Cloud & Infrastructure · head to head
Fly.io vs Akamai
Akamai
Cloud & Infrastructure
Leading content delivery and security platform
- From
- $1000/month
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Only Fly.io has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
- Each has a real cost: 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; Akamai only the cloud computing services carry published rates; security and content delivery products require contacting sales for a price
- They diverge on capability: Fly.io covers Global deployment, Akamai covers CDN.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Fly.io and Akamai actually diverge.
Identical on both: 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 Fly.io
- Global deployment
- Docker support
- Postgres databases
- Redis support
- Auto-scaling
- Health checks
- Backups
- Monitoring
Only in Akamai
- CDN
- DDoS Protection
- Web Application Firewall
- Bot Management
- Image Optimization
- Video Platform
- API Gateway
- Analytics
Both cover
- Cloud deployment
- Web support
- Api support
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Fly.io
- Deploying containerised applications close to users across regionsnot Akamai
- Running full stack apps and databases on managed machinesnot Akamai
Akamai
- Content delivery and web performance through Ion and adaptive media deliverynot Fly.io
- DDoS protection, bot management and API securitynot Fly.io
- Running compute, Kubernetes and managed databases on Akamai's cloudnot Fly.io
- Edge compute with EdgeWorkersnot Fly.io
- Zero trust access for enterprise applicationsnot Fly.io
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
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
Akamai
- Only the cloud computing services carry published rates; security and content delivery products require contacting sales for a price
- Cloud pricing varies by region across North America, Europe and Asia Pacific rather than being a single rate
Pricing, plan by plan
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
Akamai
$1000/month- CDN$1000/month
- Content delivery
- Global edge network
- Real-time analytics
- Security Suite$2000/month
- DDoS protection
- WAF
- Bot management
Which should you pick?
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 Fly.io or Akamai better?
- Neither clearly leads. Fly.io starts at Free and Akamai at $1000/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Fly.io or Akamai?
- Fly.io has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Fly.io and $1000/month for Akamai.
- Does Fly.io or Akamai run on more platforms?
- Fly.io runs on Web, Api, Docker. Akamai runs on Web, Api.
- Can I use Fly.io for free?
- Yes. Fly.io has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Akamai starts at $1000/month.
- What is Fly.io best used for?
- Fly.io is most often used for deploying containerised applications close to users across regions, running full stack apps and databases on managed machines. Of those, deploying containerised applications close to users across regions and running full stack apps and databases on managed machines are not what Akamai is typically brought in for.
- What can Fly.io do that Akamai cannot?
- Fly.io covers Global deployment, Docker support, Postgres databases, Redis support. Akamai covers CDN, DDoS Protection, Web Application Firewall, Bot Management. Both handle Cloud deployment, Web support, Api support.