Cloud & Infrastructure · head to head
Fastly vs Google Cloud Platform
Fastly
Cloud & Infrastructure
High performance edge computing platform
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
Google Cloud Platform
Cloud & Infrastructure
Trusted by millions of enterprises
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
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; Google Cloud Platform the $300 Free Trial credit expires 90 days from signup, whichever comes first with spending it
- They diverge on capability: Fastly covers Edge Compute, Google Cloud Platform covers Compute Engine.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Fastly and Google Cloud Platform actually diverge.
| Attribute | Fastly | Google Cloud Platform |
|---|---|---|
| Platforms | Web, Api | Web, Api, Cli |
| Founded | 2011 | 2008 |
Identical on both: starting price (Free), pricing model (usage-based), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Cloud & Infrastructure).
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 Google Cloud Platform
- Compute Engine
- App Engine
- Cloud Run
- Cloud Storage
- Cloud SQL
- BigQuery
- Dataflow
- Cloud Pub/Sub
Both cover
- Terraform
- Datadog
- Cloud deployment
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 Google Cloud Platform
- Running edge logic and caching in front of an origin applicationnot Google Cloud Platform
Google Cloud Platform
- Running compute, storage and managed data services on Google's cloudnot Fastly
- Hosting Kubernetes workloads on GKE alongside BigQuery analyticsnot 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
Google Cloud Platform
- The $300 Free Trial credit expires 90 days from signup, whichever comes first with spending it
- Free Tier Compute Engine is limited to one non-preemptible e2-micro instance per month and only in the us-west1, us-central1 or us-east1 regions
- Free Tier Compute Engine includes only 30 GB-months of standard persistent disk and 1 GB of outbound North America data transfer per month
- Free Tier Cloud Storage covers 5 GB-months of regional storage in US regions only, 5,000 Class A and 50,000 Class B operations per month
- Free Tier outbound data transfer allowances exclude destinations in China and Australia
- Compute Engine resources are governed by allocation quotas that require a quota increase request to exceed
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
Google Cloud Platform
Free- Free TierFree
- Compute Engine 744 hours/month
- Cloud Storage 5GB
- Cloud SQL 250MB storage
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 Google Cloud Platform if
- You need compute engine.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Web, Api, Cli.
- You also want app engine.
Questions people ask
- Is Fastly or Google Cloud Platform better?
- Neither clearly leads. Fastly starts at Free and Google Cloud Platform at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Fastly or Google Cloud Platform?
- Fastly starts at Free and Google Cloud Platform at Free.
- Does Fastly or Google Cloud Platform run on more platforms?
- Fastly runs on Web, Api. Google Cloud Platform runs on Web, Api, Cli.
- 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 Google Cloud Platform is typically brought in for.
- What can Fastly do that Google Cloud Platform cannot?
- Fastly covers Edge Compute, CDN, DDoS Protection, Real-time Analytics. Google Cloud Platform covers Compute Engine, App Engine, Cloud Run, Cloud Storage. Both handle Terraform, Datadog, Cloud deployment.