CDN: a must to serve a fast site in Africa in 2026
Serving a WordPress, e-commerce or Next.js site from a single server in Europe or the US gives, from Dakar, time-to-first-byte (TTFB) of 300 to 800 ms on 4G. A CDN with points of presence (POPs) in Africa cuts that TTFB to 50-150 ms. Direct outcome: +10 to +25% measured conversion rate, +15% Google-indexed pages, -30% bounce rate.
In 2026, four players really matter for serving Africa: Cloudflare, Bunny.net, Fastly and AWS CloudFront. Here is how to pick.
Cloudflare — 2026 standard, free for 95% of SMEs
2026 plans
- Free: unlimited traffic, basic CDN, free SSL, 5 Page Rules, L3/L4 DDoS protection
- Pro: 12,000 FCFA/month (USD 20), image optimizations (Polish, Mirage), managed WAF, 20 Page Rules
- Business: 120,000 FCFA/month (USD 200), custom WAF, prefetch, image resizing
- Enterprise: on quote, typically 600,000+ FCFA/month
2026 Africa POPs
Lagos (Nigeria), Cape Town, Joburg, Durban (South Africa), Nairobi (Kenya), Mombasa, Cairo, Alexandria (Egypt), Casablanca, Tunis, Algiers, Accra, Abidjan, Kigali, Maputo, Dar es Salaam, Dakar (recent, local POP since 2025).
Strengths
- Dakar POP = local latency <20 ms in 2026
- Free plan covers 95% of Senegalese SMEs
- Basic WAF + bot protection + fast DNS
- Page Rules for custom cache, redirects, headers
- Workers (JavaScript edge functions) from 600 FCFA/month to customize on the fly
Weaknesses
- Image optimization (Polish) only on Pro plan
- Detailed logs paid (Logpush Enterprise)
- A few aggressive WAF rules to tune
For whom
- 95% of SME, e-commerce and SaaS sites in Senegal
- Free start, move to Pro (12,000 FCFA/month) for serious e-commerce traffic
Bunny.net — ultra-fast cheap challenger
2026 pricing
- Pay-as-you-go: USD 0.01-0.06/GB by zone (Africa = USD 0.06/GB ~36 FCFA/GB)
- Bunny CDN Volume: USD 0.005-0.01/GB on commit
- Bunny Storage: USD 0.01-0.02/GB/month
- Bunny Stream (video): USD 0.005/min encoding + USD 0.01/GB delivery
2026 Africa POPs
Lagos, Joburg, Cairo, Nairobi, Casablanca, Tunis, Algiers.
Strengths
- Raw performance often better than Cloudflare on images and videos
- Transparent pay-as-you-go pricing, no minimum subscription
- Excellent for video (Bunny Stream replaces Vimeo Pro at 1/5 the price)
- Bunny Optimizer = auto WebP/AVIF
Weaknesses
- No advanced native WAF (pair with Cloudflare upstream if needed)
- Smaller community than Cloudflare
- No free plan
For whom
- E-commerce with heavy product catalogs (1,000+ images)
- Video-rich sites (training, hospitality, real estate)
- SaaS apps wanting a cheap CDN behind Cloudflare
Fastly — premium, for large e-commerce and media
2026 pricing
- From ~USD 50/month (30,000 FCFA), per-request + GB pricing
- Cloud delivery USD 0.12/GB in Africa, pricier than Bunny or Cloudflare
2026 Africa POPs
Lagos, Joburg, Cape Town, Nairobi, Cairo.
Strengths
- Ultra-fine edge performance, Varnish-based, tag cache invalidation <150 ms
- Custom VCL = granular control for advanced devs
- Compute@Edge (WebAssembly) for complex edge logic
- Top reputation on heavy-traffic media and e-commerce
Weaknesses
- High price, overkill for 95% of SMEs
- More complex setup (VCL)
- No free plan
For whom
Need a professional website?
Kolonell builds websites that attract clients, optimized for the Sénégalese market. Free quote in 2 minutes.
- E-commerce 100K+ orders/month
- High-traffic media sites (>500K visits/month)
- Seasoned devops teams
AWS CloudFront — for AWS stacks only
2026 pricing
- USD 0.085-0.12/GB in Africa, volume discount
- USD 0.0075-0.01 per 10,000 HTTPS requests
2026 Africa POPs
Lagos, Cape Town, Cairo, Nairobi, Casablanca.
