How I Built a CDN SaaS in 30 Days 🚀
Building CDNZero: From Idea to Production
Over the past 30 days, I built CDNZero, a developer-focused CDN platform designed to make asset delivery simple for startups, indie hackers, and small teams.
This wasn't an attempt to compete with Cloudflare or CloudFront. Instead, the goal was to solve a problem I've personally faced multiple times:
Why is serving static assets globally still so complicated?
The Problem
Most CDN setups today involve multiple services and configuration steps:
- Create a storage bucket
- Configure CDN distribution
- Set cache policies
- Configure IAM permissions
- Manage SSL certificates
- Understand bandwidth pricing
For large organizations, this makes sense.
For an indie developer trying to launch an MVP on a weekend?
Not so much.
The Idea Behind CDNZero
CDNZero aims to provide:
- Asset storage
- Global CDN delivery
- Analytics
- Simple APIs
- Predictable pricing
without requiring users to become cloud infrastructure experts.
The goal is:
Upload a file and instantly receive a globally distributed URL.
Example:
https://cdnzero.com/assets/logo.png
The Tech Stack
I chose technologies I'm comfortable moving quickly with.
Backend
- Python
- FastAPI
- PostgreSQL
- Redis
FastAPI made it easy to build asynchronous APIs and maintain good performance under concurrent requests.
Infrastructure
- Docker
- Ubuntu
- AWS
- S3-compatible object storage
Everything runs inside containers which simplifies deployment and scaling.
CDN Layer
The initial version focuses on:
- Asset uploads
- Asset retrieval
- Caching
- Analytics
Future versions will include:
- Edge optimization
- Image transformations
- Automatic format conversion
- Smart cache invalidation
Building the MVP
Instead of trying to launch with every feature imaginable, I focused on the smallest usable version.
Version 1 Included
✅ Upload files
✅ Generate CDN URLs
✅ Serve assets globally
✅ Basic analytics
✅ User dashboard
Everything else was postponed.
Biggest Challenges
1. Storage Management
Uploading files is easy.
Managing millions of files efficiently is not.
Questions I had to solve:
- Naming conventions
- Directory structures
- Metadata storage
- Cleanup strategies
2. Cost Predictability
One of the biggest complaints about cloud providers is billing surprises.
I wanted CDNZero pricing to remain understandable.
This affects every technical decision:
- Storage architecture
- Cache policies
- Traffic routing
3. Analytics
Developers expect visibility.
Questions users want answered:
- How much bandwidth am I using?
- Which assets are popular?
- Which countries generate traffic?
- What's my cache hit ratio?
Building analytics became almost as important as serving files.
What I Learned
Start Smaller Than You Think
My original roadmap included:
- Image optimization
- Video streaming
- Edge functions
- Multiple regions
- Custom domains
Most of these were unnecessary for launch.
Users need a solution to a problem, not a feature list.
Infrastructure Products Need Trust
People trust their applications to infrastructure.
That means:
- Reliability matters
- Documentation matters
- Monitoring matters
Much more than fancy landing pages.
Developer Experience Wins
The best infrastructure products remove complexity.
Good developer experience means:
- Clear APIs
- Simple dashboards
- Fast onboarding
- Helpful documentation
Roadmap
Upcoming features include:
Image Optimization
?w=400
?h=400
&format=webp
Custom Domains
cdn.mycompany.com
SDKs
- Python SDK
- Node.js SDK
- Go SDK
CI/CD Integrations
- GitHub Actions
- GitLab CI
- Terraform Provider
Current Status
CDNZero is currently being tested with early users and workloads.
The focus right now is:
- Improving reliability
- Collecting feedback
- Refining pricing
- Expanding analytics
before scaling further.
Looking for Feedback
If you've built applications that serve images, videos, or static assets:
- What frustrates you most about existing CDN providers?
- What feature would convince you to switch?
- How important is pricing transparency?
I'd love to hear your thoughts.
Building infrastructure products is challenging, but it's also one of the most rewarding areas in software.
Thanks for reading.
About CDNZero
CDNZero is a developer-first CDN platform that helps startups and indie developers upload assets and deliver them globally without the complexity of traditional CDN providers.
Website: https://cdnzero.com
GitHub: Coming Soon
Feedback and suggestions are welcome.
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