shouldiuse.io

Comparison

Fastly vs Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Fastly and Amazon Web Services (AWS) both land on Depends.

Fastly

Depends
Confidence: Low

Buy if you run high-traffic media, ecommerce, or streaming with engineers to run a programmable edge.

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Depends
Confidence: High

Buy if you run serious infrastructure at scale and have engineers to manage cost, config, and security.

Fastly versus Amazon Web Services (AWS)
CompareFastlyAmazon Web Services (AWS)
VerdictDependsDepends
Best forHigh-traffic media and streamingEnterprise engineering orgs
Who it's not forSmall blogs and low-traffic sitesSmall sites and simple apps . massive overkill
PrivacyNo known public vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.Mature security organization with public CVEs and customer-side breaches on record; shared responsibility means misconfigurations are on you.13
Support qualityPromises migration partnership; claims only, no review dataTrustpilot 'Bad' at 1.3/5
Public sentimentNearly all evidence is Fastly marketing; cited customers praise speed, cost, and fast rollout, with no independent review data.¹Review volume is enormous, but customer sentiment on Trustpilot is poor while marketplace ratings run higher.
Biggest gotchaUsage-based billing can spike with traffic; 'predictable pricing, no surprises' is asserted, no rates published³Managed services create lock-in; migrating off later is slow and expensive

Pick Fastly when

  • High-traffic media and streaming
  • Global ecommerce
  • Engineering teams wanting programmable edge
  • Enterprises leaving legacy CDNs

When Fastly is not a fit

  • Small blogs and low-traffic sites
  • Teams without DevOps engineers
  • Buyers wanting flat monthly bills
  • Anyone wanting published self-serve pricing

Pick Amazon Web Services (AWS) when

  • Enterprise engineering orgs
  • Apps with spiky global traffic
  • Teams with dedicated DevOps/FinOps
  • Compliance-heavy regulated workloads

When Amazon Web Services (AWS) is not a fit

  • Small sites and simple apps . massive overkill
  • Non-technical founders with no DevOps staff
  • Anyone needing predictable monthly bills
  • Teams that won't own security configuration

Sources

  1. Fastly homepagefastly.com
    official
  2. official
  3. official
  4. official
  5. security
  6. Fastly on LinkedInlinkedin.com
    official
  7. review
  8. review
  9. review
  10. review
  11. official
  12. AWS Securityaws.amazon.com
    official
  13. security
  14. security
  15. news
  16. news