Leaseweb CDN vs Swissnode

Compare Leaseweb CDN and Swissnode on capabilities, jurisdiction, assurance, and fit for European buyers.

Logo: Leaseweb CDN

Leaseweb CDN

Netherlands· Web Hosting and Cloud Computing

Needs review

Shortlist when you want a Dutch (or other local Leaseweb) B2B contract that fronts four partner CDNs with NS1 Pulsar steering and included Amsterdam or Washington, D.C. origin shields. Skip when you need EU-only processors, named partner inventory up front, Cloudflare-class WAF or Workers, or signed URLs without a shield hop. Consider Cloudflare for a single global edge platform, or OVHcloud if you want a French-operated CDN attached to EU datacentres.

Dutch sales entityMulti-CDN (4 partners)Origin shield (AMS + WDC)Portal + REST APIISO 27001 (company, claimed)
Logo: Swissnode

Swissnode

Switzerland· Email Services

Needs review

Shortlist Swissnode for lean European cPanel domain email plus shared web or KVM VPS when Spain/EU residency is acceptable and you do not need enterprise compliance packs. Skip when you require live Swiss territorial hosting, E2EE mail, or published DPA/subprocessor inventories—consider Hostpoint, Infomaniak, or Proton Mail instead.

cPanel domain emailKVM VPSSpain data center (vendor)Optional Cloudflare CDNSMB hosting packages
Leaseweb CDN vs Swissnode: Snapshot
FeatureLogo: Leaseweb CDNLeaseweb CDNLogo: SwissnodeSwissnode
Country of originNetherlandsSwitzerland
CategoryWeb Hosting and Cloud ComputingEmail Services
Open sourceNoNo
Self-hostedNoNo
HeadquartersNetherlandsSwitzerland
Legal entityLeaseweb Netherlands B.V. (KvK 30141839, Amsterdam). Website: Leaseweb Global B.V. (KvK 60593652). Other local sales entities exist.Swissnode (legal form/registry name not clearly published on marketing site)
Governing lawNot listedNot clearly stated on marketing pages; confirm in contract (CH contact vs ES ops)
US parent / controlNo known US parentNo known US parent
CLOUD Act exposure (indicative)MediumMedium
Hosting / residencyDelivery is a mix of four unnamed third-party CDNs (global PoPs). Leaseweb origin shields in Amsterdam and Washington, D.C. Request steering via NS1 Pulsar. Origins may be customer HTTP hosts or S3-compatible buckets (including AWS). Raw logs (including client IP) collected from partners and optionally written to customer S3. No public CDN subprocessor list naming the four partners.Vendor states primary hosting moved to a Spain data center after Swiss DC closure; homepage cites Spanish privacy laws. Site IP geolocates to Spain (Ipcore Datacenters). Optional Cloudflare CDN on web plans (US-group). Off-site backup provider not named. No public subprocessor inventory.
Summary

Dutch Multi-CDN that steers traffic across four partner networks with NS1 Pulsar, plus included origin shields in Amsterdam and Washington, D.C. Sold under local Leaseweb sales entities.

European cPanel email, shared web hosting, and KVM VPS under the Swissnode brand—vendor-stated Spain data center after Swiss DC closure, with optional Cloudflare CDN on web plans.

Tags
At a glance: Leaseweb CDN vs Swissnode
At a glanceLogo: Leaseweb CDNLeaseweb CDNLogo: SwissnodeSwissnode
HQAmsterdam, NetherlandsNot listed
Website operatorLeaseweb Global B.V. (KvK 60593652)Not listed
Typical NL contractLeaseweb Netherlands B.V. (KvK 30141839)Not listed
Founded1997 (vendor, 2023 press)Not listed
Product typeManaged Multi-CDN (not self-hosted, not open source)Not listed
EdgeFour unnamed partner CDNs, 400+ PoPs (vendor claim)Not listed
Shield locationsAmsterdam and Washington, D.C.Not listed
SteeringNS1 Pulsar (Volume: cost; Premium: QoE)Not listed
Commercial modelB2B traffic tiers, annual commitmentPackage tiers (monthly/yearly); optional antispam add-on
Contact addressNot listedBinzallee 6, 8055 Zurich, CH (public contact page)
Footer / ops addressNot listedMutilva Baja, Navarra, Spain
Primary hosting (vendor)Not listedSpain data center after Swiss DC closure
Core productsNot listedDomain email, cPanel web hosting, KVM VPS
Control panelsNot listedcPanel (shared); Virtualizor (VPS)
Open sourceNot listedNo
Self-hosted productNot listedNo (provider-hosted; VPS gives root on rented VM)
Key capabilities: Leaseweb CDN vs Swissnode
Key capabilitiesLogo: Leaseweb CDNLeaseweb CDNLogo: SwissnodeSwissnode
Dutch sales entityYesNot listed
Multi-CDN (4 partners)YesNot listed
Origin shield (AMS + WDC)YesNot listed
Portal + REST APIYesNot listed
ISO 27001 (company, claimed)YesNot listed
cPanel domain emailNot listedYes
KVM VPSNot listedYes
Spain data center (vendor)Not listedYes
Optional Cloudflare CDNNot listedYes
SMB hosting packagesNot listedYes

