Benefit of using CDN page cache for a WordPress website

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If you run a website, you’ve probably heard about CDNs (Content Delivery Networks). But is it just extra “tech bloat,” or does it actually make a difference?

I ran a test comparing two websites — one using a global CDN and one using only a standard server cache — to see how they perform for visitors around the world. Here is what I found.

The Speed Test: CDN vs. No CDN

When I tested a website using Cloudflare’s CDN cache, the results were green across the board. Whether the visitor was in Europe, Asia, or America, the Time to First Byte (TTFB) was often under 100ms. Because the site was “cached” on servers globally, it hit a 100% cache hit rate everywhere.

In contrast, I tested a blog hosted on a server in France without a CDN.

• In Europe: It was lightning fast (65ms).
• In India or USA: Speed dropped significantly, taking 1 second or more to even start loading.

When can you skip the CDN?

You don’t always need to bother with a CDN. It’s likely unnecessary if:

1. You are local: If you run a local shop, a classifieds site for one city, or a blog in a language spoken in only one country.
2. You have low traffic: If you’re a small business getting under 1,000 visitors a month, a standard server-side cache (like the ones built into WordPress) is usually enough.

Two Free Tools to Test Your Site

If you want to see how your own site performs globally, I recommend these two tools:

• SpeedVitals: This gives you a beautiful map view of 40 different locations. It’s free for a couple of uses per session. (view tool)
• OpenStats: This one is much simpler and text-based, but it’s completely unlimited and great for quick, raw data from 28 locations. (view tool)

The Bottom Line: If your audience is international, a CDN isn’t optional—it’s how you keep your visitors from leaving before the page even loads.

Additional benefits of using CDN cache

Apart from speed benefit for international users CDN cache provides following benefits for your web server.

• Less origin server load: because 90% or requests can be handled by CDN without reaching your origin server.
• Less server bandwidth usage: visitors will use CDN bandwidth when viewing your website.
• Less cache storage on origin server: because CDN stores, clears and serves cache on its own servers.

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What is next:

• Tutorial to setup Cloudflare CDN cache.
• Tutorial to get PageSpeed 100 without CDN cache.
• More tools to test WordPress speed.