Should Freelancers Set Up Separate CDN Accounts for Clients?

I’ve dealt with local clients and found AWS Lightsail to be a handy option. Their organizations foot the bill, and after training them on content updates, I prefer not to have a long-term commitment. Just set up some automated tasks, get paid a lump sum, and it keeps things simple!

It really depends on the client's needs! If their site doesn’t need global reach or has low media demands, local hosting might be sufficient. I usually set up a free Cloudflare account for clients; it’s great for caching and it gives me easy access to their DNS. Seems like a solid compromise for most situations.

For managing images, I recommend looking into the Advanced Media Offloader plugin paired with Cloudflare R2. This setup has worked wonders for some of my sites, providing excellent caching. Just make sure to set up caching rules for the R2 bucket to maximize efficiency!

If you’re working with clients that have a broader reach, I totally vouch for Gumlet. It’s been fantastic for delivering images on a global scale.

If traffic is low, you might want to focus on optimizing images instead of jumping straight into a CDN. You might find that you don’t actually need one!

For me, any accounts related to hosting are the client's responsibility. I can help set things up and be an admin, but in the end, they own the account—that way, it simplifies everything.

Always charge for your services! Make sure to stick to the agreed scope. If clients ask for more, make sure to adjust your fees accordingly.