Fastly CDN

Name: Fastly CDN
Brand: Fastly
Rating: 4.7 (399 reviews)

Leader

Fastly’s edge cloud platform enables the best of the web to thrive, and helps you deliver better online experiences.

Est 2011|Valuation $2.9B|Raised $686.4M

LinkedIn 72K|Website|Web traffic 268K|FTEs 1,140|HQ San Francisco, California, US

MarketsWeb Application & API Protection (WAAP)Security Service Edge (SSE)

Platform CoversFirewalls API Management Application Performance Monitoring (APM)

01Competitive Landscape

Narrative competitive analysis

**Fastly vs Cloudflare** - Cloudflare is frequently evaluated as a broad integrated platform (CDN, DNS, WAF, edge compute) with accessible entry pricing, including a free tier for basic use cases. - Fastly is commonly selected where teams prioritize programmability, fine-grained control, and in-depth observability and are prepared to invest in implementation. - Pricing comparisons vary by workload; for some traffic patterns Cloudflare appears more cost-effective at entry and for smaller sites. **Fastly vs Akamai** - Akamai is often selected by very large enterprises that require a broad global footprint and mature enterprise support models. - Fastly may be preferable for organizations seeking high control and faster configuration iteration without committing to large quoted contracts, though very large enterprises sometimes prefer Akamai’s scale and service models. **Fastly vs CloudFront** - CloudFront is frequently selected by AWS-centric organizations seeking close integration with AWS storage, compute, and IAM. - Fastly is chosen when teams require a CDN less tightly coupled to a specific cloud provider and when they require the control model and observability features Fastly provides. **Market adoption signals** - Industry articles and comparative reviews reference Fastly’s configurability and performance characteristics while noting that pricing is generally higher than some low-cost competitors. Comparative performance resources and provider profiles are common sources for geolocation-specific evaluations.

	Fastly CDN	Cloudflare CDN	Amazon CloudFront
Starting Price	Commonly referenced usage-based entry levels; varies by plan and traffic mix	Free tier available; paid tiers for advanced features	Pay-as-you-go; integrated with AWS pricing model
Typical fit	Teams requiring precise control over caching and edge logic; organizations prioritizing observability and edge security	Broad SMB-to-enterprise use; integrated DNS/WAF/CDN and access to a large free tier	AWS-native customers seeking integration with S3, ALB, and Lambda@Edge
Key strengths	Rapid configuration propagation and programmable edge logic; reported performance and cache purge characteristics	Ease of onboarding, integrated feature set, and accessible entry pricing	Tight integration with AWS services and ecosystem
Key weaknesses	Operational learning curve; pricing complexity; reported regional routing/peering variability	Advanced enterprise features may require higher-tier plans; platform lock-in considerations	Configuration and UX complexity for some use cases; variable pricing outcomes at scale

01Competitive Landscape

Narrative competitive analysis

Fastly vs Cloudflare

Cloudflare is frequently evaluated as a broad integrated platform (CDN, DNS, WAF, edge compute) with accessible entry pricing, including a free tier for basic use cases.
Fastly is commonly selected where teams prioritize programmability, fine-grained control, and in-depth observability and are prepared to invest in implementation.
Pricing comparisons vary by workload; for some traffic patterns Cloudflare appears more cost-effective at entry and for smaller sites.

Fastly vs Akamai

Akamai is often selected by very large enterprises that require a broad global footprint and mature enterprise support models.
Fastly may be preferable for organizations seeking high control and faster configuration iteration without committing to large quoted contracts, though very large enterprises sometimes prefer Akamai’s scale and service models.

Fastly vs CloudFront

CloudFront is frequently selected by AWS-centric organizations seeking close integration with AWS storage, compute, and IAM.
Fastly is chosen when teams require a CDN less tightly coupled to a specific cloud provider and when they require the control model and observability features Fastly provides.

Market adoption signals

Industry articles and comparative reviews reference Fastly’s configurability and performance characteristics while noting that pricing is generally higher than some low-cost competitors. Comparative performance resources and provider profiles are common sources for geolocation-specific evaluations.

	Fastly CDN	Cloudflare CDN	Amazon CloudFront
Starting Price	Commonly referenced usage-based entry levels; varies by plan and traffic mix	Free tier available; paid tiers for advanced features	Pay-as-you-go; integrated with AWS pricing model
Typical fit	Teams requiring precise control over caching and edge logic; organizations prioritizing observability and edge security	Broad SMB-to-enterprise use; integrated DNS/WAF/CDN and access to a large free tier	AWS-native customers seeking integration with S3, ALB, and Lambda@Edge
Key strengths	Rapid configuration propagation and programmable edge logic; reported performance and cache purge characteristics	Ease of onboarding, integrated feature set, and accessible entry pricing	Tight integration with AWS services and ecosystem
Key weaknesses	Operational learning curve; pricing complexity; reported regional routing/peering variability	Advanced enterprise features may require higher-tier plans; platform lock-in considerations	Configuration and UX complexity for some use cases; variable pricing outcomes at scale