Overview

CloudFlare

Stacks77.6K

Followers23.1K

Votes1.8K

Fastly

Stacks1.1K

Followers507

Votes153

CloudFlare vs Fastly: What are the differences?

Introduction

CloudFlare and Fastly are both content delivery networks (CDNs) that offer a range of services to improve website performance and security. While they share some similarities, they have key differences that set them apart from each other. In this article, we will highlight six key differences between CloudFlare and Fastly.

Network Architecture: One of the major differences between CloudFlare and Fastly lies in their network architectures. CloudFlare operates a global network of data centers that act as reverse proxies, caching and delivering content to end-users. Fastly, on the other hand, uses an edge cloud platform that allows developers to deploy their customized logic at the network edge, enabling faster response times and more control over how content is delivered.
Edge Computing Capabilities: Fastly differentiates itself by offering powerful edge computing capabilities. With Fastly's Compute@Edge, developers can write and deploy serverless functions at the edge, enabling them to execute computations closer to the end-users. This allows for real-time data processing and personalization, which can greatly enhance the overall user experience. CloudFlare also offers a serverless computing platform called CloudFlare Workers, but it doesn't have the same level of control and flexibility as Fastly's Compute@Edge.
Traffic Routing and Load Balancing: Both CloudFlare and Fastly offer intelligent traffic routing and load balancing mechanisms. However, Fastly provides more granular control over these features through its real-time Edge Cloud Control API. This API allows users to programmatically control how traffic is routed and distributed, enabling more tailored load-balancing strategies. In contrast, CloudFlare's load balancing features are more focused on optimizing performance and availability rather than providing extensive customization options.
Security Offerings: While both CloudFlare and Fastly offer a range of security features, CloudFlare has a stronger emphasis on security and offers more comprehensive protection. CloudFlare provides features such as DDoS protection, Web Application Firewall (WAF), and SSL/TLS encryption as part of its standard plans. Fastly also offers security features like DDoS protection and SSL/TLS encryption, but they are not as feature-rich or comprehensive as CloudFlare's offerings.
Ease of Use and User Interface: CloudFlare has gained popularity for its user-friendly interface and ease of use. The platform is designed to make it easy for users to set up and configure their CDN and security settings. Fastly, on the other hand, has a more developer-centric approach and requires a greater level of technical expertise to fully utilize its capabilities. Fastly's interface is more complex and geared towards developers who prefer to have granular control.
Pricing Structure: CloudFlare and Fastly have different pricing structures. CloudFlare offers a freemium model, allowing users to access a basic set of services for free, with the option to upgrade to paid plans for additional features and support. Fastly, on the other hand, follows a pay-as-you-go pricing model, where users are billed based on the amount of traffic they consume and the services they use. Fastly's pricing tends to be higher compared to CloudFlare, but it also offers more flexibility and options for customization.

In summary, the key differences between CloudFlare and Fastly lie in their network architectures, edge computing capabilities, traffic routing and load balancing mechanisms, security offerings, ease of use and user interface, and pricing structures. Each platform has its own strengths and target audience, so it's important to consider your specific needs and requirements when choosing between the two.

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Advice on CloudFlare, Fastly

Francesco

CTO at ORDR.menu

Dec 1, 2021

Decided

I don't think I have registered a domain in the last 10 years that hasn't been linked to CloudFlare within the first 2 hours from registration.

The benefits you get from even the free version of CloudFlare are amazing. From day 0:

30/80% of bandwidth savings thanks to their CDN
Origin IP address protection
Managed SSL

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Detailed Comparison

CloudFlare	Fastly
Cloudflare speeds up and protects millions of websites, APIs, SaaS services, and other properties connected to the Internet.	Fastly's real-time content delivery network gives you total control over your content, unprecedented access to performance analytics, and the ability to instantly update content in 150 milliseconds.
CDN;WAF (Web Application Firewall);DDOS Protection;	static content delivery; event-driven content delivery; Dynamic Site Acceleration (DSA); API caching; Instant Purge; Soft Purge; surrogate keys; streaming and VOD; Real-time Analytics; instant configuration; instant deploys; built on Varnish; Custom VCL upload; on-demand DDoS mitigation; Transport Layer Security; PCI compliance and compliance services; Origin Shield; real-time streaming logs; Historical Stats; Edge Dictionaries; Fastly’s Cloud Accelerator; Configuration Control Panel; stale-if-error; stale-while-revalidate; Edge Side Includes (ESI); GeoIP/geography detection; mobile device detection; edge authorization/paywalls; shopper prioritization
Statistics
Stacks 77.6K	Stacks 1.1K
Followers 23.1K	Followers 507
Votes 1.8K	Votes 153
Pros & Cons
Pros 426 Easy setup, great cdn 278 Free ssl 200 Easy setup 191 Security 181 Ssl Cons 2 Expensive when you exceed their fair usage limits 2 No support for SSHFP records	Pros 28 Real-time updates 26 Fastest CDN 22 Powerful API 20 Great support 14 Great customer support Cons 1 Minimum $50/mo spend
Integrations
CodeGuard Google Analytics GoSquared Clicky UserVoice SnapEngage Blitz Pingdom	Heroku WordPress Google BigQuery Magento Amazon S3 Zencoder Rackspace Cloud Files OpenStack Datadog Sumo Logic

What are some alternatives to CloudFlare, Fastly?

Amazon CloudFront

Amazon CloudFront can be used to deliver your entire website, including dynamic, static, streaming, and interactive content using a global network of edge locations. Requests for your content are automatically routed to the nearest edge location, so content is delivered with the best possible performance.

KeyCDN

KeyCDN offers super fast and secure content delivery for minimal loading time. In addition to the CDN, it also offers advanced image processing and many other features such as live logs and Let's Encrypt SSL.

MaxCDN

The MaxCDN Content Delivery Network efficiently delivers your site’s static file through hundreds of servers instead of slogging through a single host. This "smart route" technology distributes your content to your visitors via the city closest to them.

jsDelivr

jsDelivr is a free CDN for open source developers, with advanced features for javascript projects with access to NPM and Github It uses multiple CDN providers, resulting in the best possible uptime and performance.

Moovweb XDN

All-in-one platform to develop, deploy, preview, experiment on, monitor, and run your frontend.

Limelight CDN

Whether it’s your website, mobile applications, videos, music, software, games, or APIs, your content needs to reach customers quickly, reliably, and securely. It provides the capacity, coverage, and performance to cost-effectively deliver a better experience for you and your customers.

cdnjs

Everyone loves the Google CDN? Even Microsoft runs their own CDN. The problem is, they only host the most popular libraries. We host it all - JavaScript, CSS, SWF, images, etc! Powered by CloudFlare.

Statically

A free, fast, & modern CDN for open source projects, WordPress, images, and any static assets.

Incapsula

Through an application-aware, global content delivery network (CDN), Incapsula provides any website and web application with best-of-breed security, DDoS protection, load balancing and failover solutions.

Cloudflare CDN

A CDN is a distributed network of servers that provides several advantages for a web site: Cached content: By caching web site content, It helps improve page load speeds, reduce bandwidth usage, and reduce CPU usage on the server.