Witness No. 1 — Cloudflare, Inc. · Direct Examination
THE COURT: The first witness is called. Please state your name and founding date for the record.
THE WITNESS: Cloudflare, Inc. Founded 2009 in San Francisco. We operate approximately 250 points of presence in over 100 countries as of late 2021.
COUNSEL: Describe for the jury your primary offerings in 2021.
THE WITNESS: We provide a unified platform: CDN, DDoS protection — unmetered on every plan including free — a Web Application Firewall, DNS, and our Workers serverless compute runtime using V8 isolates. In 2021 we also launched R2 object storage in beta, with zero egress fees, and Workers KV for key-value storage at the edge.
COUNSEL: And the matter of pricing?
THE WITNESS: We maintain a free tier that includes CDN, DDoS protection, and SSL. Pro at $20 per month per domain. Business at $200. Enterprise is custom-negotiated.
Exhibit A — Cloudflare 2021 Feature Summary
Network: ~250 PoPs, 100+ countries · DDoS: Unmetered, all tiers · WAF: OWASP rules (Pro+) · Edge Compute: Workers (V8 isolates, KV store) · Storage: R2 (beta, $0 egress) · DNS: 1.1.1.1 resolver · Pages: static hosting (launched 2021) · Pricing: Free / $20 / $200 / Custom
COUNSEL: Were there any reliability incidents involving your platform in 2021?
THE WITNESS: We experienced some localized incidents but avoided the major global outages that impacted certain competitors this year. Our network remained broadly available during the events of June 2021.
THE COURT notes that during the Fastly outage of June 8, 2021, and Akamai outages of June 17 and July 22, Cloudflare's network continued to serve traffic without disruption. This fact is entered into evidence.
COUNSEL: What are the limitations the jury should be aware of?
THE WITNESS: Our free and Pro tiers lack advanced WAF customization. Support on those tiers relies heavily on community forums. Enterprise pricing is opaque. And while Workers is powerful, it has memory limits of 128 MB and short execution windows.
Witness No. 2 — Fastly, Inc. · Direct Examination
THE COURT: The witness may proceed.
THE WITNESS: Fastly, Inc. Founded 2011 in San Francisco. We operate approximately 60–70 points of presence worldwide, with a focus on high-capacity, high-throughput edge locations.
COUNSEL: Tell the jury about your core differentiator.
THE WITNESS: Our Instant Purge invalidates cached content globally in approximately 150 milliseconds — an order of magnitude faster than any competitor. We also provide VCL, a domain-specific language for programmable edge logic, and Compute@Edge for running Rust, JavaScript, and Go at the edge via WebAssembly.
COUNSEL: And the matter of the June 8, 2021 outage?
THE COURT: Objection noted. The witness will answer the question.
THE WITNESS: On June 8, 2021, a software bug caused 85% of our network to return 503 errors for approximately one hour. Major sites affected included Amazon, Reddit, the BBC, the New York Times, Twitch, Shopify, the U.K. government portal, and the White House website. We accept responsibility and have since implemented additional safeguards.
Exhibit B — Fastly 2021 Feature Summary & Incident Record
Network: ~60-70 PoPs · Purge: 150ms global (fastest in industry) · Edge Logic: VCL + Compute@Edge (Wasm) · WAF: Signal Sciences (acquired 2020) · Logs: 100% real-time streaming · Pricing: $50/mo minimum, usage-based
INCIDENT: June 8, 2021 — global outage, ~1 hour, 85% of network affected. Root cause: latent software bug.
COUNSEL: Limitations beyond the outage?
THE WITNESS: Our PoP network is smaller than Cloudflare or Akamai. VCL has a steep learning curve. There is no free tier — the $50 monthly minimum excludes hobbyists. And our platform is most effective in the hands of experienced engineering teams.
Witness No. 3 — Akamai Technologies · Direct Examination
THE COURT: Akamai Technologies may take the stand.
