Static asset caching
Images, CSS, JavaScript, fonts and downloads cached at the edge with sensible defaults and automatic invalidation when you publish changes.
Included on every single plan
The Rack1
The Rack1
Edge CDN
Your site is hosted in Dallas. Your visitors are not. Our edge network keeps a cached copy of your content close to wherever they happen to be, so the page arrives before they've finished deciding whether to wait.
Edge locations serving your visitors
Dallas, Texas (hosting region)
United Kingdom (coming soon)
How it works
Four steps, none of which are yours
Someone visits your site
Their request goes to the nearest edge location automatically. No plugin, no DNS gymnastics, no configuration on your side.
The edge answers if it can
If a fresh cached copy is there, it's served immediately. Most requests to most sites end here, in a few milliseconds.
Otherwise it fetches once
On a miss, the edge pulls from Dallas over optimised routes, serves the visitor, and keeps the copy for everyone after them.
You publish, it updates
Change your site and the cache is invalidated so the new version propagates. No stale pages, no manual purging ritual.
Why it matters
Speed is the feature your visitors actually notice
Every extra second of load time costs you readers, customers and search ranking. The distance between your server and your visitor is usually the largest single component of that delay, and it's the one a CDN removes.
- Consistent worldwide. A visitor in Sydney shouldn't get a worse site than a visitor in San Antonio.
- Better speed scores. Time to first byte, the delay before any of your page starts arriving, feeds straight into the performance measurements search engines grade you on.
- Less load on your origin. Cached requests never touch your hosting resources, so your plan goes further.
- Calmer traffic spikes. The edge absorbs the surge; combined with Rack1 Burst, busy days stay boring.
Served from the edge
Round trip to a single origin
Dallas4 ms
New York11 ms
London14 ms
Frankfurt16 ms
São Paulo21 ms
Singapore24 ms
Sydney28 ms
Origin-only, no CDN240 ms
Illustrative time to first byte, the wait before the first data arrives, for cached content based on typical edge round trips. Real numbers depend on your site, your visitor's connection and what you're caching.
What's included
Turned on, tuned, and not sold separately
There is no “CDN add-on” in our pricing, because a website that's only fast for people who live near Texas isn't really a fast website.
Full-page caching
Available for WordPress and other dynamic sites, so even generated HTML can be served from the edge instead of being rebuilt for every visitor.
SSL at the edge
Free certificates issued and renewed automatically, with the encrypted connection set up close to your visitor rather than back in Texas, so the handshake is quicker.
Compression & optimisation
Brotli and Gzip compression and modern delivery optimisations applied automatically, with nothing for you to enable or benchmark.
A layer of protection
Sitting behind the edge network means opportunistic junk traffic is absorbed before it ever reaches your hosting account.
Priority routing
Accelerated plans and higher WordPress tiers get preferential treatment for cache fills and origin fetches across the network.
FAQ
Edge CDN questions
Do I have to configure anything?
No. The edge network is on by default for every site on every plan. Add your domain, and delivery is already going through it.
Does it work with WordPress?
Yes, and rather well. Our WordPress Optimized plans add full-page caching at the edge on top of WordPress's own caching, so most page views are answered without WordPress having to build the page at all.
What if I need to clear the cache?
Publishing changes invalidates the relevant cache automatically. You can also purge manually from the control panel whenever you want to be certain.
Does CDN traffic count towards my bandwidth?
Yes. Your plan's bandwidth allowance covers the content delivered to your visitors, wherever it's served from. The allowance for every tier is printed on its plan page.
Can I use my own CDN instead?
You can put another CDN in front if you have a reason to, but you shouldn't need to. Ours is included, already tuned for the platform, and doesn't cost extra.
Fast everywhere, from $2.99 a month.
Every Rack1 plan includes the edge CDN and free SSL. Pick the one that matches the size of your site.