Cloudflare vs Fly.io Comparison
Compare Cloudflare vs Fly.io features, pricing, and more.
Last updated: November 2026
Cloudflare
7.6/10
Cloudflare is a global edge network. It offers CDN, DNS, DDoS protection and a WAF, plus serverless compute and storage (Workers, R2, D1) for developers and businesses.
Fly.io
5.9/10
Fly.io is a developer cloud that runs containerized apps as fast-booting Machines in regions worldwide, billed by usage, with managed Postgres and object storage.
Feature-by-Feature Comparison
| Feature | | |
|---|---|---|
| Scores | ||
| Overall Rating | 7.6/10 | 5.9/10 |
| Analytics | 7/10 | 5/10 |
| Cost | 9/10 | 7/10 |
| Customization | 8/10 | 8/10 |
| Ease of Use | 7/10 | 6/10 |
| Integration | 8/10 | 6/10 |
| Reliability | 7/10 | 4/10 |
| Scalability | 9/10 | 7/10 |
| Security | 9/10 | 6/10 |
| Support | 4/10 | 5/10 |
| Pricing | ||
| Free plan | Yes | No |
| Cheapest paid plan | $5/mo Workers Paid | $2/mo Pay-as-you-go (Machines) |
| Estimated cost for 10 users | Free Free | $2/mo Pay-as-you-go (Machines) |
| Features | ||
| Managed Databases | ||
| Object Storage | ||
| Uptime SLA | ||
| API and CLI | Not listed | |
| Automatic Backups | Not listed | |
| Cloud Compute | Not listed | |
| Content Delivery Network | Not listed | |
| DDoS Protection | Not listed | |
| Dedicated Servers | Not listed | |
| Free SSL Certificates | Not listed | |
| Multiple Regions | Not listed | |
| Serverless Functions | Not listed | |
| Shared Hosting | Not listed | |
Cloudflare vs Fly.io cost by team size
Cloudflare costs less at every team size we checked.
| Team size | Cloudflare | Fly.io |
|---|---|---|
| 1 user | FreeFree | $2/moPay-as-you-go (Machines) |
| 5 users | FreeFree | $2/moPay-as-you-go (Machines) |
| 10 users | FreeFree | $2/moPay-as-you-go (Machines) |
| 25 users | FreeFree | $2/moPay-as-you-go (Machines) |
| 50 users | FreeFree | $2/moPay-as-you-go (Machines) |
The plan that fits each team size, billed monthly, before add-ons and usage charges. Each cost opens that tool's pricing calculator for the team size.
Which One Should You Choose?
Why choose Cloudflare
- Has a free plan (Fly.io does not)
- Lower estimated cost for 10 users: Free vs $2/mo
- Higher Reliability score (7/10 vs 4/10)
- Higher Security score (9/10 vs 6/10)
- Better fit for enterprise (8/10 vs 5/10)
Why choose Fly.io
- Higher Support score (5/10 vs 4/10)
Pros & Cons
Cloudflare
Pros
- The free plan includes unmetered DDoS protection, a CDN, a WAF and universal SSL.
- R2 object storage charges no egress fees.
- Workers has very low entry pricing: a $5 monthly minimum and $0.30 per additional million requests.
- The Business plan adds a 100 percent uptime SLA and PCI DSS compliance for $200 a month billed annually.
Cons
- Reviewers report slow support on Free and Pro, which have no chat or phone support.
- Global outages in November and December 2025 disrupted many sites at the same time.
- Reviewers report billing problems, such as charges after cancelling add-ons.
- It offers no traditional shared hosting, VPS or dedicated servers, so you still need an origin host for conventional workloads.
Fly.io
Pros
- Very low entry cost: a small shared Machine is about $2.19 a month, and invoices under $5 are waived.
- Apps can run in many regions with Anycast routing and global load balancing included at no extra cost.
- Per-hour billing and one-year reserved blocks that save 40 percent give flexible ways to manage cost.
- Managed Postgres plans include high availability, automated backups and connection pooling.
- A HIPAA package with a pre-signed BAA costs $99 a month on any paid plan.
Cons
- Status trackers show recurring network and API incidents through 2025 and 2026, and the CEO admitted reliability problems in 2023.
- The 99.9% uptime SLA is available only with Enterprise support, which starts at $2,500 a month.
- Bills spread across Machines, volumes, egress, IPs and support, which makes costs harder to predict.
- Apps need a Dockerfile and a fly.toml, which adds setup work compared with buildpack-style PaaS products.
- Compute costs more in some regions, up to 1.615 times in Sao Paulo.
Not sold on either?
Frequently Asked Questions
Cloudflare scores higher on our Hosting & Infrastructure criteria: 7.6/10 against 5.9/10 for Fly.io. The largest gap is in Reliability: 7/10 for Cloudflare and 4/10 for Fly.io.
Cloudflare costs less for 10 users: free on its Free plan, against about $2/mo on its Pay-as-you-go (Machines) plan for Fly.io, billed monthly.
Cloudflare has a free plan; Fly.io does not list one.
Cloudflare is the better fit for enterprise: we rate it 8/10 for them, against 5/10 for Fly.io.
