Cloud · head to head
Beam Cloud vs Fly.io
Beam Cloud
Cloud
Serverless GPU computing with sub-second cold starts and multi-cloud support
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Only Beam Cloud has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
- Each has a real cost: Beam Cloud free tier limited to $30 monthly credits with 5 GPU containers; Fly.io egress is priced by destination region, from $0.02 per GB in North America and Europe to $0.12 per GB for Africa and India, so the same traffic costs six times more depending on where users are
- They diverge on capability: Beam Cloud covers Sub-second cold starts, Fly.io covers Global deployment.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Beam Cloud and Fly.io actually diverge.
| Attribute | Beam Cloud | Fly.io |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Free | $29/month |
| Pricing model | Freemium with pay-per-millisecond usage charges | usage-based |
| Free tier | Yes | No |
| Platforms | Cloud, Python | Web, Api, Docker |
| Founded | Unknown | 2020 |
Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (Cloud).
What each one covers
Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.
Only in Beam Cloud
- Sub-second cold starts
- Inference endpoints
- Task queues
- Sandboxes
- Multi-cloud support
- Python SDK
- Global distribution
- Massive parallelization
Only in Fly.io
- Global deployment
- Docker support
- Postgres databases
- Redis support
- Auto-scaling
- Health checks
- Backups
- Monitoring
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Beam Cloud
- Deploying ML models with minimal latency and setup timenot Fly.io
- Large-scale batch processing across thousands of concurrent tasksnot Fly.io
- Cost-effective inference serving with bursty workloadsnot Fly.io
- Multi-cloud AI deployments with global low-latency accessnot Fly.io
- Serverless AI development for rapid experimentationnot Fly.io
Fly.io
- Deploying containerised applications close to users across regionsnot Beam Cloud
- Running full stack apps and databases on managed machinesnot Beam Cloud
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Beam Cloud
- Free tier limited to $30 monthly credits with 5 GPU containers
- Massive parallelization complexity may require DevOps expertise
- Per-millisecond pricing model requires careful cost monitoring
- Smaller team relative to established cloud providers
Fly.io
- Egress is priced by destination region, from $0.02 per GB in North America and Europe to $0.12 per GB for Africa and India, so the same traffic costs six times more depending on where users are
- Stopped machines still bill at $0.15 per GB of root filesystem a month, so a paused service is not a free one
- Volumes are billed on provisioned capacity rather than usage, at $0.15 per GB a month
- Reservation discounts of 40% require paying a year up front, from $36 to $1,440
- Fly Kubernetes is a separate $75 a month per cluster
- Dedicated IPv4 addresses are $2 a month each
Pricing, plan by plan
Beam Cloud
Free- DeveloperFree
- $30 monthly free credits
- 5 GPU containers, 30 CPU containers
- Community support
- Team$89/month
- $30 monthly free credits included
- 50 GPU containers, 1,000 CPU containers
- 3 seats included, $25 per additional
- Growth$undefined/custom
- 1,000+ GPU containers
- Unlimited CPU containers
- Unlimited seats
- Serverless GPUs$undefined/per-millisecond
- RTX 4090: $0.00019/sec
Fly.io
$29/month- Pay-as-You-Go$null/mo
- Micro VMs and persistent storage charged by usage
- FlyCTL CLI
- Unlimited users and organizations
- Serious Support$29/month
- Access to dedicated engineering team
- All Pay-as-You-Go features
- Machine Reservation Blocks$null/mo
- 40% discount on machine usage
- Requires upfront payment for savings
- Compliance Package$99/month
- HIPAA compliance
- BAAs
- SOC2 documentation
Which should you pick?
Choose Beam Cloud if
- You need sub-second cold starts.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Cloud, Python.
- You also want inference endpoints.
Choose Fly.io if
- You need global deployment.
- You work on Web, Api, Docker.
- You also want docker support.
Questions people ask
- Is Beam Cloud or Fly.io better?
