Your site lives in one place. Your visitors do not. Without a CDN, someone in Sydney loading your site waits for every image to travel the whole way from our servers to them, and back again for each request. A CDN puts a copy of your files close to them instead.
What you get
We include a global CDN across 119 edge locations on every plan, including Starter. Most hosts either charge for this or expect you to sign up separately with a CDN provider and configure it yourself. We turn it on for you.
What it does
- Serves your images, stylesheets, scripts and fonts from a location near your visitor
- Absorbs traffic spikes, so a post that does well does not fall over
- Reduces load on your site, which means your database and PHP have more room for the work that actually needs them
What it does not do
A CDN caches files. It does not make a slow database query fast, and it does not fix a plugin that takes two seconds to think. If your site is slow for logged-in users or in the admin, the CDN is not your problem. See Why your site might be slow and how to find out.
Do I need to configure it?
No. It is on when your site goes live. There is nothing to sign up for and nothing extra to pay.
Unmetered traffic
We never charge you per visitor and we never charge you for bandwidth. If your site has an unusually good month, your bill does not change. This is a deliberate decision, because a hosting bill that spikes exactly when you are most successful is a bad deal.
Clearing the CDN cache
If you have replaced an image or a stylesheet and still see the old one, clear the cache from the site's page in your panel. It takes seconds. Browsers cache too, so check with a hard refresh before assuming the CDN is at fault.
Does the CDN cache my pages?
Page caching is handled separately. See Page caching explained.
The assistant in your control panel can see your actual account and answer about your sites, your plan and your usage. For anything else, email [email protected] and a person will answer.