Then why are they buying VPS and not S3/Cloudflare Pages/Netlify? If location truly doesn't matter, the compute is wasted.
You're arguing two things at once: location irrelevant AND you need a VM. Pick one.
Because S3 egress is $0.09/GB and Contabo includes 32TB for €4.99. The math is brutal.
Location matters less than pricing architecture. But pricing architecture is tied to location. Round and round.
Member
Perth perspective: anycast helps EU/US visitors. Does nothing for me hitting my own server. 280ms to Singapore, 180ms to Sydney. I feel location every day.
Kyoto here. One small server in Vultr Tokyo. No CDN. For local visitors, 3ms. For global, I don't care.
Anycast would add complexity I don't need. Location matters when you choose not to use the edge.
This thread keeps mixing "location doesn't matter" with "CDN fixes everything." CDN is not free. Location is not free. Optimize for your actual traffic pattern.
I run Hetzner Falkenstein + BunnyCDN as a customer. Origin pull is 12ms. Total cost: €9 + $1. My previous setup was OVH Sydney origin + Cloudflare. Origin pull 180ms. Cost: €15 + $0. Moved back to EU origin, kept CDN. Better result, lower cost.
Location + CDN, not versus.
Member OP
Now THAT I can drink to wey. Fair.
Has anyone benchmarked TTFB for Cloudflare vs Bunny vs KeyCDN with the same origin? Real curious if the anycast quality differs enough to matter.
Member
I did this last year. OVH Roubaix origin, three CDNs, same test machine in Rotterdam:
Cloudflare's network is deeper. Bunny is punchy for the price. KeyCDN was fine until it wasn't.
All from same origin. Location of edge nodes matters more than location of origin, but only if your CDN has good edges.
NYC checking in. My users are 70% US east coast. I use Vultr New Jersey origin, no CDN. TTFB 15-25ms. Why would I pay for anycast to improve 15ms?
CDN makes sense at scale or globally. For regional, good location beats edge complexity.
Barcelona here. Hetzner Falkenstein, BunnyCDN. €5 + $0.50. My users are 50% Spain, 30% LatAm, 20% rest.
If I moved origin to Spain I'd save... nothing, because no Hetzner in Spain. Vultr Madrid would cost 2x for same specs. So I eat the 35ms to Frankfurt and let Bunny handle Madrid edge.
Sometimes location matters but your wallet overrules it.
