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The Edge Realms

A Compendium of CDN Adventurers & Their Alternatives
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Campaign Setting: 2025 · 5th Edition · Dungeon Master: IT Procurement
STR = Performance/PoPs DEX = Purge Speed CON = Uptime/Reliability INT = Edge Compute WIS = Security CHA = Ease of Use/Price
Paladin · All-in-One Guardian
LVL 18 · CR 20 · Legendary
Cloudflare
Race: Platform Elemental · Alignment: Lawful Good (Free Tier)
HP: 335 (PoPs)
AC: 20 (DDoS unmetered)
Speed: 30 ft (Argo routing)
STR
18
(+4)
335+ PoPs
DEX
14
(+2)
~2-3s purge
CON
17
(+3)
99.99% SLA
INT
19
(+4)
Workers/D1/R2
WIS
17
(+3)
WAF+DDoS free
CHA
20
(+5)
FREE tier!
Equipment
◆ Argo Smart Routing — Optimized path selection
◆ R2 Object Storage — S3-compat, $0 egress
◆ 1.1.1.1 DNS Resolver (fastest public)
◆ Pages static hosting + D1 database
◆ Wrangler CLI + GitHub Actions deploy
Known Spells
✦ Workers Runtime — V8 isolates, KV, Queues, AI binding
✦ Workers AI — GPU inference at edge, model catalog
✦ Shield of Infinite DDoS — unmetered on all plans
✦ Durable Objects — stateful edge coordination
Weaknesses
△ Cache purge slower than Fastly (~2-3s vs 150ms)
△ Advanced WAF rules locked behind $200+ Business tier
△ Nov 2025 outage affected major platforms globally
△ Enterprise tier pricing opaque ($5,000+/mo)
Founded in 2009 by Matthew Prince and Michelle Zatlyn. Grew from a free security tool to an edge platform serving ~20% of all websites. In 2025, Workers AI and AI Gateway made it the first CDN to offer native GPU inference at the edge. The Nov 2025 outage was a humbling reminder that even paladins can fall.
Ideal Quest: Multi-cloud stacks, startups on a budget, security-first teams, developers building at the edge, anyone who wants the broadest feature set at $0 entry.
Fighter · Ancient War Machine
LVL 20 · CR 25 · Mythic
Akamai
Race: Elder Titan · Alignment: Lawful Neutral (Enterprise)
HP: 4,300 (PoPs)
AC: 22 (20+ Tbps DDoS)
Speed: 25 ft (legacy routing)
STR
20
(+5)
4,300+ PoPs
DEX
12
(+1)
Seconds purge
CON
20
(+5)
Unbreakable
INT
12
(+1)
EdgeWorkers JS
WIS
20
(+5)
Prolexic+Kona
CHA
6
(-2)
$$$ Custom
Equipment
◆ Kona Site Defender — Enterprise WAF
◆ Prolexic — 20+ Tbps scrubbing centers
◆ Adaptive Media Delivery — 4K streaming
◆ Bot Manager Premier — behavioral detection
◆ Edge DNS — DDoS-hardened authoritative
Known Spells
✦ EdgeWorkers — JavaScript at edge (mature)
✦ API Discovery — AI-powered threat detection
✦ Image & Video Manager — auto-optimization
Weaknesses
△ CHA score 6 — pricing is impenetrable for SMBs
△ Setup complexity requires specialist deployment
△ Edge compute less flexible than Workers/Compute@Edge
△ Legacy contracts and long change cycles
Born at MIT in 1998 to solve the "World Wide Wait." The oldest and largest CDN in the realm, handling ~30% of global web traffic. 365,000+ servers embedded inside ISP networks across 135 countries. In 2025, the titan still stands — favored by banks, governments, and streaming platforms where failure is not an option.
Ideal Quest: Fortune 500 enterprises, financial institutions, government agencies, media streaming at massive scale, teams with dedicated CDN engineering staff.
