Amazon CloudFront vs imgix

Amazon CloudFront is a content delivery network for delivering data, videos, applications, and APIs around the world. It uses more than 750 globally dispersed Points of Presence, with automated network mapping and intelligent routing. CloudFront works with Amazon S3, Amazon EC2, Elastic Load Balancing, and custom HTTP origins; edge behavior can be customized with CloudFront Functions and AWS Lambda@Edge. Listed uses range from websites and dynamic APIs to live and on-demand video, software distribution, game patches, and IoT updates. Security options include HTTPS/TLS, signed URLs and cookies, token authentication, geographic restrictions, and limiting S3 origin access to CloudFront. It integrates with AWS Shield, AWS WAF, and Amazon Route 53 for layered protection, including against DDoS attacks. CloudWatch metrics and logs to S3 or Kinesis Data Streams provide monitoring options. CloudFront has a free plan at free, with 1 million requests and 100GB data transfer. Paid plans start at $15 a month per distribution; Pro, Business, and Premium each list 50TB of transfer.

imgix is a visual media platform for image and video workflows, available through web and API. Connect an asset location, such as Amazon S3, Google Cloud Storage, or a web folder, and serve media through its Rendering API. URL parameters expose more than 150 image transformations, including cropping, masking, color adjustments, text overlays, and responsive resizing; images are automatically optimized and AVIF is supported. AI tools can upscale images, remove or replace backgrounds, remove objects, generate fills, create alt text, and add image tags. Video support includes adaptive HLS or DASH streaming from 360p up to 4K, capped by the source, and a stated limit of 30 minutes per video. Captions can be generated from video audio and translated into more than 100 languages. Pricing uses credits for media management, delivery, and transformations. Starter costs $25 a month and includes 100 credits per month; the free trial requires no credit card. There is no free plan.