THE WITNESS: Akamai Technologies. Founded 1998 at MIT. We operate the world's largest CDN with over 360,000 servers across 135 countries, embedded directly inside ISP networks for last-mile proximity.
COUNSEL: Your security capabilities?
THE WITNESS: We offer Kona Site Defender for enterprise WAF, Prolexic for DDoS scrubbing at 20+ Tbps capacity, Bot Manager Premier for behavioral fingerprinting, and Adaptive Media Delivery for broadcast-grade 4K streaming. Our security suite is the most comprehensive in the industry.
COUNSEL: The court is aware of incidents on June 17 and July 22, 2021.
THE WITNESS: We acknowledge both incidents. The June event was a routing table capacity issue in Prolexic lasting over four hours, affecting banks and airlines in APAC. The July event was an Edge DNS disruption lasting over an hour, impacting global customers including Southwest Airlines, United Airlines, and multiple Australian banks.
Exhibit C — Akamai 2021 Feature Summary & Incident Record
Network: 360,000+ servers, 135 countries (largest CDN) · Security: Kona WAF + Prolexic DDoS (20+ Tbps) + Bot Manager · Media: Adaptive Media Delivery (4K ABR) · Edge Compute: EdgeWorkers (JS) · Pricing: Custom enterprise contracts only
INCIDENTS: June 17 — Prolexic routing table overflow (APAC, 4+ hrs). July 22 — Edge DNS outage (global, 1+ hr).
COUNSEL: Limitations for the record?
THE WITNESS: Pricing is entirely custom and typically the highest in the market — inaccessible to SMBs. Setup requires specialist deployment. Edge compute via EdgeWorkers is less flexible than Cloudflare Workers or Fastly's Compute@Edge. Legacy contract structures and slower change cycles persist.
Witness No. 4 — BunnyCDN (Bunny.net) · Direct Examination
THE COURT: The next witness is called.
THE WITNESS: BunnyCDN, operating as Bunny.net. Founded 2012 in Ljubljana, Slovenia by a solo developer who started with just three servers. By 2021 we operate approximately 59 points of presence worldwide.
COUNSEL: And your pricing model?
THE WITNESS: $0.01 per gigabyte in Europe and North America, with a $1 per month minimum. We believe this makes us the most cost-effective tier-1 CDN in the market. We also offer Bunny Optimizer for automatic image WebP conversion, Edge Storage for globally replicated files, and as of 2021, our Bunny Stream video hosting platform.
Exhibit D — BunnyCDN 2021 Feature Summary
Network: ~59 PoPs · Latency: ~28ms global median · Pricing: $0.01/GB (EU/NA), $1/mo minimum · Features: Image optimizer, Edge Storage, Bunny Stream (video), Perma-Cache, instant purge, real-time logs · Security: Basic DDoS, free SSL · Edge Compute: Minimal (Edge Rules only in 2021)
COUNSEL: Any incidents or limitations?
THE WITNESS: No major outages in 2021. However, our security stack is basic — no enterprise WAF, no advanced bot management. Edge compute capabilities are minimal. Our PoP network is smaller, which may affect latency in underserved regions. Analytics are basic compared to larger competitors.
THE COURT notes the witness's clean reliability record for 2021 and exceptional pricing. The jury should weigh these factors against the limited security and compute capabilities.
Witness No. 5 — Amazon CloudFront · Direct Examination
THE WITNESS: Amazon CloudFront, part of Amazon Web Services. Established 2008 in Seattle. In 2021 we operate over 310 edge locations and 13 regional edge caches globally.
COUNSEL: What makes your offering distinct?
THE WITNESS: Deep integration with the AWS ecosystem. Zero data transfer fees between CloudFront and S3, EC2, or Elastic Load Balancing. Lambda@Edge enables serverless compute at CDN locations. CloudFront Functions, launched in 2021, provides lightweight JavaScript for URL rewrites and header manipulation. We also offer a free tier — 1 TB of transfer and 10 million requests per month for 12 months.
