap a bubble for details.

Google Tag Manager60%Google Analytics57%Facebook Pixel18%Linkedin Insight Tag17%Microsoft Advertising18%DoubleClick Floodlight11%Linkedin Ads11%OneTrust15%Cart Functionality12%
Tag managerAnalyticsAdvertisingCookie consentOnline store

Similar tools in its category

CDN: 69 tools known, 29 seen in our scans

Cloudflare1,035 sitesAlternativeAmazon CloudFront335 sitesAlternativejsDelivr321 sitesAlternativecdnjs245 sitesAlternativeAkamai205 sitesAlternativeAmazon S3184 sitesAlternativeGoogle Hosted Libraries144 sitesAlternativeUnpkg105 sitesAlternative

How websites combine Google Cloud CDN with other tools

Relationships found on the websites that use it, from the same map status pages show.

Built on a platform 25Complements another tool 12Integrates with another 12Overlaps with another 6Needs another tool 2

Websites using Google Cloud CDN

82 websites use Google Cloud CDN: 3.2% of the 2,555 websites we scanned in the last 12 months. A selection is shown below.

Scores are out of 100: P Performance · A Accessibility · B Best practices · S SEO. Green 80+, yellow 65–79, orange 50–64, red below 50. The dot shows whether our last scan found the site failing (red) or not (green); Red, amber or blue: an active incident on the site's status page (outage, degraded, maintenance) or a failing scan; amber also means a certificate ending within 30 days. Hover the dot for details.

Who is behind Google Cloud CDN

From its own pages and public records, with sources

Its story

  1. 2015

    Cloud CDN entered Alpha in November 2015. Google began testing a CDN built on its own edge network, with a limited group of users.[4]

  2. 2016

    Cloud CDN reached General Availability in June 2016, so production sites could rely on it with Google Cloud's load balancer.[4]

  3. 2017

    Cloud Storage buckets became a supported origin. Static files could be cached at the edge without running a web server in front of them.[4]

  4. 2018

    Signed URLs reached General Availability. Private or paid content could be served from the shared caches while each request stayed authorized.[4]

  5. 2020

    Cache modes, TTL overrides and custom response headers reached General Availability. Static content could be cached without the origin sending perfect cache headers.[4]

  6. 2021

    HTTP/3 support arrived for the external load balancer and Cloud CDN. It lowers request latency and improves throughput.[4]

  7. 2022

    Dynamic compression with Brotli and gzip became generally available. Responses shrink on the wire, which speeds page loads and trims egress charges.[4]

  8. 2023

    Private origin authentication for Amazon S3 and compatible stores appeared in Preview. Cloud CDN could front a private bucket in another cloud, not only Google's own storage.[4]

  9. 2025

    Invalidation by cache tags became generally available. Groups of objects can be removed and refreshed together instead of path by path.[4]

  10. 2026

    Image optimization at the Google edge entered Preview. Resizing and format conversion move off the origin server, which cuts origin load.[4]

Questions about Google Cloud CDN

What does Cloud CDN do?
It serves content from Google's edge network, close to the visitor.[1]
Can Cloud CDN use origins outside Google Cloud?
Yes. It can pull from any HTTP-capable origin, including storage buckets in other clouds.[2]
How many websites use Google Cloud CDN?
We found Google Cloud CDN on 82 of the 2,555 websites we scanned in the last 12 months (3.2%). 32 of them have a public status page.
What is Google Cloud CDN often used with?
Among the websites we scan, Google Cloud CDN is often found alongside React (51.2% of its sites), Node.js (31.7% of its sites), Sentry (28% of its sites).
What are the alternatives to Google Cloud CDN?
Other CDNs we recognize include Cloudflare, Amazon CloudFront, jsDelivr, cdnjs.

Is your website built with Google Cloud CDN?

UptimeCard checks it around the clock, tells you the minute it stops answering, and gives your visitors a status page.

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