Varnish Software
Content delivery network (CDN) software
Enterprise content delivery network (eCDN) software
Load balancing software
Web server accelerator software
Web accelerator software
- Features
- Ease of use
- Ease of management
- Quality of support
- Affordability
- Market presence
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€69 per month
Free TrialFree version
Small
Medium
Large
- Media and communications
- Arts, entertainment, and recreation
- Retail and wholesale
What is Varnish Software
Varnish Software provides Varnish Cache and related products used to accelerate web applications by caching and routing HTTP traffic in front of origin web servers. It is typically used by platform teams and web operations teams to reduce latency, offload origin infrastructure, and control request handling at the edge or in front of data-center services. The product is commonly deployed as a reverse proxy with configurable caching logic (VCL) and supports high-throughput traffic patterns. It also offers commercial editions and services around the open-source Varnish Cache foundation.
High-performance HTTP reverse proxy
Varnish is designed for high-throughput HTTP request handling and is widely used as a reverse proxy cache in front of web servers and application stacks. It can reduce origin load by serving cache hits directly and by coalescing or shaping traffic to backends. This makes it well-suited for content-heavy sites and APIs where caching is feasible. It fits teams that want infrastructure-level acceleration rather than an asset-focused media pipeline.
Flexible caching rules (VCL)
Varnish Configuration Language (VCL) enables fine-grained control over caching, routing, header manipulation, and request/response behavior. Teams can implement custom policies for TTLs, cache keys, bypass rules, and backend selection without changing application code. This flexibility supports complex enterprise requirements such as multi-site routing and conditional caching. It differentiates from tools that focus primarily on image/video transformation workflows.
Multiple deployment models
Varnish can be deployed on-premises, in cloud environments, or as part of hybrid architectures, which supports enterprise network and compliance constraints. It is commonly used in front of existing load balancers or as part of a layered delivery stack. The availability of both open-source and commercial offerings provides options for organizations that need vendor support and enterprise features. This can be useful where a managed CDN is not the only acceptable delivery approach.
Requires operational expertise
Effective use typically requires knowledge of HTTP caching semantics, invalidation strategies, and VCL development. Misconfiguration can lead to stale content, cache fragmentation, or unintended bypass behavior. Ongoing tuning and observability are often needed to maintain hit ratios and performance. This can be heavier than adopting a fully managed delivery service.
Not a full global CDN
By itself, Varnish is software that you deploy and operate; it does not automatically provide a globally distributed edge network. Organizations must provision and manage their own points of presence or pair it with other delivery infrastructure to achieve global reach. This can increase complexity for teams seeking turnkey worldwide content delivery. It is therefore less aligned with use cases that primarily need globally distributed edge presence out of the box.
Limited media optimization features
Varnish focuses on HTTP acceleration and caching rather than specialized asset processing such as image resizing, format conversion, or video optimization. Teams that need automated media transformation pipelines typically require additional tooling. While Varnish can cache the outputs of such systems, it does not replace them. This may be a gap for organizations prioritizing digital asset optimization over general web acceleration.
Plan & Pricing
Varnish CDN (official pricing page)
| Plan | Price | Key features & notes |
|---|---|---|
| Developer (Free) | Free — 0.5 TB included; €30/TB overage | No credit card required; 10 custom cache rules; Managed WAF - Basic; Managed SSL; Hotlink protection; Intended for developers/testing. |
| Growth | €69 per month | 2 TB included; €25/TB overage; 100 custom cache rules; WebSocket proxy; GeoIP blocklist; Managed WAF - Standard; Image Optimization; Ticket support. |
| Business | €299 per month | 10 TB included; €20/TB overage; 300 custom cache rules; DDoS protection (L3 & L4); BYOC; Advanced rate limiting; Increased image transformations; Ticket support. |
| Custom Contract | Contact Sales (Per quote) | >100 TB included; enterprise features (True client IP headers, Advanced WAF/Bot Protection, Log Export); chat support and higher SLAs per quote. |
Varnish Pro / Varnish Enterprise (software licensing & private CDN)
Varnish Pro
- From $1,500 per year (AWS Marketplace listing / "From $1,500 / year"). Offers cloud-native caching for SMEs; select enterprise features; discounted annual pricing available. (Official site)
Varnish Enterprise / Private CDN / Artifact caching
- Enterprise licensing and managed offerings: Contact sales / Request a quote for most enterprise contracts. (Official site)
- Official marketing pages list example/starting prices depending on use case: flat-rate pricing “starts at $10K per server” for artifact-caching use cases (with 24/7 engineering support included), and Private CDN/Enterprise packages list subscriptions starting from $15,000 for small/medium enterprises (official product pages). These are presented as "starts from" / example entry points; full pricing is custom and requires contacting sales.
Notes: All pricing and plan feature details above are taken from Varnish Software’s official websites (varnish-cdn.com, varnish-software.com and info.varnish-software.com).
Seller details
Varnish Software AS
Oslo, Norway
2006
Private
https://www.varnish-software.com/
https://x.com/varnishsoftware
https://www.linkedin.com/company/varnish-software/
