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Cloud & Infrastructure · head to head

Fastly vs DigitalOcean

Fastly logo

Fastly

Cloud & Infrastructure

High performance edge computing platform

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
DigitalOcean logo

DigitalOcean

Cloud & Infrastructure

The developer cloud

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: 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; DigitalOcean data transfer overage charged at $0.01 per GiB beyond included allowances
  • They diverge on capability: Fastly covers Edge Compute, DigitalOcean covers Droplets (VPS).

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Fastly and DigitalOcean actually diverge.

Attributes where Fastly and DigitalOcean differ
AttributeFastlyDigitalOcean
PlatformsWeb, ApiLinux, Cloud (AWS, GCP, Azure backend)

Identical on both: starting price (Free), pricing model (usage-based), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Cloud & Infrastructure), 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 Fastly

  • Edge Compute
  • CDN
  • Real-time Analytics
  • Image Optimization
  • Video Streaming
  • API
  • Instant Purge
  • Datadog

Only in DigitalOcean

  • Droplets (VPS)
  • Managed Kubernetes
  • App Platform
  • Managed Databases
  • Spaces (Object Storage)
  • Floating IPs
  • Load Balancers
  • Firewalls

Both cover

  • DDoS Protection
  • GitHub
  • Terraform
  • Cloud deployment
  • Web support

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Fastly

  • Serving static and dynamic content through a global CDNnot DigitalOcean
  • Running edge logic and caching in front of an origin applicationnot DigitalOcean

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

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

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

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

Pricing, plan by plan

Fastly

Free
  • Free TrialFree
    • CDN
    • DDoS protection
    • Real-time analytics
  • Pay-As-You-GoFree
    • Usage-based pricing
    • Advanced features
    • Priority support

DigitalOcean

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the DigitalOcean review.

Which should you pick?

Choose Fastly if

  • You need edge compute.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Api.
  • You also want cdn.
Fastly review

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.
DigitalOcean review

Questions people ask

Is Fastly or DigitalOcean better?
Neither clearly leads. Fastly starts at Free and DigitalOcean at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Fastly or DigitalOcean?
Fastly starts at Free and DigitalOcean at Free.
Does Fastly or DigitalOcean run on more platforms?
Fastly runs on Web, Api. DigitalOcean runs on Linux, Cloud (AWS, GCP, Azure backend).
Can I use Fastly for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Fastly best used for?
Fastly is most often used for serving static and dynamic content through a global cdn, running edge logic and caching in front of an origin application. Of those, serving static and dynamic content through a global cdn and running edge logic and caching in front of an origin application are not what DigitalOcean is typically brought in for.
What can Fastly do that DigitalOcean cannot?
Fastly covers Edge Compute, CDN, Real-time Analytics, Image Optimization. DigitalOcean covers Droplets (VPS), Managed Kubernetes, App Platform, Managed Databases. Both handle DDoS Protection, GitHub, Terraform, Cloud deployment.
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