CloudFront vs Fastly: Pricing Considerations

The article provides a detailed comparison of the pricing and use cases for two major content delivery networks (CDNs), Fastly and AWS CloudFront, exploring their cost-effectiveness, performance, and practical applications. Using examples from companies like LaunchDarkly and Slack, it highlights how Fastly's edge computing capabilities enable rapid, low-latency responses, while CloudFront excels in bandwidth efficiency, particularly benefiting API-driven applications. The analysis reveals that CloudFront can be substantially cheaper than Fastly in certain scenarios, but Fastly can flip the cost advantage with specific architectural adjustments. The discussion also touches on the broader factors influencing CDN selection, such as feature sets, developer experience, vendor lock-in, and the potential impact of financial commitment programs like AWS's Security Savings Bundle. The choice between Fastly and CloudFront ultimately depends on specific usage patterns and architectural requirements, demonstrating that cloud and CDN costs are closely tied to the underlying infrastructure and operational strategies.