Akamai Adaptive Media Delivery (AMD) vs StackPath CDN comparison

Cloudflare is a highly-regarded Content Delivery Network (CDN) and a Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) protection solution. The robust global connectivity cloud platform that is Cloudflare ensures users are able to connect to the Internet quickly, securely, and reliably. Cloudflare is one of the world's largest networks in the marketplace today. Using Cloudflare, businesses, educational entities, NGOs, vloggers, bloggers, and anyone else with an internet presence can experience more secure, faster websites and applications.  

Currently, there are millions of Internet locations on Cloudflare, and the Cloudflare network 
continues to grow every day by the thousands. The solution is able to fulfill the requests for 
millions of websites seamlessly and serves on average 45 million HTTP requests per second.

Cloudflare has safe, secure data centers in close to 300 cities worldwide to ensure every 
client request is filled as quickly as possible. It is Cloudflare’s edge network that makes this 
possible by keeping content and other services as close to each client as possible, so the 
information requests are always only seconds away. 

Many organizations that work in democracy, civil society, human rights, or the arts are able to 
access Cloudflare's highest levels of protection for free via Project Galileo. Additionally, official 
election websites can be secured from hacking and fraud through Cloudflare’s Project 
Athenian, also at no additional cost.

Cloudflare can also help organizations of all sizes develop a robust zero-trust strategy to 
ensure the highest levels of productivity and profitability. Employees, stakeholders, and end users have a greater level of satisfaction and overall improved user experience, which can, in 
turn, result in higher revenues and overall ROI. Zero-trust and BYOD (bring your own device) 
access ensure end users and employees always have the best resources and technology 
available to them at all times. 

Cloudflare benefits

Cloudflare has many benefits. Some of its most valuable benefits include:

- Faster load times

- Robust DNS security

- Intuitive cloud Web Application Firewall (WAF)

- Free universal SSL

- Image enhancement 

- Automatic browser caching

- Next-generation cloud load balancer

- Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP)

- Rate limiting

- Minification

- Zero-trust capabilities 

- Cost-effective

- Reduced carbon footprint

Reviews from real users

“Many websites require an SSL certificate because they sell stuff and want SSL. Cloudflare 
comes with an SSL certificate built in. It's automatic. You sign yourself up for Cloudflare, and 
an SSL certificate automatically protects your website. If you have a connection between your 
website and your host, the server, Cloudflare, and the host, you don't necessarily need a 
certificate.” Spencer M., Owner at Tech Exchange

“What I like best about Cloudflare is that my company can use it to trace and manage 
applications and monitor traffic. The solution tells you if there's a spike in traffic. Cloudflare 
also sends you a link to check your equipment and deployment and track it through peering,
so it's a valuable tool.” Daniel P., Network Engineer at Ufinet

“The most valuable feature of Cloudflare is the GUI. You are able to control the solution very 
well through the interface. There is a lot of functionality that is embedded in the service.” PeerSpot user, Competence Center Manager at a tech services company

Akamai Adaptive Media Delivery (AMD) ensures seamless content delivery across devices, optimizing performance in a dynamic digital ecosystem. This service caters to diverse streaming needs, providing efficient media delivery solutions with broad compatibility.

Akamai Adaptive Media Delivery combines advanced technology with reliable infrastructure to enhance user experience and support growing demand for high-quality video streaming. AMD optimizes content delivery by intelligently adjusting streams based on real-time network conditions, ensuring playback quality while minimizing buffering. It integrates with content delivery networks to provide scale and reliability, meeting the needs of content providers seeking efficient video delivery.

• Adaptive Bitrate Streaming: Dynamically optimizes video streams in real-time, providing high-quality playback under diverse network conditions.
• Device and Format Compatibility: Supports multiple devices and formats, ensuring broad access and compatibility.
• Global Delivery Network: Leverages Akamai's expansive network, ensuring reliable delivery at scale.
• Real-time Analytics: Offers insights into streaming performance and user engagement for informed decision-making.

• Consistent High-quality Streaming: Reviewers highlight its ability to maintain video quality, reducing buffering and improving user experience.
• Scalability: Supports large-scale events and spikes in viewership with ease, an important consideration for content-driven companies.
• Reliability: Ensures steady performance, crucial for media providers looking to retain audience attention.
• Data-driven Insights: Empowers decisions through detailed analytics, aiding strategic planning for better engagement.

In media and entertainment, Akamai Adaptive Media Delivery facilitates high-demand streaming with minimal latency, handling large audiences effortlessly. Educational institutions use AMD to deliver course content smoothly, and in healthcare, it supports telemedicine with reliable video communication, enhancing patient interaction. Across industries, AMD adapts to specific streaming challenges, improving media accessibility and quality.

StackPath is the intelligent web services platform for security, speed and scale. It is the first platform to unify enterprise security solutions by leveraging collaborative intelligence that makes each service smarter and more secure with every threat detected, in addition to vastly improving the customer experience. More than 30,000 customers, ranging from Fortune 100 companies to early stage startups already use StackPath technology. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, StackPath has offices across the U.S. and internationally.

StackPath has emerged from stealth as the Security-as-a-Service company providing a path to a more secure internet and announced a significant investment from ABRY Partners, a $4.3 billion private equity fund focused on investing in information and business service companies. The launch marks the highly anticipated next endeavor for chairman and CEO Lance Crosby—founder and former chairman and CEO of SoftLayer Technologies (acquired by IBM in 2013 and now the foundation of IBM’s Cloud Computing division).

StackPath is Crosby’s vision for a frictionless and scalable security platform specifically designed to accommodate the crushing demand of traffic on the internet, the seemingly endless new point solutions purporting to fix the latest threat, in an ever- expanding spectrum of cyber threats. The funds are being used to drive acquisition strategy, further develop the overall infrastructure and add new services, making it a holistic security platform designed to meet the needs of businesses today.