How we optimized our CDN infrastructure for paid and free plans
- March 4, 2025
- 2 min read
At Gcore, we’re dedicated to delivering top-tier performance and reliability. To further enhance performance for all our customers, we recently made a significant change: we moved our CDN free-tier customers to a separate, physically isolated infrastructure. By isolating free-tier traffic, customers on paid plans receive uninterrupted, premium-grade service, while free users benefit from an environment tailored to their needs.
Why we’ve separated free and paid plan infrastructure
This optimization has been driven by three key factors: performance, stability and scalability, and improved reporting.
Providing optimal performance
Free-tier users are essential to our ecosystem, helping to stress-test our systems and extend our reach. However, their traffic can be unpredictable. By isolating free traffic, we provide premium customers with consistently high performance, minimizing disruption risks.
Enhancing stability and scalability
With separate infrastructures, we can better manage traffic spikes and load balancing without impacting premium services. This improves overall platform stability and scalability, guaranteeing that both customer groups will enjoy a reliable experience.
Improving reporting and performance insights
Alongside infrastructure enhancements, we’ve upgraded our reports page to offer clearer visibility into traffic and performance:
- New 95th percentile bandwidth graph: Helps users analyze traffic patterns more effectively.
- Improved aggregated bandwidth view: Makes it easier to assess usage trends at a glance.
These tools empower you to make more informed decisions with accurate and accessible data.
Strengthening content delivery with query string forwarding
We’ve also introduced a standardized query string forwarding feature to boost content delivery stability. By replacing our previous custom approach, we achieved the following:
- Increased stability: Reducing the risk of disruptions
- Lower maintenance requirements: Freeing up engineering resources
- Smoother content delivery: Enhancing experiences for streaming and content-heavy applications
What this means for our customers
For customers on paid plans: You can expect a more stable, high-performance service without the disruptions caused by fluctuating free-tier activity. Enhanced reporting and streamlined content delivery also empower you to make better, data-driven decisions.
For free-tier customers: You will continue to have access to our services on a dedicated infrastructure that has been specifically optimized for your needs. This setup allows us to innovate and improve performance without compromising service quality.
Strengthening Gcore CDN for long-term growth
At Gcore, we continuously refine our CDN to enable top-tier performance, reliability, and scalability. The recent separation of free-tier traffic, improved reporting capabilities, and optimized content delivery are key to strengthening our infrastructure. These updates enhance service quality for all users, minimizing disruptions and improving traffic management.
We remain committed to pushing the boundaries of CDN efficiency, delivering faster load times, robust security, and seamless scalability. Stay tuned for more enhancements as we continue evolving our platform to meet the growing demands of businesses worldwide.
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