CDN and Edge Computing Patterns#

A CDN (Content Delivery Network) caches content at edge locations close to users, reducing latency and offloading traffic from origin servers. Edge computing extends this by running custom code at those edge locations, enabling request transformation, authentication, A/B testing, and dynamic content generation without round-tripping to an origin server.

CDN Cache Fundamentals#

Cache-Control Headers#

The origin server controls CDN caching behavior through HTTP headers. Getting these right is the single most impactful CDN optimization.

Cloud Vendor Product Matrix#

Choosing between cloud vendors requires mapping equivalent services across providers. AWS has 200+ services. Azure has 200+. GCP has 100+. Cloudflare has 20+ but they are tightly integrated and edge-native. This article maps the services that matter for most applications – compute, serverless, databases, storage, networking, and observability – across all four vendors with pricing, availability, and portability for each.

How to Use This Matrix#

Each section maps equivalent products across vendors, then provides:

Zero-Egress Architecture with Cloudflare R2#

Every major cloud provider charges you to download your own data. AWS S3 charges $0.09/GB. Google Cloud Storage charges $0.12/GB. Azure Blob charges $0.087/GB. These egress fees are the most unpredictable line item on cloud bills – they scale with success. The more users download your data, the more you pay.

Cloudflare R2 charges $0 for egress. Zero. Unlimited. Every download is free, whether it is 1 GB or 100 TB. R2 uses the S3-compatible API, so existing tools and SDKs work without changes. This single pricing difference changes how you architect storage, serving, and cross-cloud data flow.