Fastly vs Akamai(2026)
Fastly is better for teams that need excellent performance. Akamai is the stronger choice if most reliable cdn for enterprise. Fastly is paid (from $0.12/GB) and Akamai is paid (from Custom enterprise pricing).
Full feature breakdown, pricing details, and pros & cons below.
By Bikram Nath
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Fastly
Fastly is an edge cloud platform with CDN, streaming delivery, and compute@edge capabilities used by Shopify and GitHub.
Starting at $0.12/GB
Visit Fastly
Akamai
Akamai is the world's largest and most reliable CDN and cloud security platform, serving enterprise customers globally.
Starting at Custom enterprise pricing
Visit AkamaiHow Do Fastly and Akamai Compare on Features?
| Feature | Fastly | Akamai |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | paid | paid |
| Starting price | $0.12/GB | Custom enterprise pricing |
| CDN | ✓ | — |
| Compute@Edge (WebAssembly) | ✓ | — |
| Image optimization | ✓ | — |
| Streaming | ✓ | — |
| Security (WAF) | ✓ | — |
| Real-time analytics | ✓ | — |
| Largest edge network (350,000+ servers) | — | ✓ |
| DDoS protection | — | ✓ |
| Web application firewall | — | ✓ |
| Media delivery | — | ✓ |
| API security | — | ✓ |
| Bot mitigation | — | ✓ |
Fastly Pros and Cons vs Akamai
Fastly
Akamai
Should You Use Fastly or Akamai?
For most teams, Fastly is the better default: it offers excellent performance and is paid (from $0.12/GB). Choose Akamai instead if most reliable cdn for enterprise matters more than no real free tier. There is no universal winner — the right pick depends on your budget, team size, and whether you value excellent performance or most reliable cdn for enterprise more.
Choose Fastly if…
- •Excellent performance
- •Compute@Edge is powerful
- •Real-time config changes
Choose Akamai if…
- •Most reliable CDN for enterprise
- •Largest PoP network
- •Best DDoS protection