Rogue · Precision Edge Assassin
LVL 16 · CR 18 · Very Rare
Fastly
Race: Half-Edge Construct · Alignment: Chaotic Good (Developer)
HP: 80 (PoPs)
AC: 19 (Signal Sci WAF)
Speed: 50 ft (150ms purge!)
STR
14
(+2)
~80 PoPs
DEX
20
(+5)
150ms purge!
CON
16
(+3)
99.99% SLA
INT
20
(+5)
C@E Wasm
WIS
17
(+3)
Next-Gen WAF
CHA
10
(+0)
$50/mo min
Equipment
◆ VCL Configuration Language — granular caching
◆ 100% Real-Time Log Streaming
◆ Signal Sciences WAF — 90% full blocking
◆ 462 Tbps total edge capacity
Known Spells
✦ Compute@Edge — Rust, Go, JS via Wasm
✦ Instant Purge (150ms global) — fastest in realm
✦ AI-powered API discovery and security
Weaknesses
△ Smaller PoP network (~80 vs 335+ Cloudflare)
△ VCL learning curve is steep for non-engineers
△ No native storage, DNS, or free tier
△ $50/mo minimum — excludes hobbyists
Founded in 2011 in San Francisco. The rogue of the CDN party — fewer hit points but the fastest hands in the realm. The 150ms global cache purge is an order of magnitude faster than anyone else. VCL gives wizards-level control. Used by GitHub, NYT, Spotify, and Stripe — organizations that demand precision over breadth.
Ideal Quest: Engineering teams, real-time media, live news, API-heavy apps, organizations that treat CDN config as code.
Ranger · Budget Speed Scout
LVL 14 · CR 15 · Rare
Bunny.net
Race: Halfling Artificer · Alignment: Neutral Good (Indie)
HP: 119 (PoPs)
AC: 15 (basic WAF)
Speed: 40 ft (25ms latency)
STR
14
(+2)
119 PoPs
DEX
18
(+4)
Instant purge
CON
16
(+3)
99.99% SLA
INT
10
(+0)
Edge Rules
WIS
12
(+1)
Basic DDoS
CHA
20
(+5)
$0.01/GB!!!
Equipment
◆ Bunny Optimizer — auto WebP/AVIF images
◆ Bunny Stream — video hosting + delivery
◆ Edge Storage — replicated globally
◆ Perma-Cache — never expire content
Known Spells
✦ Edge Rules engine — basic scripting
✦ Magic Containers — serverless compute
✦ Bunny DNS — low-latency resolution
Weaknesses
△ WIS score 12 — security is basic, no enterprise WAF
△ INT score 10 — edge compute is rudimentary
△ Smaller analytics than Cloudflare or Akamai
△ Less suited for high-compliance environments
Born in 2012 in Slovenia, started with 3 servers by developer Dejan Grofelnik Pelzel who was frustrated by CDN pricing. Now 119 PoPs with 200+ Tbps capacity. The halfling ranger of the CDN party — small but impossibly quick, with the best gold-to-performance ratio in the realm. $0.01/GB with a $1/mo minimum is the stuff of legends.
Ideal Quest: WordPress sites, indie devs, startups, e-commerce, video hosting, anyone who wants speed without the gold tax.
⚔ Party Composition — Ability Score Comparison ⚔
AdventurerSTRDEXCONINTWISCHATotal
Cloudflare181417191720105
Akamai2012201220690
Fastly14201620171097
Bunny.net14181610122090
"No single adventurer conquers every dungeon. The wisest parties choose their members based on the quest ahead." — The Dungeon Master

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners. Ability scores are editorial assessments
based on publicly available data as of 2025. For informational purposes only. Not procurement advice.
THE EDGE REALMS COMPENDIUM · 5TH EDITION · 2025 CAMPAIGN · NO ACTUAL DUNGEONS WERE CRAWLED
⚔ PUBLISHED BY THE GUILD OF IT PROCUREMENT ⚔