Leaseweb CDN

  • Four-provider Multi-CDN (400+ PoPs claimed)

    Leaseweb sells a managed mix of four unnamed third-party CDNs and claims more than 400 points of presence. One distribution CNAME (examples in docs: di-xxxx.leasewebultracdn.com, *.pr.lswcdn.net, *.vo.lswcdn.net) fronts the mix. Features are limited to the common subset all four support. You cannot pin a user to a specific PoP.

  • NS1 Pulsar Volume and Premium steering

    Leaseweb says it connects partner performance to NS1 Pulsar real-user metrics. Volume tier chooses the most cost-effective partner at similar latency. Premium tier chooses on latency and quality of experience. Regional DNS logic can still send a whole region to a single partner when that path is faster.

  • Origin shields in Amsterdam and Washington, D.C.

    Shield CDN distributions add a Leaseweb cache layer so partner edges do not all hit origin. Marketing states shields are included on Volume and Premium and sit in Amsterdam and Washington, D.C. Shields support multiple path policies, origin groups (up to 10 hosts, round-robin, consistent, sticky, or failover), and tokenized URLs. Wildcard invalidation is not supported on shields. A Multi-CDN invalidation does not clear the shield automatically.

  • HTTP, S3, and object-storage origins

    Simple origins take a hostname or IP. AWS Signature Version 4 can authenticate S3-compatible buckets (Leaseweb Object Storage or AWS). Advanced origins (custom ports, subdirectory) work only behind shields and do not support Sig V4. Authenticated object storage cannot join an origin group. Each origin is HTTP or HTTPS exclusively, not mixed.

  • Portal, REST API, and raw logs to S3

    Distributions, origins, certificates, and invalidations are managed in the Leaseweb Customer Portal (CDN menu, active contract required) or via the documented REST API on developer.leaseweb.com. Raw logs from all partners can be normalized to JSON and uploaded as .gz files to a customer S3 bucket. Leaseweb states logs are informational only and may be delayed or incomplete versus billing records.

  • Cache templates and edge ACLs

    Web, live, and VoD templates set methods, TTL, compression, and stale-serve defaults. Operators can force CDN-controlled or origin-controlled cache, passthrough or static headers, geo blocking, IP-subnet blocking, and referrer allowlists. HTTP/2 is default on all partners. Gzip delivery compression applies only to files up to 20 MB. CORS Access-Control-Allow-Origin is stripped unless you passthrough or set it.

Swissnode

  • Domain email on cPanel (IMAP/POP/SMTP)

    Business mailboxes on your domain with secure webmail, SpamAssassin-style spam control, virus filtering, DKIM, calendars/contacts, autoresponders, forwarders, filters, and mailing lists on mid-tier plans—protocol-compatible with Outlook, Apple Mail, and mobile clients.

  • cPanel web hosting with Softaculous and LiteSpeed PHP

    Shared and reseller web plans with datacenter SSDs, free panel SSL, multi-PHP, SSH above entry tiers, and Softaculous one-click apps—aimed at brochure sites, WordPress, and small PHP apps rather than container platforms.

  • KVM VPS with RAID-10 enterprise SSDs

    Root-level Linux VPS via KVM, enterprise SSDs, RAID-10 arrays, fixed per-VPS network allotments, and Virtualizor-style management for teams that outgrow shared hosting but still want package SKUs.

  • Optional Cloudflare CDN from the control panel

    Web plans advertise easy Cloudflare integration to cache static assets near visitors—useful for performance, with the tradeoff that enabled CDN traffic can traverse a US-group network path.

  • Backup cadence for VPS (vendor-stated)

    Marketing states daily on-site and weekly off-site VPS backups with rebuilds measured in minutes to an hour after failure—restore SLAs and off-site provider identity should be confirmed in the contract.

Assurance & compliance: Leaseweb CDN vs Swissnode
Assurance & complianceLogo: Leaseweb CDNLeaseweb CDNLogo: SwissnodeSwissnode
Independent security / no-logs audit
Not found

Multi-CDN collects partner access logs (IP, URI, cache status) and can ship them to S3. No public independent audit of CDN logging or routing found.

Not found

No public independent audit report found on swissnode.ch.

ISO 27001
Vendor claimed

ISO 27001:2022 via EY CertifyPoint for multiple entities including Leaseweb Netherlands B.V. and Leaseweb Global B.V. Published certified services omit CDN (bare metal, VPS, cloud, colo, web hosting, domains). Ask for SoA / CDN scope.

