Fastly vs Netlify

What Fastly is built to do

Instant cache purge

Invalidates cached objects across the network within seconds.

Edge compute

Runs custom logic at the edge for routing and personalisation.

Real-time logging

Streams request logs to your own systems as they happen.

What Netlify is built to do

Netlify Functions

Deploy serverless AWS Lambda functions without ever leaving your workflow.

Netlify Forms

Receive and manage user submissions directly in your dashboard with no setup.

Identity

A full suite of tools for managing user authentication and registrations.

Split Testing

Easily run A/B tests on your site branches to optimize conversion rates.

Choose Fastly if

• Traffic concentrated in North America or Europe, where delivery is $0.12/GB in the first paid band and $0.08/GB in the next
• Small or spiky sites: the first 100 GB of bandwidth and the first 1 million requests each month are free
• Image-heavy sites — Image Optimizer includes 100,000 image requests free and the per-request rate falls sharply above 10 million
• Teams that do not want seat licensing: everything here is metered by usage, with volume discounts applied automatically

Skip Fastly if

• Your audience is in Africa, India or South Korea: delivery there is $0.28/GB, more than twice the $0.12/GB charged for North America and Europe
• You need many TLS domains — only 5 are free, then $20 per domain per month, and a commercial-CA certificate is $275 per domain per month
• You need mutual TLS beyond two domains: that switches to a $500 flat monthly rate
• You want a quoted enterprise package before talking to sales — package and support-plan prices are not published

Choose Netlify if

• Deploying a static or Jamstack site with a global CDN at no cost
• Unlimited deploy previews on every plan, including free
• Teams that want unlimited members: Pro is $20/member/month with no seat cap

Skip Netlify if

• You are budgeting a flat figure — Netlify bills in credits: bandwidth is 20 credits per GB, compute 10 per GB-hour
• Your site gets real traffic; the free plan carries a 300-credit limit
• You need published bandwidth and build-minute allowances up front; the pricing page states credits, not allowances

Fastly: pros & cons

• Instant global cache purge
• Programmable edge with VCL and Compute
• Strong performance and observability
• Configuration is developer-oriented
• Pricing suits larger traffic volumes
• Steeper learning curve than simple CDNs

Netlify: pros & cons

• Instant Deployment: Link your repo and go live in minutes with zero config.
• Deploy Previews: Automatically generates a unique URL for every pull request.
• Built-in Forms: Handle form submissions without writing any backend code.
• Global Edge Network: Serves your site from the nearest possible location to your users.
• Dynamic Limits: Not ideal for sites requiring heavy server-side processing (SSR).
• Build Minutes: Free plan has monthly limits on how much time you can spend building.
• Cost for Teams: Adding multiple collaborators can get expensive quickly.