# Content delivery networks: what AI models recommend, October 2026

Gane Index, October 2026 Edition. Asked as "CDN" and as "content delivery network", six framings each, to fourteen models with search on, on behalf of a mid-market B2B company. Page: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/network/content-delivery-networks/2026-10

This is the permanent record of the October 2026 Edition, published October 1, 2026 and superseded since. The current standing: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/network/content-delivery-networks/index.md

**Standing:** Cloudflare leads with 68% of first choices; verdict clear leader. 56 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| Rank | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | [Cloudflare](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/cloudflare/index.md) | 68% | 8% | 72 |
| 2 | [Bunny.net](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/bunny-net/index.md) | 12% | 7% | 45 |
| 3 | [KeyCDN](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/keycdn/index.md) | 7% | 12% | 25 |
| 4 | [Amazon CloudFront](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/amazon-cloudfront/index.md) | 5% | 22% | 68 |
| 5 | [Fastly](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/fastly/index.md) | 4% | 20% | 61 |
| 6 | [Akamai](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/akamai/index.md) | 2% | 38% | 48 |
| 8 | [Google Cloud CDN](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/google-cloud-cdn/index.md) | 0% | 14% | 22 |
| 11 | [Azure CDN](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/azure-cdn/index.md) | 0% | 25% | 12 |

Rank is by share of first choices among all 49 products named; products with the same share are tied, and the order among them carries no meaning. The table lists those with at least 10 labels.

## Each model's first choice on the direct prompt

- Claude Haiku 4.5: Amazon CloudFront, CDN77; alternatives Azure CDN, Cloudflare, Gcore
- GPT-5.4 mini: Cloudflare; alternatives Amazon CloudFront, Fastly
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: Cloudflare; alternatives Bunny.net, Fastly
- Perplexity Sonar: Cloudflare; alternatives Akamai, Amazon CloudFront
- Grok 4.20: Cloudflare; alternatives Amazon CloudFront, Bunny.net, KeyCDN
- Mistral Small: Bunny.net, KeyCDN
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: Cloudflare; alternatives Amazon CloudFront, Bunny.net
- Llama 4 Maverick: Bunny.net, KeyCDN; alternatives BlazingCDN
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: KeyCDN; alternatives BlazingCDN, Bunny.net, Cloudflare
- Kimi K2: Cloudflare; alternatives Bunny.net, Fastly, KeyCDN
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: Cloudflare; alternatives Amazon CloudFront, Bunny.net, Fastly
- MiniMax M2.5: Bunny.net, KeyCDN; alternatives Amazon CloudFront, Cloudflare
- GPT-6 Luna: Cloudflare; alternatives Amazon CloudFront, Fastly
- Muse Glimmer 30B: Cloudflare; alternatives Amazon CloudFront, Bunny.net, Fastly, KeyCDN

## Sources the answers cite

71 of 84 answers came back with a source list, from 14 of 14 models. Sites named in the most answers:

- blog.blazingcdn.com: 49 answers, 118 citations
- fastly.com: 29 answers, 45 citations
- broadbandnow.com: 24 answers, 24 citations
- linkedin.com: 21 answers, 22 citations
- cdnetworks.com: 20 answers, 22 citations
- edgenext.com: 19 answers, 19 citations
- myrasecurity.com: 15 answers, 15 citations
- wpforms.com: 15 answers, 15 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://broadbandnow.com/guides/CDN-Providers (24 answers)
- https://blog.blazingcdn.com/en-us/top-cdn-providers-2025-an-expert-guide-to-types-technologies-and-performance (17 answers)
- https://blog.blazingcdn.com/en-us/top-cdn-providers-2025-an-expert-guide-to-types-technologies-and-performance-0 (17 answers)
- https://linkedin.com/pulse/choosing-best-cdn-top-content-delivery-networks-2026-rajesh-kumar-ua4ac (17 answers)
- https://cdnetworks.com/blog/web-performance/best-cdn-providers (16 answers)
- https://edgenext.com/resources/blog/best-cdn-providers-2026-top-global-content-delivery-networks-compared (15 answers)
- https://myrasecurity.com/en/best-cdn-providers (15 answers)
- https://wpforms.com/best-cdn-providers (15 answers)
- https://atlantic.net/cloud-platform/best-cdn-providers-for-performance-security (13 answers)
- https://fastly.com/blog/best-cdn-providers (13 answers)

## Warned against

- Akamai: 18 of 48 labels negative. "Avoid enterprise ones (Akamai, Fastly) as they're pricier." (Grok 4.20, budget prompt)
- Amazon CloudFront: 15 of 68 labels negative. "It's best to avoid unless you have strict cost controls and predictable traffic patterns." (Mistral Small, negative prompt)
- Fastly: 12 of 61 labels negative. "Avoid enterprise ones (Akamai, Fastly) as they're pricier." (Grok 4.20, budget prompt)
- Cloudflare: 6 of 72 labels negative. "Major outages (2024‑2025)... When to be cautious - If your application is mission‑critical, consider a multi‑CDN or fail‑over strategy." (GLM 4.7 FlashX, negative prompt)

## Movement since September 2026

Floor: 11 points of share, measured on the calibration repeat.
Same leader: Cloudflare at 65%.

- Cloudflare: 80% to 65%, −15. Cleared the floor by 4 points · rank 1 of 44, unchanged.
- KeyCDN: 0% to 8%, +8. Inside the floor by 3 points · rank 7 → 3 of 44.
- Amazon CloudFront: 0% to 6%, +6. Inside the floor by 5 points · rank 5 → 4 of 44.
- Bunny.net: 15% to 12%, −3. Inside the floor by 8 points · rank 2 of 44, unchanged.
- Fastly: 2% to 4%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 3 → 5 of 44.
- Akamai: 0% to 2%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 10 → 6 of 44.
- CDN77: 0% to 2%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 8 → 7 of 44.
- Google Cloud CDN: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 6 → 8 of 44.
- Azure CDN: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 26 → 10 of 44.

## Record

- Method: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/methodology
- License: CC BY 4.0. Cite as Gane Index, October 2026 Edition, www.gane.ai/index/it.