Strengths
- Native AWS integration (S3, EC2, Lambda@Edge, ALB)
- AWS WAF, Shield, IAM security
- Lambda@Edge for edge personalization
Weaknesses
- Less competitive pricing than Cloudflare and Bunny in Africa
- Heavier setup (CloudFront + Route53 + ACM + S3)
- Bill sometimes unpredictable if misconfigured
For whom
- Apps already on AWS (S3, EC2, ECS, RDS)
- Serious serverless or container AWS architectures
- Not for basic SME showcase sites
Africa CDN comparison table 2026
| CDN | Entry plan FCFA/month | Dakar POP | Africa /GB price | Strength |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cloudflare Free | 0 | Yes | Unlimited included | Free unlimited |
| Cloudflare Pro | 12,000 | Yes | Unlimited included | Image Polish + WAF |
| Bunny.net | Pay-as-you-go | No (Lagos near) | ~36 FCFA/GB | Video + image perf |
| Fastly | 30,000+ | No (Lagos) | ~72 FCFA/GB | Fine-grain premium |
| AWS CloudFront | Pay-as-you-go | No (Lagos) | ~60 FCFA/GB | AWS integration |
Image optimization: mandatory in Africa
On 4G in Africa, every KB counts. Optimizations to apply systematically:
- WebP/AVIF: auto conversion via Cloudflare Polish (Pro), Bunny Optimizer, Next.js
next/image - Lazy loading: native HTML 5
loading="lazy" - Responsive images:
srcsetornext/imageserving the right size per device - Compression: 80-85% JPEG quality, 75-80% WebP, 60-65% AVIF
- Critical CSS inline: <14 KB at the top of the HTML for first paint <1.5 s
2026 mobile 4G Africa target: LCP <2.5 s, FID <100 ms, CLS <0.1 (Google Core Web Vitals).
Practical recommendation
- SME start: Cloudflare Free mandatory, everywhere, from day 1
- Serious e-commerce: Cloudflare Pro (12,000 FCFA/month) + optimized images
- Video site or heavy catalog: Cloudflare Pro + Bunny.net for media
- AWS app: native CloudFront
- Large e-commerce or media: Fastly or Cloudflare Enterprise
At Kolonell, Cloudflare is configured by default on 100% of sites we deliver — it is free and yields 30-50% perceived performance gain.
FAQ
Is the Cloudflare free plan enough for an e-commerce site in Senegal?
Yes for 80% of cases (up to about 50,000 visits/month). Beyond that or if you want Polish image optimization + managed WAF, move to the Pro plan at 12,000 FCFA/month.
Is there a Cloudflare POP in Dakar in 2026?
Yes since 2025, which gives <20 ms latency for Senegalese visitors. Previously, traffic went through Lagos or Marseille (60-90 ms).
Cloudflare vs Bunny.net: which one?
Cloudflare is more complete (WAF, DNS, SSL, edge) and has an unlimited free plan. Bunny.net is cheaper per GB and better for video. Many use both: Cloudflare upfront (SSL, WAF, DNS), Bunny.net for video assets and heavy images.
How much does a CDN cost for an average WordPress site in Senegal?
0 FCFA with Cloudflare Free for 90% of cases. 12,000 FCFA/month for Cloudflare Pro if you want image optimization and managed WAF. Bunny.net costs 5,000-15,000 FCFA/month for 100-300 GB monthly bandwidth.
How do I check if a CDN is active on my site?
Tools: webpagetest.org, gtmetrix.com (CDN column), curl -I on images to see the cf-cache-status header (Cloudflare) or cdn-cache (others). An image served from the CDN has TTFB <100 ms.
Let's talk CDN
Want to audit your site's performance on 3G/4G Africa or set up a CDN properly? WhatsApp +221 77 596 93 33.
Mohamed Bah
Fondateur, Kolonell
Passionate about digital and entrepreneurship in Africa, Mohamed has been helping Sénégalese businesses with their digital transformation since 2020. Founder of Kolonell, he believes every SME deserves a professional and accessible online présence.
