About 17; min
CDN and edge platforms determine how fast your website loads around the world. Cloudflare and Fastly are the two most developer-focused options in this space, each with a loyal following and a distinct philosophy. Cloudflare offers a massive free tier and an ever-expanding product suite that covers everything from DNS to Workers to Zero Trust. Fastly bets on real-time configurability, instant cache purging, and edge computing power for teams that need precise control.
Both companies operate global networks with sub-50ms response times in most regions. The choice between them comes down to what you need beyond basic CDN — and what you’re willing to pay for it.
Quick Pricing Overview
| Plan | Cloudflare | Fastly |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Free (generous CDN + DDoS) | Free trial ($50 credit) |
| Pro | $25/mo (per domain) | Pay-as-you-go ($0.12/GB NA/EU) |
| Business | $250/mo (per domain) | Pay-as-you-go (volume discounts) |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom (committed use) |
Cloudflare Pricing Breakdown
Cloudflare’s free plan is remarkably complete — unlimited bandwidth CDN, DDoS protection, SSL/TLS, DNS, and basic security rules. The Pro plan at $25 per domain per month adds a WAF with managed rulesets, image resizing, mobile optimization, and cache analytics. The Business plan at $250 per domain per month includes custom SSL certificates, 100% SLA guarantee, and advanced security features. Enterprise pricing is custom with dedicated support, advanced DDoS mitigation, and access to the full product suite. Cloudflare Workers (edge computing) starts free at 100,000 requests per day, with the paid Workers plan at $5 per month for 10 million requests. R2 object storage, D1 database, and Queues are additional products with separate usage-based pricing.
Fastly Pricing Breakdown
Fastly uses pure pay-as-you-go pricing with no fixed monthly tiers. Bandwidth costs $0.12 per GB in North America and Europe, $0.19 in Asia Pacific, and $0.28 in South America and Africa. Requests cost $0.0075 per 10,000. There are no minimum commitments on the self-serve plan — you pay only for what you use. The free trial includes $50 in credit. Fastly Compute (edge computing, formerly Compute@Edge) is billed per request ($0.50 per million) plus CPU time. Image optimization costs $5 per month per service. Enterprise customers negotiate committed-use discounts that significantly reduce per-GB rates at scale. Fastly does not have a free CDN tier — you pay from the first byte.
Feature Comparison
| Feature | Cloudflare | Fastly |
|---|---|---|
| Free CDN | Yes (unlimited bandwidth) | No (pay-as-you-go) |
| DDoS Protection | Included (all plans) | Included (all plans) |
| SSL/TLS | Free (auto-provisioned) | Free (auto-provisioned) |
| Cache Purge Speed | ~30 seconds global | ~150ms global (instant purge) |
| Edge Computing | Workers (V8 isolates) | Compute (Wasm-based) |
| VCL / Config Language | No (Workers JavaScript) | VCL (Varnish Configuration Language) |
| WAF | Pro plan and above | Signal Sciences (add-on or bundled) |
| Image Optimization | Pro plan ($25/mo) | $5/mo per service |
| DNS | Included (all plans) | Not included (use separate DNS) |
| Object Storage | R2 ($0.015/GB/mo) | Not offered |
| PoP Locations | 310+ cities | 90+ PoPs (strategic placement) |
| Real-Time Logs | Enterprise only | All plans (real-time log streaming) |
| Streaming / Video | Stream product (separate) | Built-in media delivery features |
Cost Scenarios
Blog or portfolio site (10GB/month traffic)
Cloudflare free tier covers this entirely — unlimited bandwidth, DDoS protection, and SSL at zero cost. Fastly at $0.12 per GB costs approximately $1.20 per month. Cloudflare: $0. Fastly: ~$1.20/mo.
E-commerce site (500GB/month, WAF needed)
Cloudflare Pro at $25 per month includes the CDN and WAF with unlimited bandwidth. Fastly bandwidth at $0.12 per GB costs $60 per month, plus Signal Sciences WAF adds $3,000+ per month for enterprise security. Without the WAF, Fastly costs $60 per month for CDN only. Cloudflare: $25/mo (CDN + WAF). Fastly: $60/mo (CDN only).
Media company (50TB/month, instant purge critical)
Cloudflare Enterprise pricing at this scale typically runs $5,000-15,000 per month with unlimited bandwidth and premium features. Fastly at committed-use rates around $0.04-0.06 per GB costs $2,000-3,000 per month for 50TB. Fastly’s 150ms global purge is critical for media companies publishing breaking news where stale cache costs credibility. Cloudflare: $5,000-15,000/mo. Fastly: $2,000-3,000/mo.
Edge Computing
Cloudflare Workers run JavaScript and TypeScript at the edge using V8 isolates — the same engine that powers Chrome. Cold start times are near-zero because Workers share a runtime. The developer experience is smooth: write code locally, deploy with one command, and it runs on 310+ locations globally. Workers KV, Durable Objects, R2, and D1 form a growing edge data platform that can replace traditional backend infrastructure for many use cases.
Fastly Compute runs WebAssembly (Wasm) at the edge, supporting Rust, Go, JavaScript, and other languages that compile to Wasm. The Wasm approach gives stronger isolation and more predictable performance than V8 isolates but has a steeper learning curve. Fastly’s advantage is VCL — a domain-specific language for cache logic that gives engineers fine-grained control over request routing, cache behavior, and response manipulation. Teams that need precise cache control at the CDN layer find VCL indispensable.
Who Should Pick What
Pick Cloudflare if:
- You want a free CDN that handles most websites without spending anything
- A growing product suite (DNS, Workers, R2, Zero Trust) appeals to your architecture
- Easy setup and managed security rules reduce your operations burden
- Global coverage with 310+ PoPs matters for your audience distribution
Pick Fastly if:
- Instant cache purging (150ms) is critical for real-time content updates
- You need fine-grained cache control through VCL for complex routing logic
- Pay-as-you-go pricing beats per-domain pricing at your traffic volume
- Real-time log streaming on all plans supports your observability requirements
Cloudflare wins for the vast majority of websites and applications. Its free tier alone outperforms what many paid CDNs offer, and the expanding product suite makes it a one-stop infrastructure platform. Fastly wins for engineering teams that need instant cache purging, VCL-level control, and real-time log access — capabilities that matter most for high-traffic media, e-commerce, and API-heavy applications. At very high bandwidth volumes, Fastly’s per-GB pricing can actually be cheaper than Cloudflare Enterprise. For most teams, Cloudflare’s combination of features, simplicity, and value is difficult to beat.
FAQ
Is Cloudflare’s free plan really unlimited bandwidth?
Yes. Cloudflare does not meter bandwidth on any plan, including free. However, the free plan is subject to fair use policies, and Cloudflare reserves the right to limit abusive usage patterns.
How fast is Fastly’s cache purge compared to Cloudflare?
Fastly purges cache globally in approximately 150 milliseconds. Cloudflare’s purge takes about 30 seconds to propagate globally. For sites publishing time-sensitive content, this difference can be significant.
Can I use both Cloudflare and Fastly?
Some architectures use Cloudflare for DNS and DDoS protection while routing specific high-traffic paths through Fastly for its caching capabilities. This is uncommon for most websites but exists in complex multi-CDN setups.
Does Fastly offer DDoS protection?
Yes. Fastly includes DDoS mitigation on all plans at no additional cost. The protection is network-level and application-level, though it’s less feature-rich than Cloudflare’s dedicated DDoS tooling.
