Hosting CDN and cache: what the host actually controls

Free CDN still sells. A lot of the time it is a Cloudflare zone they own, a page cache you cannot purge, or a plugin that only helps logged-out visitors. Before you buy, find out who controls the edge.

I have had a homepage that looked instant after signup because they orange-clouded the domain into their Cloudflare account. Then I changed a CSS file, and the old header sat there for two days because I could not purge. Checkout was slow anyway. Logged-in wp-admin was slow anyway. The sales page still said blazing fast. If you are already comparing hosts without leaning on top 10 roundups, pair this with resource limits and how to choose web hosting without relying on top 10 lists. For why sales copy and review copy so often rhyme, read The Truth About Hosting Review Sites.

A sticker is not a CDN you own

A real CDN is an edge in front of your origin. Visitors hit a nearby pop, static files (and maybe HTML) come from there, and you can purge when you ship a change. You can usually see the zone, the cache rules, and whose account it lives in.

What hosts actually ship under "free CDN":

Their Cloudflare account, with nameservers they set, and a dashboard you never see
A LiteSpeed / NGINX / Varnish page cache on the same box, sold as a network
A WordPress plugin they install that caches anonymous page views and nothing else
An image CDN or "optimizer" that rewrites your media URLs onto a hostname you do not control

Those can still help. A page cache on the origin will take load off PHP workers. A real edge will hide a slow disk from people far away. The problem is ownership. If they hold the zone, they decide the SSL mode, the cache keys, the WAF, and whether you can bring your own Cloudflare later. If they hold the image hostname, leaving means every <img> still points at them.

Can your web host affect your rankings? is the 2014 version of this worry: slow pages bounce people. A cached anonymous homepage with a dead cart is the 2026 version. Google sees the fast one. Your customer sees the other one.

Page cache, object cache, and the edge are not the same product

People mash these together because the pricing table only has room for one badge.

Page cache stores finished HTML. Great for a brochure. Dangerous for a cart, a logged-in account, or anything with cookies that change the page. If they cache /cart or wp-admin, you will spend a week chasing "random" stock and login bugs.
Object cache (Redis, Memcached) stores database leftovers so WordPress or Woo does not hit MySQL on every option lookup. This lives on the origin. WordPress hosting already asks whether Redis is included. It is not a CDN.
The edge / CDN is other people's servers, in other cities, holding copies of files (and sometimes HTML) so the origin is not in the path. If they cannot name pops, or they say "our CDN is LiteSpeed on the server," it is page cache on the same box.

A WooCommerce shop that only caches logged-out catalogue pages is doing it right. A shop that caches everything "for speed" is going to show the wrong price.

Ask who can purge, and what they cache

Before you buy, send the same short question to every host on your shortlist:

On this plan, is the CDN your Cloudflare (or similar) account or mine? Can I purge the cache myself, including HTML? What is cached by default: static files only, or pages too? How do you treat cookies, /cart, /checkout, and logged-in users? If I already use Cloudflare, can I point DNS at you without going through your zone? What happens to the CDN and any rewritten image URLs if I leave?

Save the reply. "We include Cloudflare" is not an answer. "Our platform is globally accelerated" is not an answer either.

Push on the boring edges:

Can you log into the CDN account, or only open a ticket that says "please purge"?
Is SSL at the edge Full (strict) to the origin, or Flexible so the origin speaks HTTP and you pretend it is HTTPS?
Do they cache based on query strings, or smash ?v=2 into the same object as the old file?
If you use staging, does the copy sit behind the same cache, so a draft leak becomes the public page?
Are image URLs still on your domain, or rewritten to cdn.thehost.example that dies when you cancel?

A host that will paste the cache exclusions for Woo and WordPress, and show you a purge button on the plan you are buying, is taking you seriously. A host that says "just wait 24 hours, it will update" is counting on you to forget.

This is also a support test. Ask about bringing your own Cloudflare before you pay. If chat goes quiet, or they say their SSL "does not work with other CDNs," you have the answer. We already tell people to ask that on the support post. Ask it again here, because marketing will try to sell the bundle as a feature rather than a lock.

Bring your own, or you are stuck with theirs

Plenty of sites are already on Cloudflare, Bunny, Fastly, or a shop's image CDN. The host does not need to be in the middle.

What you want in writing:

Origin SSL they will issue or let you install, so the edge can talk HTTPS to the box
A way to find the origin IP (or they will firewall it to the CDN) so you are not exposing the real server next to the cached hostname
No requirement that their nameservers stay in the path "for the free CDN to work"
Cache headers you can set (Cache-Control, s-maxage) that the edge honours, instead of a mystery TTL

If the cheap plan only gets fast when you use their zone, the speed is not the plan. It is a product they can turn off, throttle, or put behind a higher tier later. Same pattern as renewal pricing add-ons: the advertised performance is the upsell.

A VPS does not magically give you a CDN either. It gives you a box you can put Nginx or Caddy on, and then you still need an edge in front unless you enjoy serving Australians from a single disk in Dallas.

Red flags worth pausing on

Be careful when:

Free CDN is on the pricing table and you cannot name the provider, the account, or a purge control
Chat will talk about "LiteSpeed" and "HTTP/3" all day and go quiet when you ask about cart cookies
Image URLs are rewritten onto a hostname you do not own
SSL is Flexible, or they cannot explain Full (strict)
You must use their nameservers to get the speed the page promised
Reviews praise TTFB on the homepage and never mention a stale CSS file, a cached cart, or a two-day purge ticket

Useful hosts treat cache as something you can see: a button, a rule list, and a way to bring your own edge. Useful reviews mention the Tuesday deploy that did not show up. If neither does, you are reading advertising.

We care about this for the same reason we care about uptime SLAs and resource honesty: the real product is a site that is fast for the pages that take money, not a badge that says CDN included. Our FAQ on how we rank hosts prefers evidence over splash ratings, and a CDN you cannot purge is just another sticker.

The best course of action is still the boring one. Ask the same CDN and cache questions of every shortlisted host, try a purge and a logged-in click on the trial if they offer one, and treat any free CDN pitch as marketing until they show you the zone. Browse more web hosting guides and keep the homepage ranking list handy while you compare.