Software · head to head
DigitalOcean vs Fastly
The short version
- Each has a real cost: DigitalOcean data transfer overage charged at $0.01 per GiB beyond included allowances; Fastly bandwidth is priced per region, and delivery to India, Africa and South Korea is $0.28 per GB against $0.12 in North America and Europe
- They diverge on capability: DigitalOcean covers Droplets (VPS), Fastly covers Edge Compute.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which DigitalOcean and Fastly actually diverge.
| Attribute | DigitalOcean | Fastly |
|---|---|---|
| Platforms | Linux, Cloud (AWS, GCP, Azure backend) | Web, Api |
Identical on both: starting price (Free), pricing model (usage-based), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Unknown), founded (2011).
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 DigitalOcean
- Droplets (VPS)
- Managed Kubernetes
- App Platform
- Managed Databases
- Spaces (Object Storage)
- Floating IPs
- Load Balancers
- Firewalls
Only in Fastly
- Edge Compute
- CDN
- Real-time Analytics
- Image Optimization
- Video Streaming
- API
- Instant Purge
- Datadog
Both cover
- Terraform
- GitHub
- DDoS Protection
- Cloud deployment
- Web support
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
DigitalOcean
- Developers seeking affordable VPS starting at $4/month for small applicationsnot Fastly
- Teams deploying containerised workloads with Kubernetes starting at $12/month cluster costnot Fastly
- Data scientists and ML engineers requiring NVIDIA GPU access at $1.91/GPU/hour (committed)not Fastly
Fastly
- Serving static and dynamic content through a global CDNnot DigitalOcean
- Running edge logic and caching in front of an origin applicationnot DigitalOcean
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
DigitalOcean
- Data transfer overage charged at $0.01 per GiB beyond included allowances
- Free tier includes only 3 static sites; additional static sites require paid upgrade
- Container registry free tier capped at 500 MiB storage; exceeding requires paid tier
- Functions free tier allows 90,000 GiB-seconds monthly; overages billed on usage basis
- GPU Droplets require minimum monthly commitment for lower hourly rates; on-demand significantly more expensive
Fastly
- Bandwidth is priced per region, and delivery to India, Africa and South Korea is $0.28 per GB against $0.12 in North America and Europe
- The same traffic therefore costs more than twice as much depending on where the audience is, which is invisible until the bill arrives
- The free allowance is 100 GB of bandwidth and 1M requests a month
- Requests are billed separately from bandwidth, at $0.01 per 10,000 above the first million
- High volume rates past 50 TB are not published and require contacting sales
Pricing, plan by plan
DigitalOcean
FreeNo published plan breakdown. See the DigitalOcean review.
Fastly
Free- Free TrialFree
- CDN
- DDoS protection
- Real-time analytics
- Pay-As-You-GoFree
- Usage-based pricing
- Advanced features
- Priority support
Which should you pick?
Choose DigitalOcean if
- You need droplets (vps).
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Linux, Cloud (AWS, GCP, Azure backend).
- You also want managed kubernetes.
Choose Fastly if
- You need edge compute.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Web, Api.
- You also want cdn.
Questions people ask
- Is DigitalOcean or Fastly better?
- Neither clearly leads. DigitalOcean starts at Free and Fastly at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, DigitalOcean or Fastly?
- DigitalOcean starts at Free and Fastly at Free.
- Does DigitalOcean or Fastly run on more platforms?
- DigitalOcean runs on Linux, Cloud (AWS, GCP, Azure backend). Fastly runs on Web, Api.
- Can I use DigitalOcean for free?
- Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
- What is DigitalOcean best used for?
- DigitalOcean is most often used for developers seeking affordable vps starting at $4/month for small applications, teams deploying containerised workloads with kubernetes starting at $12/month cluster cost, data scientists and ml engineers requiring nvidia gpu access at $1.91/gpu/hour (committed). Of those, developers seeking affordable vps starting at $4/month for small applications and teams deploying containerised workloads with kubernetes starting at $12/month cluster cost are not what Fastly is typically brought in for.
- What can DigitalOcean do that Fastly cannot?
- DigitalOcean covers Droplets (VPS), Managed Kubernetes, App Platform, Managed Databases. Fastly covers Edge Compute, CDN, Real-time Analytics, Image Optimization. Both handle Terraform, GitHub, DDoS Protection, Cloud deployment.