Not found

No ISO 27001 claim located on official product/security pages.

SOC 2 / SOC 3
Partial

SOC 2 published for Leaseweb Canada, Inc. colocation (Security and Availability). Not a Multi-CDN report. Several entities have SOC 1 Type II (EY) covering cloud, dedicated, colo, and web hosting, not CDN.

Not found

No SOC 2/3 claim found.

GDPR / EU data protection
Vendor claimed

EU sales entities; privacy page states GDPR is taken into account. DPA in sales terms. Transfers to US entity via DPF (Leaseweb USA, Inc.). Multi-CDN partners unnamed.

Partial

Spain/EU hosting supports EU data-protection analysis, and homepage references Spanish privacy laws; usable privacy policy/DPA text not published on site. Customer remains controller for lawful basis.

US CLOUD Act exposure (indicative)
Partial

Dutch group, no known US parent, but path includes Washington, D.C. shields, Leaseweb USA, Inc., NS1 Pulsar, and four unnamed global partner CDNs. Assessment row, not a vendor claim. Not legal advice.

Partial

No known US parent; primary host Spain/EU. Optional Cloudflare CDN is a US-group subprocessor for web static delivery; off-site backups and other SaaS paths not published. Not a clean low-exposure bill; not legal advice.

Data processing agreement (B2B)
Vendor claimed

Vendor: DPA incorporated as Clause 8 of local sales terms; additional standalone DPA on request when appropriate. Confirm Multi-CDN partners and NS1 are scheduled.

Not found

No public DPA download or B2B processing terms found; request in writing.

EU AI Act
Not applicable

Content delivery and traffic steering product, not an AI system offering.

Not applicable

Commodity hosting/email/VPS, not an AI product.

PCI DSS
Partial

Vendor: PCI DSS 4.0 scoped to physical security at named DCs (AMS-01, FRA-01, LON-01, WDC-02, SIN-01, Montreal). Not a card-data or CDN application control.

Not listed
CISPE IaaS Code of Conduct
Vendor claimed

Company says it registered products with CISPE. Confirm whether Multi-CDN is on the public CISPE register.

Not listed
Swiss territorial hostingNot listed
Partial

Vendor discloses Swiss DC closed; operations from Spain DC. Contact still Zurich. Do not treat as CH-only residency.

Considerations & known limitations: Leaseweb CDN vs Swissnode
Considerations & known limitationsLogo: Leaseweb CDNLeaseweb CDNLogo: SwissnodeSwissnode
Unnamed partner CDNs and NS1 in the data path
High

Delivery and RUM leave Leaseweb facilities. The four partners are not named on public product or legal pages. NS1 Pulsar steers requests. Treat as a multi-processor design until sales produces a current list and DPA schedule.

Not listed
Washington, D.C. origin shield
Medium

Included shields are in Amsterdam and Washington, D.C. Enabling a shield can place origin-pull traffic in the United States even when the sales entity is Dutch. Live streaming docs also advise against shields for latency reasons.

Not listed
ISO / SOC reports do not list CDN
Medium

Published ISO 27001 and SOC 1 service lists omit CDN. SOC 2 is Canada colocation only. Do not assume Multi-CDN inherits those reports without a scoped letter.

Not listed
Features limited to partner intersection
Medium

No Multi-CDN URL tokens, no PoP pin, Gzip-only compression with a 20 MB cap, no MPEG-DASH Gzip, mixed origin HTTP/HTTPS unsupported, invalidation rate-limited. SSL and stats propagate on partner clocks.

Not listed
Raw logs not billed as complete
Low

Partner logs shipped to S3 are informational. Leaseweb states they may be late or missing versus invoice counters. Do not use them as a legal completeness record.

Not listed
Swiss brand vs Spain hostingNot listed
High

Product pages state the Swiss data center closed and services run in Spain; homepage cites Spanish privacy laws. Buyers assuming Zurich colocation from the brand or older materials will mis-classify risk and contractual residency.

Empty privacy pages / no public DPA or certsNot listed
High

Privacy and cookie URLs do not present substantive policy text; ISO/SOC and DPA artifacts were not found. Regulated or enterprise buyers face a heavy offline diligence burden.

Optional Cloudflare CDN (US-group)Not listed
Medium

Web hosting markets Cloudflare integration from cPanel. Enabling CDN can place static content on a US-group network path even when origin is Spain—document this in transfer assessments.

Off-site backup provider not namedNot listed
Medium

Daily on-site and weekly off-site backups are claimed for VPS, but the off-site location/provider is not published—ask before trusting disaster-recovery or residency narratives.

Aging marketing surfaceNot listed
Low

Public site still shows 2013–2018 copyright and sparse modern trust pages; may signal limited investment in public assurance UX even if infrastructure remains operational.

