Software · head to head
Fastly vs Fly.io
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; 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: Fastly covers Edge Compute, Fly.io covers Global deployment.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Fastly and Fly.io actually diverge.
Identical on both: starting price (Free), pricing model (usage-based), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Unknown).
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
- DDoS Protection
- Real-time Analytics
- Image Optimization
- Video Streaming
- API
- Instant Purge
Only in Fly.io
- Global deployment
- Docker support
- Postgres databases
- Redis support
- Auto-scaling
- Health checks
- Backups
- Monitoring
Both cover
- GitHub
- Cloud deployment
- Web support
- Api 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 Fly.io
- Running edge logic and caching in front of an origin applicationnot Fly.io
Fly.io
- Deploying containerised applications close to users across regionsnot Fastly
- Running full stack apps and databases on managed machinesnot 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
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
Fastly
Free- Free TrialFree
- CDN
- DDoS protection
- Real-time analytics
- Pay-As-You-GoFree
- Usage-based pricing
- Advanced features
- Priority support
Fly.io
Free- FreeFree
- 3 shared-cpu-1x VMs
- 3GB persistence storage
- 160GB outbound data/month
- Pay-as-you-goFree
- Unlimited applications
- Dedicated machines
- Global deployment
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.
Choose Fly.io if
- You need global deployment.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Web, Api, Docker.
- You also want docker support.
Questions people ask
- Is Fastly or Fly.io better?
- Neither clearly leads. Fastly starts at Free and Fly.io at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Fastly or Fly.io?
- Fastly starts at Free and Fly.io at Free.
- Does Fastly or Fly.io run on more platforms?
- Fastly runs on Web, Api. Fly.io runs on Web, Api, Docker.
- 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 Fly.io is typically brought in for.
- What can Fastly do that Fly.io cannot?
- Fastly covers Edge Compute, CDN, DDoS Protection, Real-time Analytics. Fly.io covers Global deployment, Docker support, Postgres databases, Redis support. Both handle GitHub, Cloud deployment, Web support, Api support.