Fastly

Real-time CDN and edge computing for high-performance apps

Edge cloud platform focused on high-performance CDN and real-time cache control. Pay-per-use pricing — $50/month minimum, bandwidth at $0.12/GB. Compute@Edge (WebAssembly serverless) is unique to Fastly. Used by media, e-commerce, and high-traffic APIs needing instant cache purge and real-time edge logic. Typically 20-40% more expensive than Cloudflare for similar workloads.

Our take

Fastly's technical differentiation is real: instant cache purge (sub-150ms globally versus Cloudflare's seconds-level purge), Compute@Edge (WebAssembly edge functions with no cold starts), and real-time analytics with 1-second granularity. For media companies, e-commerce flash sales, and APIs requiring instant invalidation, these features justify the premium. For most other use cases, Cloudflare delivers 90% of the functionality at a fraction of the cost.

Product roadmap

Fastly is expanding Compute@Edge (adding more language SDK support beyond Rust/JS) and building out security services (Next-Gen WAF, bot detection). The 2026 focus is AI-powered traffic analysis and cost optimization tools.

Who is Fastly for?

Solo(1 person)

Poor fit

$50 minimum and no free tier. Cloudflare's free tier is a better starting point for any solo use case.

Small team(2–20 people)

Poor fit

Cloudflare Pro at $20/month flat outperforms Fastly's equivalent cost for most startup use cases.

Mid-size(21–200 people)

Mixed fit

Medium teams with media streaming, e-commerce flash sales, or real-time cache requirements may justify Fastly's technical edge.

Large org(201–1,000+)

Good fit

High-traffic media companies and e-commerce platforms with instant invalidation and real-time edge logic requirements. Committed-use contracts improve the economics.