Networking · head to head
Consul vs Fly.io
The short version
- Only Consul has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
- Each has a real cost: Consul namespaces, admin partitions and other multi tenancy controls are Consul Enterprise only; 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: Consul covers Service discovery, Fly.io covers Global deployment.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Consul and Fly.io actually diverge.
Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated).
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 Consul
- Service discovery
- Health checking
- Key/value store
- Multi-datacenter
- DNS interface
- Service mesh
- Load balancing
- Configuration management
Only in Fly.io
- Global deployment
- Docker support
- Postgres databases
- Redis support
- Auto-scaling
- Health checks
- Backups
- Monitoring
Both cover
- Docker
- Cloud deployment
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Consul
- Service discovery and health checking across dynamic infrastructurenot Fly.io
- Running a service mesh with mutual TLS between servicesnot Fly.io
- Distributed key value configuration storage for applicationsnot Fly.io
Fly.io
- Deploying containerised applications close to users across regionsnot Consul
- Running full stack apps and databases on managed machinesnot Consul
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Consul
- Namespaces, admin partitions and other multi tenancy controls are Consul Enterprise only
- Audit logging, OIDC authentication and FIPS 140-2 builds require Consul Enterprise, so compliance driven deployments cannot use the free edition
- Automated backups, redundancy zones, read replicas and automated server upgrades are Enterprise only
- Long Term Support releases are Enterprise only, so community users must upgrade to stay supported
- Service mesh and advanced traffic management sit in the Premium Enterprise tier above Standard Enterprise
- HashiCorp does not publish a Consul rate on its pricing page, which lists per resource prices for Terraform instead
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
Consul
Free- Open SourceFree
- Service discovery
- Health checking
- KV store
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 Consul if
- You need service discovery.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Linux, Windows, Mac, Cloud.
- You also want health checking.
Choose Fly.io if
- You need global deployment.
- You work on Web, Api, Docker.
- You also want docker support.
Questions people ask
- Is Consul or Fly.io better?
- Neither clearly leads. Consul 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, Consul or Fly.io?
- Consul has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Consul and $29/month for Fly.io.
- Does Consul or Fly.io run on more platforms?
- Consul runs on Linux, Windows, Mac, Cloud. Fly.io runs on Web, Api, Docker.
- Can I use Consul for free?
- Yes. Consul has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Fly.io starts at $29/month.
- What is Consul best used for?
- Consul is most often used for service discovery and health checking across dynamic infrastructure, running a service mesh with mutual tls between services, distributed key value configuration storage for applications. Of those, service discovery and health checking across dynamic infrastructure and running a service mesh with mutual tls between services are not what Fly.io is typically brought in for.
- What can Consul do that Fly.io cannot?
- Consul covers Service discovery, Health checking, Key/value store, Multi-datacenter. Fly.io covers Global deployment, Docker support, Postgres databases, Redis support. Both handle Docker, Cloud deployment.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
Consul: How much does Consul cost?
Consul does not publish specific pricing. The open source Community edition is free. HashiCorp also offers a Consul Enterprise edition, but pricing details are not disclosed publicly and must be obtained by contacting HashiCorp sales.
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.
SourceConsul: Is Consul open source?
Consul includes a free, open source Community edition. HashiCorp also offers a proprietary Enterprise edition for organizations requiring advanced features, but no public pricing is available for the Enterprise version.
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.
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
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