- Neither clearly leads. Beam Cloud starts at Free and Fly.io at $29/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Beam Cloud or Fly.io?
- Beam Cloud has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Beam Cloud and $29/month for Fly.io.
- Does Beam Cloud or Fly.io run on more platforms?
- Beam Cloud runs on Cloud, Python. Fly.io runs on Web, Api, Docker.
- Can I use Beam Cloud for free?
- Yes. Beam Cloud has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Fly.io starts at $29/month.
- What is Beam Cloud best used for?
- Beam Cloud is most often used for deploying ml models with minimal latency and setup time, large-scale batch processing across thousands of concurrent tasks, cost-effective inference serving with bursty workloads, multi-cloud ai deployments with global low-latency access. Of those, deploying ml models with minimal latency and setup time and large-scale batch processing across thousands of concurrent tasks are not what Fly.io is typically brought in for.
- What can Beam Cloud do that Fly.io cannot?
- Beam Cloud covers Sub-second cold starts, Inference endpoints, Task queues, Sandboxes. Fly.io covers Global deployment, Docker support, Postgres databases, Redis support.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
Beam Cloud: What is included in the Developer plan?
The Developer plan includes $30 monthly free credits, 5 GPU containers, 30 CPU containers, and community support. No upfront commitment is required.
SourceFly.io: Is there a free tier for Fly.io?
Fly.io does not advertise a free tier. The base plan is pay-as-you-go with usage-based pricing for Micro VMs and persistent storage. All users get FlyCTL CLI, unlimited organizations, private networking, SSO, ACLs, and scoped tokens.
SourceBeam Cloud: How fast are the cold starts?
Beam Cloud achieves sub-second cold starts through memory snapshots that restore GPU containers 35x faster than traditional cold boots.
SourceFly.io: How much does Fly.io Serious Support cost?
Serious Support costs 29 USD per month and provides access to a dedicated engineering team while maintaining all pay-as-you-go features for Micro VMs and storage.
SourceBeam Cloud: Can I deploy across multiple cloud providers?
Yes, Beam Cloud supports multi-cloud deployment across AWS, GCP, Azure, Hetzner, and other providers with 30+ global regions available.
SourceFly.io: What does Fly.io Compliance Package include?
The Compliance Package is 99 USD per month and includes HIPAA compliance, BAAs, and SOC2 documentation for organizations requiring compliance certifications.
SourceFly.io: Does Fly.io offer discounts for upfront commitment?
Yes, Fly.io offers Machine Reservation Blocks with 40% discount on machine usage. This requires upfront payment but applies savings on infrastructure costs.
SourceRelated pages
Other head to heads
- Beam Cloud vs Grafana Cloud
- Beam Cloud vs Neon
- Beam Cloud vs DigitalOcean
- Beam Cloud vs AWS (Amazon Web Services)
- Beam Cloud vs Pulumi
- Beam Cloud vs Anyscale
- Beam Cloud vs Fireworks AI
- Beam Cloud vs Podman
- Beam Cloud vs Railway
- Beam Cloud vs Render
- Beam Cloud vs Vault
- Beam Cloud vs Wiz
- Beam Cloud vs Cerebrium
- Beam Cloud vs DeepInfra
- Beam Cloud vs Go
- Beam Cloud vs Azure Functions
- Beam Cloud vs Caddy
- Fly.io vs Grafana Cloud
- Fly.io vs Neon
- Fly.io vs DigitalOcean
- Fly.io vs AWS (Amazon Web Services)
- Fly.io vs Pulumi
- Fly.io vs Anyscale
- Fly.io vs Fireworks AI
- Fly.io vs Podman
- Fly.io vs Railway
- Fly.io vs Render
- Fly.io vs Vault
- Fly.io vs Wiz
- Fly.io vs Cerebrium
- Fly.io vs DeepInfra
- Fly.io vs Go
- Fly.io vs Azure Functions
- Fly.io vs Caddy