Cloudflare
Global edge network and Workers
Fastly
Edge cloud with real-time invalidation
Cloudflare is the largest CDN + edge platform — free tier, Workers, R2, D1, WAF, DNS, tunnels, Zero Trust. Fastly is the premium real-time CDN — instant purge, VCL power, used by Reddit/GitHub/NYT. Cloudflare wins on breadth + cost; Fastly wins on configurability and real-time invalidation.
Pick Cloudflare when you want the broadest platform, best free tier, and edge compute (Workers).
Pick Fastly when you need instant purge, VCL customization, or extreme-scale media delivery.
| Feature | 🟠Cloudflare | ⚡Fastly | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Network PoPs | 300+ | 80+ | A |
| Free tier | Generous | None | A |
| Real-time purge | <150ms | <150ms (pioneered) | Tie |
| Edge compute | Workers (V8 isolates) | Compute@Edge (Wasm) | Tie |
| Configuration power | Rules + Workers | VCL (extreme flexibility) | B |
| WAF / security | Included | Next-Gen WAF (ex-Signal Sciences) | Tie |
| DNS / registrar | Yes | No | A |
| Enterprise pricing | Flat-ish | Bandwidth-heavy | A |
Network PoPs
ACloudflare
300+
Fastly
80+
Free tier
ACloudflare
Generous
Fastly
None
Real-time purge
TieCloudflare
<150ms
Fastly
<150ms (pioneered)
Edge compute
TieCloudflare
Workers (V8 isolates)
Fastly
Compute@Edge (Wasm)
Configuration power
BCloudflare
Rules + Workers
Fastly
VCL (extreme flexibility)
WAF / security
TieCloudflare
Included
Fastly
Next-Gen WAF (ex-Signal Sciences)
DNS / registrar
ACloudflare
Yes
Fastly
No
Enterprise pricing
ACloudflare
Flat-ish
Fastly
Bandwidth-heavy
Best for
Best for
Both front your origin and cache. Update DNS to point at the new CDN, set up origins with matching host headers, port Page Rules (Cloudflare) ↔ VCL (Fastly). Workers and Compute@Edge are not source-compatible — rewrite edge code. Critical: warm the cache during off-peak before cutting over to avoid origin overload.
Cloudflare is the largest CDN + edge platform — free tier, Workers, R2, D1, WAF, DNS, tunnels, Zero Trust. Fastly is the premium real-time CDN — instant purge, VCL power, used by Reddit/GitHub/NYT. Cloudflare wins on breadth + cost; Fastly wins on configurability and real-time invalidation. In short: Cloudflare — Global edge network and Workers. Fastly — Edge cloud with real-time invalidation.
Pick Cloudflare when you want the broadest platform, best free tier, and edge compute (Workers).
Pick Fastly when you need instant purge, VCL customization, or extreme-scale media delivery.
Both front your origin and cache. Update DNS to point at the new CDN, set up origins with matching host headers, port Page Rules (Cloudflare) ↔ VCL (Fastly). Workers and Compute@Edge are not source-compatible — rewrite edge code. Critical: warm the cache during off-peak before cutting over to avoid origin overload.
Yes. Both have MCP servers installable via MCPizy (mcpizy install cloudflare and mcpizy install fastly). They work identically across Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, and any other MCP-compatible client. You can install both side by side and route queries in your agent's prompt.
AWS has the broadest service catalog, largest market share, and deepest enterprise footprint. GCP wins on data/AI (BigQuery, Vertex AI, TPU), networking simplicity, and developer UX in specific areas. Both are production-ready at any scale — the call is usually driven by existing team expertise and contracts.
AWS is the market leader with the broadest catalog. Azure is #2 with deep Microsoft enterprise integration (AD, Office, Windows Server, SQL Server, .NET) and strong government/regulated footing. Pick AWS for greenfield / open-source stacks; Azure for Microsoft-shop enterprises.
Kubernetes is the industry-standard orchestrator — massive ecosystem, every cloud supports it. HashiCorp Nomad is dramatically simpler (one binary, fewer abstractions), supports containers + VMs + raw executables, and is cheaper to operate for small-to-medium fleets.
Not sure? Run both side by side — swap between them in your AI agent with a single config line.