Is Fastly or Thanos better?

Neither clearly leads. Fastly starts at Free and Thanos at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, Fastly or Thanos?

Fastly starts at Free and Thanos at Free.

Does Fastly or Thanos run on more platforms?

Fastly runs on Web, Api. Thanos runs on Kubernetes, Linux, 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 Thanos is typically brought in for.

What can Fastly do that Thanos cannot?

Fastly covers Edge Compute, CDN, DDoS Protection, Real-time Analytics. Thanos covers Global query, Object storage retention, Deduplication, Downsampling.

Cloud · head to head

Fastly vs Thanos

Fastly

Cloud

High performance edge computing platform

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

Thanos

Cloud

Highly available Prometheus with long-term object storage

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

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; Thanos several components — sidecar, store, querier, compactor, ruler — each with its own configuration and failure modes
They diverge on capability: Fastly covers Edge Compute, Thanos covers Global query.
Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Fastly and Thanos actually diverge.

Attributes where Fastly and Thanos differ
Attribute	Fastly	Thanos
Pricing model	usage-based	Open source, no licence fee
Platforms	Web, Api	Kubernetes, Linux, Docker
Founded	2011	Unknown

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Cloud).

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 Thanos

Global query
Object storage retention
Deduplication
Downsampling

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 Thanos
Running edge logic and caching in front of an origin applicationnot Thanos

Thanos

Querying metrics across many clusters or regions from one placenot Fastly
Retaining metrics for years without local disk growthnot Fastly
Removing the gap that appears when a single Prometheus instance restartsnot 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

Thanos

Several components — sidecar, store, querier, compactor, ruler — each with its own configuration and failure modes
The compactor is a common source of operational trouble and must not run twice against the same bucket
Query latency over object storage is meaningfully higher than local Prometheus
Object storage costs and API request charges become real at high volume

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

Thanos

Free

ThanosFree
- Full functionality
- No usage limits
- Community support

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 Thanos if

You need global query.
You want to start without paying.
You work on Kubernetes, Linux, Docker.
You also want object storage retention.

Thanos review

Questions people ask

Is Fastly or Thanos better?: Neither clearly leads. Fastly starts at Free and Thanos at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Fastly or Thanos?: Fastly starts at Free and Thanos at Free.
Does Fastly or Thanos run on more platforms?: Fastly runs on Web, Api. Thanos runs on Kubernetes, Linux, 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 Thanos is typically brought in for.
What can Fastly do that Thanos cannot?: Fastly covers Edge Compute, CDN, DDoS Protection, Real-time Analytics. Thanos covers Global query, Object storage retention, Deduplication, Downsampling.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Fastly: Does Fastly charge based on usage or a flat monthly fee?

Fastly operates on a usage-based model with volume discounts. They offer a free tier with 100 GB bandwidth and 1M requests for experimentation, then customers pay per unit consumed with tiered discounts as consumption increases.

Source

Thanos: Is Thanos free?

Yes, open source and CNCF-incubating. Costs are the object storage it uses.

Fastly: What are Fastly's main service packages and their costs?

Fastly offers Network Services Packages ($1,500-$6,000/month baseline), Security Packages (custom pricing), Compute Packages ($500/month entry level), and Observability Packages ($1,500/month entry level). Enterprise solutions include custom quotes for high-volume deployments.

Source

Thanos: Does Thanos replace Prometheus?

No. It runs alongside existing Prometheus servers, adding global query, deduplication and long-term storage.

Fastly: Can I start using Fastly for free?

Yes, Fastly offers a free tier with generous allowances for experimentation including 100 GB bandwidth and 1M requests. You can start building free and only pay when you use additional resources.

Source

Thanos: Thanos or VictoriaMetrics?

Thanos layers onto Prometheus using object storage and is the more established multi-cluster answer. VictoriaMetrics is a separate store aiming at lower resource use and fewer moving parts.

Fastly: Are there surprise overage charges with Fastly?

Fastly advertises predictable pricing with no surprise overages. The pricing structure is designed to be transparent as consumption grows.

Source

Fastly vs Thanos

Fastly

Thanos

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Fastly

Only in Thanos

What people use each for

Fastly

Thanos

Where each one falls short

Fastly

Thanos

Pricing, plan by plan

Fastly

Thanos

Which should you pick?

Choose Fastly if

Choose Thanos if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on Fastly

More on Thanos

Keep looking

Other head to heads