Software · head to head
Google Cloud Platform vs Fly.io
The short version
- Each has a real cost: Google Cloud Platform the $300 Free Trial credit expires 90 days from signup, whichever comes first with spending it; 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: Google Cloud Platform covers Compute Engine, Fly.io covers Global deployment.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Google Cloud Platform and Fly.io actually diverge.
| Attribute | Google Cloud Platform | Fly.io |
|---|---|---|
| Platforms | Web, Api, Cli | Web, Api, Docker |
| Founded | 2008 | 2020 |
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 Google Cloud Platform
- Compute Engine
- App Engine
- Cloud Run
- Cloud Storage
- Cloud SQL
- BigQuery
- Dataflow
- Cloud Pub/Sub
Only in Fly.io
- Global deployment
- Docker support
- Postgres databases
- Redis support
- Auto-scaling
- Health checks
- Backups
- Monitoring
Both cover
- Docker
- Git
- Cloud deployment
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Google Cloud Platform
- Running compute, storage and managed data services on Google's cloudnot Fly.io
- Hosting Kubernetes workloads on GKE alongside BigQuery analyticsnot Fly.io
Fly.io
- Deploying containerised applications close to users across regionsnot Google Cloud Platform
- Running full stack apps and databases on managed machinesnot Google Cloud Platform
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
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
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
Google Cloud Platform
Free- Free TierFree
- Compute Engine 744 hours/month
- Cloud Storage 5GB
- Cloud SQL 250MB storage
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 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.
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 Google Cloud Platform or Fly.io better?
- Neither clearly leads. Google Cloud Platform 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, Google Cloud Platform or Fly.io?
- Google Cloud Platform starts at Free and Fly.io at Free.
- Does Google Cloud Platform or Fly.io run on more platforms?
- Google Cloud Platform runs on Web, Api, Cli. Fly.io runs on Web, Api, Docker.
- Can I use Google Cloud Platform for free?
- Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
- What is Google Cloud Platform best used for?
- Google Cloud Platform is most often used for running compute, storage and managed data services on google's cloud, hosting kubernetes workloads on gke alongside bigquery analytics. Of those, running compute, storage and managed data services on google's cloud and hosting kubernetes workloads on gke alongside bigquery analytics are not what Fly.io is typically brought in for.
- What can Google Cloud Platform do that Fly.io cannot?
- Google Cloud Platform covers Compute Engine, App Engine, Cloud Run, Cloud Storage. Fly.io covers Global deployment, Docker support, Postgres databases, Redis support. Both handle Docker, Git, Cloud deployment.