Not trapped in an AWS account
Origins can be anywhere. You are not paying CloudFront because S3 egress to anywhere else is punitive. Aptranet is the independent edge.
Aptranet vs CloudFront
What Amazon CloudFront is — and what Aptranet is instead.
CloudFront is the AWS CDN. It is excellent if S3, MediaConvert and IAM are already the architecture. It is a poor independent edge: pricing is a matrix, DNS is Route 53, and leaving AWS later is a migration.
Where Aptranet wins
Why teams leave Amazon CloudFront for Cloud CDN and Cloud DNS.
DNS is a product, not a second console
Cloud DNS is GeoDNS, health checks, flattening and a 1-second minimum TTL on the same 210+ footprint. Route 53 is another bill and another IAM policy.
Pricing a human can read
Starter, Pro and Business in euros with included GB and requests. CloudFront regional price classes and 20-line invoices are a different sport.
Images and video without extra AWS products
WebP/AVIF transforms, 4K and live latency in the 0.5-4 s range sit on Cloud CDN. You do not assemble Lambda, MediaConvert and a second distribution to crop a product image.
Be precise
Where Amazon CloudFront still wins.
Switching because of a slogan is how you buy the wrong edge. These are the honest concessions.
They publish more edge locations
CloudFront quotes 600+ PoPs. Aptranet publishes 210+ with 200+ Tbps and 14,000+ peers. If the workload is already inside AWS, their footprint plus free S3-to-CloudFront transfer is a real advantage.
They also have Origin Shield
CloudFront Origin Shield exists. Do not switch for the name. Switch if you want Shield plus DNS, image transforms and a console that is not the AWS billing maze.
Side by side
Aptranet and Amazon CloudFront, on the facts we will stand behind.
| Topic | Aptranet | Amazon CloudFront |
|---|---|---|
| Home cloud | Independent | AWS |
| Points of presence | 210+ | 600+ (their figure) |
| Capacity | 200+ Tbps | AWS-scale; not a single CDN Tbps number |
| Origin Shield | Yes | Yes |
| Authoritative DNS | Cloud DNS, 1 s min TTL | Route 53, separate product |
| Image optimization | Included at the edge | Lambda or extra services |
| Pricing shape | EUR monthly plans + overage | Regional SKUs and price classes |
| IAM / console | Management Console + API | AWS IAM required |
| S3 egress | Ordinary origin pull | Cheap toward CloudFront, expensive elsewhere |
Choose Aptranet if
- Origins are not only S3
- Finance wants a EUR plan, not a 12-line AWS invoice
- You need GeoDNS and 1-second TTLs in the same vendor
- You might leave AWS later and do not want the CDN glued to it
Stay with Amazon CloudFront if
- The origin is S3 and will stay S3
- The team already lives in IAM and CloudWatch
- Free S3-to-CloudFront transfer is the actual saving
Other comparisons
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. Cloud CDN pulls any HTTPS origin, including applications on AWS. You do not have to move compute to leave CloudFront.
Compare your regional GB and request mix to Starter €35 / Pro €125 / Business €375. CloudFront wins when almost all bytes are S3-to-CloudFront. Aptranet wins when you want a predictable EUR plan and DNS included as a product.
Cloud DNS can. Delegation is a separate cutover from the CDN. Many teams move CDN first.