Fit

Leaseweb CDN

Best fit when

  • Teams already on Leaseweb dedicated servers, object storage, or private cloud who want delivery on the same invoice
  • Media, ads, SaaS, or gaming publishers who want multi-CDN failover without four vendor contracts
  • Origins that can sit behind an Amsterdam or Washington, D.C. shield and pull over HTTP or HTTPS (or S3 with Sig V4)
  • Operators who will live with partner-subset features (HTTP/2, geo/IP/referrer ACLs, portal and REST API) rather than Workers-style compute
  • Buyers who can accept Volume (cost) versus Premium (QoE) steering instead of pinning a single CDN

Poor fit when

  • Organizations that require an EU-only edge with a public, named subprocessor list (partners are unnamed; WDC shield and NS1 are in path)
  • Sites that need signed URLs, a WAF, bot management, or edge functions on the same product
  • Teams that must purge thousands of URLs per minute or treat invalidation as the publish pipeline
  • Buyers who want a self-serve free tier or an open-source, self-hosted CDN
  • Workloads that need MPEG-DASH Gzip, mixed HTTP and HTTPS to one origin, or per-user PoP selection

Consider instead when

  • When: You need a single global edge with WAF, bot management, Workers, and a self-serve free tier

    Consider: Cloudflare

    US company. Broader edge platform. Different jurisdiction story.

  • When: You want CDN plus compute from one European infrastructure group and can diligence that group's own PoPs

    Consider: OVHcloud

    French operator. Own datacentres. Not a four-provider multi-CDN.

  • When: You mainly need EU origin compute and will add a CDN you can inventory yourself

    Consider: Hetzner or Scaleway

    Neither replaces Multi-CDN. They keep origin in EU facilities you can name.

  • When: You wanted Swiss-branded hosting with optional Cloudflare, not a multi-CDN fabric

    Consider: Swissnode

    Different product class. Optional Cloudflare on web plans.

Swissnode

Best fit when

  • Freelancers and micro-SMBs wanting domain IMAP/POP mail with spam filtering and webmail on cPanel
  • Agencies/resellers needing simple shared web packages (Softaculous, multi-PHP, free panel SSL) plus optional VPS upgrade path
  • Teams that prefer standard mail protocols over migrating into Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace
  • Buyers comfortable with Spain/EU hosting under a .ch brand and Swiss contact details
  • Workloads where package-tier hosting and KVM root access matter more than published ISO/SOC packs

Poor fit when

  • Organizations that hard-require Swiss (CH) server residency or nFADP narratives assuming Zurich colocation
  • Procurement needing public DPA, full subprocessor lists, ISO 27001, or SOC 2 on the vendor site
  • Teams needing end-to-end encrypted mail or zero-access webmail (choose Proton-class products)
  • Enterprises expecting Microsoft 365-class collaboration, compliance archives, and admin tooling
  • Buyers who shortlisted the brand solely for “Swiss data center” marketing that product pages no longer support

Consider instead when

  • When: You need Swiss-resident email/office with a broader product catalog and clearer CH hosting claims

    Consider: Hostpoint E-Mail & Cloud Office or Infomaniak kMail

    Fuller Swiss platforms; better when territorial Switzerland is non-negotiable.

  • When: You need end-to-end encrypted mail and open-source clients rather than cPanel hosting

    Consider: Proton Mail

    Different product class: E2EE vs classic hosted IMAP.

  • When: You need full collaboration suites, admin compliance tooling, and ecosystem apps

    Consider: Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace (US-group control planes)

    Richer features; different jurisdiction/CLOUD Act profile.

  • When: You want a larger EU hosting group with broader cloud SKUs

    Consider: IONOS or OVHcloud

    Scale and catalog depth over niche Swissnode packaging.

Open questions for due diligence

Leaseweb CDN

  • What are the current four partner CDN legal names, and can they be listed in the DPA?
  • Can routing be constrained to EU (or named) partners and the Amsterdam shield only?
  • Is Multi-CDN in the current ISO 27001 statement of applicability?
  • Will Leaseweb sign a standalone DPA that covers NS1 Pulsar and each partner?
  • What is the current annual-commitment commercial offer (confirm on the official Multi-CDN page or with sales)?

Swissnode

  • What is the exact legal entity (registry name, UID/CHE or Spanish NIF) and governing law on the customer contract?
  • Will Swissnode sign a B2B DPA and publish a current subprocessor list (spam filter, backups, payment, support tools)?
  • Exact Spain facility (Ipcore or other) and whether any secondary regions exist for mail, web, and VPS separately?
  • Where are weekly off-site backups stored, and under which provider’s control?
  • Is Cloudflare mandatory, optional, or default for web plans, and can customers disable it for pure Spain origin delivery?
  • What uptime SLA, restore RPO/RTO, and support hours are contractual vs marketing (99.5% backbone claim on homepage)?