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My website has some static (JavaScript, images) content as well as server-generated content which is updated several times a day. Will it benefit from CDN?

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Most likely (although its not possible to quantify this benefit with the information provided - Im not suggesting the benefit is worth the cost, just that its still there.)

One of the things a CDN typically does is distribute static/cache-able content closer to the audience. This speeds up their access and reduces server load.

Another benefit is having/DoS protection - Attacks will go to the CDN which can typically detect and handle these better then a typical web server.

There are other possible advantages as well, like handling redirects, https offload and outage monitoring.

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Yes.

Several times a day is slow: you will have way more reads (visitors) than writes (updates). As long as this stays true, your website will benefit from using a CDN.

If you need your users to see your content as soon as it's posted, it's still possible: most CDNs allow you to purge the cache manually, or via calling an API. Some even allow you to select which pages you are purging the cache for, reducing the need to repopulate their cache.

Other benefits (and drawbacks) are the same as for static websites.

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  • It also depends on how timely updates need to be visible to the user. If you can set the cache control to expire in six hours, the CDN will help a lot more than if you need to have updates visible to users in a few minutes.
    – Stephen Ostermiller ♦
    Commented Sep 13, 2021 at 15:38
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Another benefit could be: if you need to serve customers around the globe, you will minimize latency by using local caches. And latency can play an important role when clients are streaming byte-ranges of video files. My videos stopped stuttering as soon as I ran those through a global CDN.

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  • This is likely not latency as much as bandwidth/packet loss. (on earth) your latency is less then 1 second on an uncongested link - worst case, over satelite. The issue you are likely having is lack of bandwidth ( or buffers.)
    – davidgo
    Commented Sep 14, 2021 at 19:08
  • My browser was loading very small byte-range fragments instead of doing just one large download. All those latencies added up, because the browser was asking for many small fractions - so technically it was doing one new request every two seconds.
    – Mick
    Commented Sep 14, 2021 at 20:20

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