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jsDelivr Review

Worth it

Should I use jsDelivr?

Optimized for JS and ESM delivery from npm and GitHub. Works with all web formats. Serving more than 150 billion requests per month. - jsdelivr.com

· 1 month ago

Free and well-regarded for serving open-source files from npm and GitHub — pin exact versions. Skip it for production assets that need SLAs, support contracts, or guaranteed uptime.

Confidence

High. Based on 25+ public sources including GitHub, Wikipedia, G2, Reddit, TrustRadius, Check Point, and Crunchbase.

Ratings

  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Feature depth
  • Support qualityNo support-quality evidence in sources
  • Security posture

Pricing

$0

Free

ModelNot disclosed
Monthly fees150B+
HardwareNot disclosed
Free tierYes

Best for

  • Open-source library authors
  • Front-end devs loading npm/GitHub files
  • Demos, docs, and prototypes
  • Offloading static JS from small servers

Not for

  • Commercial apps needing SLAs or support contracts
  • First-party production assets with uptime guarantees
  • Teams that can't accept third-party dependency on critical paths
  • Enterprises wanting vendor accountability and contracts

Gotchas - check before you buy

high

Free means no SLA: its outages and 404s become your site's incidents. Pin exact versions.

high

Removed malicious npm packages stayed servable through its cache in a 2023 phishing campaign.

low

Security scanners flag jsDelivr on corporate sites; expect questions in security reviews.

low

Sponsor/donation-funded ($8.8M projected infra spend); longevity depends on continued funding.

Pros and cons

Pros

  • Completely free, open-source CDN for npm and GitHub files
  • Serves 150B+ requests monthly at global scale
  • Multi-CDN network routes around single-vendor problems
  • Bootstrap chose it as official CDN in 2020
  • Easy-to-use API to purge files from cache

Cons

  • Outage reports: users' sites broke when it went down
  • Previously available files returned 404s unexpectedly
  • Served npm packages already removed as malicious (2023)
  • Vulnerability scanners flag any jsDelivr usage as a finding

Sources & method

- 14 sources - No CVEs against the service itself in sources; a 2023 incident served already-removed malicious npm packages used in phishing.

official x3review x4security x3news x4
  • Removed malicious npm packages remained downloadable (2023), Check Point reported packages previously removed from npm were still accessible through the CDN, invisible to security tools, and used in phishing attacks.

Key stats

  • Value for money: 5/5

    Rating

  • $0

    Starting price

  • 14

    Sources

  • Analyzed

  • Value for money: 5/5. Free, no usage tiers found
  • Ease of use: 4/5. Drop-in URLs, easy cache-purge API
  • Feature depth: 3/5. File delivery and multi-CDN, no enterprise CDN controls
  • Support quality. No support-quality evidence in sources
  • Security posture: 3/5. Bug bounty exists; 2023 malicious-package incident
  • $0 Price Free, open-source CDN
  • 150B+ Monthly requests Per official tagline
  • $8.8M Infra spend (projected) This year, per Crunchbase
  • Since Oct 2020 Bootstrap's official CDN Per Wikipedia

Pricing

Free

$0

  • npm, GitHub, and ESM file delivery
  • Multi-CDN network
  • No SLA or paid support found in sources

Security

No CVEs against the service itself in sources; a 2023 incident served already-removed malicious npm packages used in phishing.

  • Removed malicious npm packages remained downloadable (2023)Check Point reported packages previously removed from npm were still accessible through the CDN, invisible to security tools, and used in phishing attacks.⁹

What users say

Users on Reddit and G2 call it one of the best free JS CDNs for offloading scripts, but complain when outages and 404s break their sites.

“I've tried 3-4 different CDN's now. I think what sets jsDelivr apar...”
Reddit, r/opensource
“jsDelivr enables me to offload almost all my Javascrip...”
G2 review
“I had many users telling me they couldn't load my...”
Reddit, r/webdev

Alternatives

Compare jsDelivr with each alternative.

  • Amazon CloudFront

    Paid CDN with SLAs for production-grade delivery

Companies that use it

Full analysis

Based on 25+ public sources including GitHub, Wikipedia, G2, Reddit, TrustRadius, Check Point, and Crunchbase.

Free, fast CDN for npm/GitHub files. Great for open source; no SLA, so keep it off critical paths.

Methodology

Based on 25+ public sources including GitHub, Wikipedia, G2, Reddit, TrustRadius, Check Point, and Crunchbase.

Read how a report is made.

Sources

  1. jsdelivr/jsdelivr — GitHub repogithub.com
    official
  2. jsDelivr homepagejsdelivr.com
    official
  3. Our Network — jsDelivrjsdelivr.com
    official
  4. JSDelivr — Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
    news
  5. jsDelivr Reviews — G2g2.com
    review
  6. Just a short review: jsDelivr seems be the best CDN — Redditreddit.com
    review
  7. jsdelivr cdn is down — Reddit r/webdevreddit.com
    review
  8. jsDelivr Overview, Reviews, Pricing — TrustRadiustrustradius.com
    review
  9. CDN Service Exposes Users to Malicious Packages — Check Pointblog.checkpoint.com
    security
  10. Global CDN Service 'jsdelivr' Exposed Users to Phishing — Hackreadhackread.com
    security
  11. CDN Detected (JsDelivr) — Invictiinvicti.com
    security
  12. cdn.jsdelivr.net returning 404 — GitHub issue #18150github.com
    news
  13. jsdelivr — Crunchbasecrunchbase.com
    news
  14. Top 4 CDN services for hosting open source libraries — opensource.comopensource.com
    news

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