Exhibit E — Amazon CloudFront 2021 Feature Summary
Network: 310+ edge locations, 13 regional caches · Edge Compute: Lambda@Edge + CloudFront Functions (2021 launch) · Security: AWS Shield Standard (free DDoS) + AWS WAF (paid) · Integration: Native S3/EC2/Lambda — $0 internal egress · Pricing: Pay-per-GB, 1 TB free for 12 months
COUNSEL: And the downsides?
THE WITNESS: Our integration advantage disappears outside the AWS ecosystem. Pay-per-GB billing can escalate unpredictably at scale. Configuration complexity is considerable. Support quality varies based on AWS support tier — basic support offers no live assistance.
Witness No. 6 — StackPath · Direct Examination
THE WITNESS: StackPath, formerly known as MaxCDN. Relaunched in 2016 in Dallas, Texas. In 2021, we operate approximately 50+ edge locations with an integrated platform combining CDN, WAF, DDoS protection, and edge computing via EdgeEngine.
COUNSEL: How do you position against Cloudflare?
THE WITNESS: We target mid-market businesses wanting a unified CDN and security platform without enterprise complexity. Our EdgeEngine allows serverless code at the edge. We offer strong CMS integration with WordPress, Drupal, and Joomla. Pricing starts at $20 per month with a 100% uptime guarantee.
Exhibit F — StackPath 2021 Feature Summary
Network: 50+ PoPs · Security: WAF + DDoS (Layer 3–7, up to 65 Gbps) · Edge Compute: EdgeEngine (serverless) · CMS Integration: WordPress, Drupal, Joomla plugins · Pricing: From $20/mo, 100% uptime SLA · Free SSL included
THE WITNESS: Fewer PoPs than Cloudflare or Akamai, causing higher latency in some regions. EdgeEngine is less mature than Workers or Compute@Edge. Our DDoS capacity at 65 Gbps is modest compared to Cloudflare's unmetered or Akamai's 20+ Tbps. The company faces ongoing questions about long-term market positioning.
THE COURT notes for the record that StackPath was subsequently acquired by Akamai in 2022. The jury should evaluate the 2021 testimony in its proper temporal context.
⚖ Verdict of the Jury — Findings of Fact ⚖
Cloudflare
Finding: Recommended with conditions
Best all-around platform. Free tier is genuinely powerful. Workers ecosystem emerging as the leading edge compute runtime. Clean reliability record in 2021. Conditions: advanced WAF requires $200/mo tier; support on lower tiers is limited.
Fastly
Finding: Recommended for specialists
Fastest cache purge in the industry (150ms). Exceptional developer control via VCL. However, the June 8 global outage is a material concern. No free tier. Best suited for engineering teams with the expertise to leverage its precision.
Akamai
Finding: Recommended for enterprise
Largest global network, deepest security suite. Two outages in 2021 (June, July) are noted but do not negate decades of enterprise reliability. Premium pricing excludes all but large organizations. Best for mission-critical workloads.
BunnyCDN
Finding: Recommended for value
Exceptional price-to-performance ratio. $0.01/GB with clean 2021 reliability. Limited security and edge compute are acceptable trade-offs for budget-conscious teams. Best for SMBs, blogs, and e-commerce.
CloudFront
Finding: Recommended within AWS
Unbeatable for AWS-native workloads due to zero internal egress and deep integration. CloudFront Functions adds lightweight edge capability. Outside AWS, the advantage dissipates. Billing complexity is a recurring concern.
StackPath
Finding: Viable mid-market option
Solid unified platform for businesses wanting CDN + security without enterprise complexity. CMS integration is strong. However, smaller network and limited DDoS capacity constrain its competitiveness against larger platforms.
"In the year 2021, the CDN industry learned a critical lesson: no single provider is immune to failure. The Fastly and Akamai outages demonstrated that redundancy and multi-CDN strategies are not luxuries but necessities. The jury finds that the optimal CDN selection depends entirely on the specific requirements, budget, and risk tolerance of the deploying organization."