Is Fly.io or Zipkin better?

Neither clearly leads. Fly.io starts at $29/month and Zipkin at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, Fly.io or Zipkin?

Zipkin has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $29/month for Fly.io and Free for Zipkin.

Does Fly.io or Zipkin run on more platforms?

Fly.io runs on Web, Api, Docker. Zipkin runs on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Self-hosted.

Can I use Zipkin for free?

Yes. Zipkin has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Fly.io starts at $29/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 Zipkin is typically brought in for.

What can Fly.io do that Zipkin cannot?

Fly.io covers Global deployment, Docker support, Postgres databases, Redis support. Zipkin covers Trace collection and search, Dependency diagram, Simple deployment, Pluggable storage.

Cloud · head to head

Fly.io vs Zipkin

Fly.io

Cloud

Deploy web applications globally

From: $29/month
Rated: -

Full review Website

Zipkin

Cloud

Distributed tracing system for microservice latency

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

The short version

Only Zipkin 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; Zipkin less active development and smaller community momentum than Jaeger
They diverge on capability: Fly.io covers Global deployment, Zipkin covers Trace collection and search.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Fly.io and Zipkin actually diverge.

Attributes where Fly.io and Zipkin differ
Attribute	Fly.io	Zipkin
Starting price	$29/month	Free
Pricing model	usage-based	Open source, no licence fee
Free tier	No	Yes
Platforms	Web, Api, Docker	Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Self-hosted
Founded	2020	Unknown

Identical on both: 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 Fly.io

Global deployment
Docker support
Postgres databases
Redis support
Auto-scaling
Health checks
Backups
Monitoring

Only in Zipkin

Trace collection and search
Dependency diagram
Simple deployment
Pluggable storage

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 Zipkin
Running full stack apps and databases on managed machinesnot Zipkin

Zipkin

Adding distributed tracing quickly without standing up heavy infrastructurenot Fly.io
Java and Spring Boot estates, where instrumentation support is long-establishednot Fly.io
Small deployments where Jaeger is more than the problem requiresnot 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

Zipkin

Less active development and smaller community momentum than Jaeger
Fewer features: sampling, storage options and UI are all more limited
The interface is dated and slower to work with on large trace volumes
Tracing alone still leaves metrics and logs in separate tools during an incident

Pricing, plan by plan

Fly.io

$29/month

Pay-as-You-Go$null/mo
- Micro VMs and persistent storage charged by usage
- FlyCTL CLI
- Unlimited users and organizations
Serious Support$29/month
- Access to dedicated engineering team
- All Pay-as-You-Go features
Machine Reservation Blocks$null/mo
- 40% discount on machine usage
- Requires upfront payment for savings
Compliance Package$99/month
- HIPAA compliance
- BAAs
- SOC2 documentation

Zipkin

Free

ZipkinFree
- Full functionality
- No usage limits
- Community support

Which should you pick?

Choose Fly.io if

You need global deployment.
You work on Web, Api, Docker.
You also want docker support.

Fly.io review

Choose Zipkin if

You need trace collection and search.
You want to start without paying.
You work on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Self-hosted.
You also want dependency diagram.

Zipkin review

Questions people ask

Is Fly.io or Zipkin better?: Neither clearly leads. Fly.io starts at $29/month and Zipkin at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Fly.io or Zipkin?: Zipkin has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $29/month for Fly.io and Free for Zipkin.
Does Fly.io or Zipkin run on more platforms?: Fly.io runs on Web, Api, Docker. Zipkin runs on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Self-hosted.
Can I use Zipkin for free?: Yes. Zipkin has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Fly.io starts at $29/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 Zipkin is typically brought in for.
What can Fly.io do that Zipkin cannot?: Fly.io covers Global deployment, Docker support, Postgres databases, Redis support. Zipkin covers Trace collection and search, Dependency diagram, Simple deployment, Pluggable storage.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Fly.io: Is there a free tier for Fly.io?

Fly.io does not advertise a free tier. The base plan is pay-as-you-go with usage-based pricing for Micro VMs and persistent storage. All users get FlyCTL CLI, unlimited organizations, private networking, SSO, ACLs, and scoped tokens.

Source

Zipkin: Is Zipkin free?

Yes, open source with no licence fee.

Fly.io: How much does Fly.io Serious Support cost?

Serious Support costs 29 USD per month and provides access to a dedicated engineering team while maintaining all pay-as-you-go features for Micro VMs and storage.

Source

Zipkin: Zipkin or Jaeger?

Jaeger has more momentum, more features and CNCF backing. Zipkin is lighter and quicker to stand up, and remains well supported in the Java and Spring ecosystem.

Fly.io: What does Fly.io Compliance Package include?

The Compliance Package is 99 USD per month and includes HIPAA compliance, BAAs, and SOC2 documentation for organizations requiring compliance certifications.

Source

Zipkin: Does Zipkin work with OpenTelemetry?

Yes. OpenTelemetry can export to Zipkin, which is now the usual way to instrument for it.

Fly.io: Does Fly.io offer discounts for upfront commitment?

Yes, Fly.io offers Machine Reservation Blocks with 40% discount on machine usage. This requires upfront payment but applies savings on infrastructure costs.

Source

Fly.io vs Zipkin

Fly.io

Zipkin

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Fly.io

Only in Zipkin

What people use each for

Fly.io

Zipkin

Where each one falls short

Fly.io

Zipkin

Pricing, plan by plan

Fly.io

Zipkin

Which should you pick?

Choose Fly.io if

Choose Zipkin if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on Fly.io

More on Zipkin

Keep looking

Other head to heads