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Edge explained

3 min readbeginner

CDN vs edge computing: what's the difference?

The two terms travel together and often get used interchangeably. They're related, but they solve different problems.

CoversCDNCompute

The short answer#

A CDN (content delivery network) stores copies of your content on servers near users and delivers it fast. Edge computing runs your code on those same kinds of servers, processing requests and data close to where they originate. A CDN moves content to the edge; edge computing moves computation to the edge.

Edge computing does include CDNs. Caching and serving content near users is the original, simplest form of computing at the edge. Edge computing is the broader category; a CDN is the most widely deployed example of it.

What a CDN does#

A CDN is a network of edge servers that cache your content (images, video, stylesheets, scripts, downloads) and serve it from the location nearest each user. The first request from a region pulls the file from your origin; every request after that is served from the local cache.

The results are lower latency for users, dramatically less traffic hitting your origin, and resilience during spikes. CDNs are largely transparent to your application: you point a domain at the CDN, set caching rules, and the network does the rest.

What edge computing does#

Edge computing generalises the same idea from content to computation. Instead of only caching files at the edge, you run workloads there: rendering pages, personalising responses, validating requests, transforming data, running AI inference. The work happens milliseconds from the user, and only results (or nothing at all) travel back to core infrastructure.

This matters for anything a cache can’t answer. A cached product page is a CDN problem; a shopping basket computed per user is an edge computing problem. On Edge, this means running virtual machines and GPU workloads on the edge network itself, alongside edge storage for the data those workloads need.

CDN vs edge computing at a glance#

CDN Edge computing
Primary job Deliver content fast Run code and process data near users
What lives at the edge Cached copies of files Applications, functions and workloads
Content served Static (and cached dynamic) content Dynamic, computed responses
Typical workloads Images, video, scripts, downloads, APIs Personalisation, APIs, AI inference, real-time processing
State Stateless caching Can hold state and run logic
Relationship to origin Shields and accelerates the origin Can replace parts of the origin entirely

When you need which#

Most products eventually want both: a CDN for delivery and edge compute for logic. Start with the problem in front of you.

Start with a CDN when…#

  • Your site or app is slow for distant users
  • Bandwidth or egress costs are climbing with traffic
  • You serve media, downloads, or static assets at volume
  • Your origin struggles during traffic spikes

Add edge computing when…#

  • Responses must be computed per user or per request
  • You need to process data close to where it is produced
  • Round trips to a central server are too slow for the experience
  • You want to run services in regions without deploying to multiple clouds

How Edge provides both#

Because Edge is an edge cloud rather than a single product, CDN and edge computing run on the same network of 988 edge locations. The CDN handles delivery with zero egress fees and a free tier of 500k requests a month. Compute and GPUs handle the workloads, priced per resource and billed hourly. Storage and DNS complete the picture.

There’s no separate platform to integrate and no transfer fees between services. Content, code and data share the same edge. See pricing for the full breakdown.

Delivery and compute, one network#

CDN with zero egress fees, plus compute at the edge. Start free, with no card required.

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