NGINX Plus vs KeyCDN

NGINX Plus7.4Visit KeyCDN7.3Visit

Higher score NGINX Plus #4 in Web Accelerator Software 7.4/10 Pricing on request · 30-day trial ✓ 0 of 5 features Visit NGINX Plus

vs

KeyCDN #5 in Web Accelerator Software 7.3/10 From $0.04 · 14-day trial ✓ 2 of 5 features Visit KeyCDN

• NGINX Plus fits best

  Enterprise traffic management and API gateways

• KeyCDN fits best

  Cost-conscious teams needing a full CDN

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Side by side

Feature	NGINX Plus 7.4/10 Visit ↗	KeyCDN 7.3/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score	7.4	7.3
Ranking	#4 in Web Accelerator Software	#5 in Web Accelerator Software
Best for	Enterprise traffic management and API gateways	Cost-conscious teams needing a full CDN
Pricing model	Paid	Paid
Starting price	Not published	Not published
Free plan	—	—
Free trial	—	—
Free trial length	30 days	14 days · no card needed
Deployment	Cloud, Self-hosted	Cloud
Platforms	Linux	Web
Support	Phone, Tickets, Community, Docs	Docs · 24/7
Integrations	12 integrations	9 integrations
Built for	Enterprise, Mid-market	Solo, Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise
Features NGINX Plus 0/5 · KeyCDN 2/5
Image optimization	Not published	✓ (best)
Web application firewall	Not published	Not published
Bot management	Not published	Not published
Origin shield	Not published	✓ (best)
Cache purge API	Not published	Not published
Specs
Included bandwidth	Not published	Not published
Our review
Pros	Balances Layer 4 and Layer 7 traffic with advanced routing and algorithms. Combines API gateway routing, authentication, and rate limiting. Offers active health checks, high availability, and real-time monitoring.	Pull and Push Zones support origin-based and uploaded content Real-time image processing, HLS video delivery and cache purging REST API, real-time logs, TLS and CMS integrations
Cons	Pricing requires contacting sales rather than choosing a public plan. It is not a managed service, so teams operate their deployment. No free plan is available; access is through a 30-day trial or subscription.	Traffic rates vary by region and volume No free plan; access is through a paid service Support channels listed are documentation
Our verdict	NGINX Plus is F5’s commercial application delivery software for organizations managing modern applications, APIs, Kubernetes environments, and AI workloads. It brings reverse proxying together with Layer 4 and Layer 7 load balancing,… Read the review →	KeyCDN is a content delivery network for website owners and application developers who need to cache and serve web content or video from edge servers. Pull Zones fetch content from an origin server, while Push Zones store uploaded content… Read the review →

Strengths and trade-offs

• NGINX Plus — where it wins

  • Balances Layer 4 and Layer 7 traffic with advanced routing and algorithms.
  • Combines API gateway routing, authentication, and rate limiting.
  • Offers active health checks, high availability, and real-time monitoring.

  Where it doesn't

  • Pricing requires contacting sales rather than choosing a public plan.
  • It is not a managed service, so teams operate their deployment.
  • No free plan is available; access is through a 30-day trial or subscription.

• KeyCDN — where it wins

  • Pull and Push Zones support origin-based and uploaded content
  • Real-time image processing, HLS video delivery and cache purging
  • REST API, real-time logs, TLS and CMS integrations

  Where it doesn't

  • Traffic rates vary by region and volume
  • No free plan; access is through a paid service
  • Support channels listed are documentation

• NGINX Plus7.4/10 · Pricing on request · 30-day trial

  A self-hosted or cloud traffic platform for advanced load balancing and API gateway control.

  Visit NGINX PlusFull verdict →
• KeyCDN7.3/10 · From $0.04 · 14-day trial

  A usage-priced CDN with caching, image processing, video delivery and API controls.

  Visit KeyCDNFull verdict →