What is Fastly and how it is different from CDN?
Fastly is a global edge cloud platform designed to accelerate and secure websites, applications, and APIs by delivering content closer to end users.
It provides tools and services that enable developers to build fast, scalable, and secure digital experiences.
Key Features and Offerings
Content Delivery Network (CDN):
Fastly is a next-generation CDN that caches and serves content at the edge of the network, reducing latency and improving performance.
It uses a modern approach to caching, enabling developers to configure caching rules in real time.
Edge Computing:
Fastly provides an edge cloud platform that allows developers to execute custom logic close to users with its Compute@Edge offering.
This enables high-performance serverless applications and reduces the dependency on origin servers.
Real-Time Analytics:
Provides real-time visibility into traffic patterns and performance metrics, helping companies make data-driven decisions quickly.
Security Services:
DDoS Protection: Protects against Distributed Denial-of-Service attacks.
Web Application Firewall (WAF): Defends applications from common threats like SQL injection and cross-site scripting.
TLS/SSL Support: Ensures secure connections.
Bot Protection: Helps mitigate malicious bot traffic.
API and Developer Tools:
Fastly offers robust APIs that allow for automation, fine-grained control, and configuration of services.
Developers can instantly purge cache, update configurations, and deploy edge logic.
Video and Streaming:
Optimized for streaming video and audio with low latency and high-quality delivery.
Origin Shield:
Provides a centralized caching layer to reduce the load on origin servers, improving performance and availability.
How Fastly Works
Caching Content at the Edge: Fastly's servers (called Points of Presence or POPs) are distributed globally. When a user requests content, the request is routed to the closest Fastly server, reducing the distance data has to travel.
Dynamic and Static Content Delivery: Fastly is optimized for delivering both static (e.g., images, videos) and dynamic content (e.g., personalized content or API responses).
Customizable via VCL: Fastly allows developers to customize behavior using the Varnish Configuration Language (VCL).
Benefits
Performance:
Reduces latency by serving content closer to users.
Accelerates load times for web pages, APIs, and applications.
Flexibility for Developers:
Developers can configure caching, routing, and logic at the edge to meet their unique needs.
Scalability:
Fastly can handle sudden spikes in traffic without compromising performance.
Real-Time Changes:
Unlike traditional CDNs, Fastly allows real-time cache purging and updates without delays.
Companies That Use Fastly
Many major companies rely on Fastly for delivering fast and secure experiences, including:
Spotify: For delivering music streams quickly to users.
GitHub: For fast code repository access.
Reddit: For reducing latency and handling high traffic.
The New York Times: For fast content delivery.
Competitors
Fastly competes with other CDNs and edge platforms such as:
Akamai
Cloudflare
Amazon CloudFront
Microsoft Azure CDN
Why Use Fastly?
Fastly is ideal for businesses that prioritize speed, flexibility, and security and need a platform that supports modern development practices. Its real-time configurability and edge computing capabilities make it a preferred choice for developers building scalable and high-performing digital experiences.
How it is different from CDN?
Key Features and Offerings
Content Delivery Network (CDN):
Fastly is a next-generation CDN that caches and serves content at the edge of the network, reducing latency and improving performance.
It uses a modern approach to caching, enabling developers to configure caching rules in real time.
Edge Computing:
Fastly provides an edge cloud platform that allows developers to execute custom logic close to users with its Compute@Edge offering.
This enables high-performance serverless applications and reduces the dependency on origin servers.
Real-Time Analytics:
Provides real-time visibility into traffic patterns and performance metrics, helping companies make data-driven decisions quickly.
Security Services:
DDoS Protection: Protects against Distributed Denial-of-Service attacks.
Web Application Firewall (WAF): Defends applications from common threats like SQL injection and cross-site scripting.
TLS/SSL Support: Ensures secure connections.
Bot Protection: Helps mitigate malicious bot traffic.
API and Developer Tools:
Fastly offers robust APIs that allow for automation, fine-grained control, and configuration of services.
Developers can instantly purge cache, update configurations, and deploy edge logic.
Video and Streaming:
Optimized for streaming video and audio with low latency and high-quality delivery.
Origin Shield:
Provides a centralized caching layer to reduce the load on origin servers, improving performance and availability.
How Fastly Works
Caching Content at the Edge: Fastly's servers (called Points of Presence or POPs) are distributed globally. When a user requests content, the request is routed to the closest Fastly server, reducing the distance data has to travel.
Dynamic and Static Content Delivery: Fastly is optimized for delivering both static (e.g., images, videos) and dynamic content (e.g., personalized content or API responses).
Customizable via VCL: Fastly allows developers to customize behavior using the Varnish Configuration Language (VCL).
Benefits
Performance:
Reduces latency by serving content closer to users.
Accelerates load times for web pages, APIs, and applications.
Flexibility for Developers:
Developers can configure caching, routing, and logic at the edge to meet their unique needs.
Scalability:
Fastly can handle sudden spikes in traffic without compromising performance.
Real-Time Changes:
Unlike traditional CDNs, Fastly allows real-time cache purging and updates without delays.
Companies That Use Fastly
Many major companies rely on Fastly for delivering fast and secure experiences, including:
Spotify: For delivering music streams quickly to users.
GitHub: For fast code repository access.
Reddit: For reducing latency and handling high traffic.
The New York Times: For fast content delivery.
Competitors
Fastly competes with other CDNs and edge platforms such as:
Akamai
Cloudflare
Amazon CloudFront
Microsoft Azure CDN
Why Use Fastly?
Fastly is ideal for businesses that prioritize speed, flexibility, and security and need a platform that supports modern development practices. Its real-time configurability and edge computing capabilities make it a preferred choice for developers building scalable and high-performing digital experiences.
Why Use Fastly Instead of a CDN?
Fastly is a great choice if:
You need real-time caching and purging for fresh content delivery.
Your application involves dynamic content or personalized experiences.
You want to execute custom logic at the edge, closer to your users.
You prioritize developer-friendly APIs and modern tools.
You need real-time performance monitoring and security at scale.
In contrast, traditional CDNs are better suited for simpler use cases like delivering large amounts of static content (e.g., images, videos, software downloads) with less need for customization.
Image Source:-Wikipedia