Fastly Edge Cloud Platform

My primary use case for Fastly  is using it as a CDN  to speed up my customers' access to the applications.

A specific example of how Fastly  has helped improve my customers' access to the application is that it caches static content and makes it more quickly accessible to users. Additionally, internally it allows me to evolve through code and not go through configuration with many clicks as I had to do with other alternative products. Here  it allows me to integrate it directly into the code.

I consider the best features that Fastly offers to be cost and the ability to have it integrated into the code development flow.

I have noticed a significant difference in cost compared to other similar solutions.

Fastly has a wide number of configuration features that can be performed, and I emphasize that they can be done from code, which makes it much more traceable.

Fastly has positively impacted my organization by helping to obtain better solutions in less time and in a much more traceable way. A specific example that reflects that impact is that we have improvements in traceability by having the changes integrated into the Git  repositories and having the possibility of doing a rollback in the event of any problem in a very simple way.

I think Fastly could improve by improving the documentation and having some code examples so that it is easier for developers, since at the beginning it becomes a bit complicated.

I have been using Fastly for a year and a half.

I consider Fastly to be stable.

I rate the scalability of Fastly as very good.

I would describe Fastly's customer support as fast and efficient when I have had to use it. I rate customer support on a scale from 1 to 10 as eight.

I used CloudFront before Fastly, and I decided to switch because of this product's greater capabilities and lower costs.

I have seen a return on investment, particularly in time savings, especially regarding the changes.

In terms of price, I find it good, and as I mentioned, the implementation cost had some difficulty at the beginning due to the learning curve.

My advice to others who are considering using Fastly is that they evaluate it and not always think of using the native CDN  of the cloud they work in. I rate this review as a seven out of ten.

Fastly  serves as an Edge Cloud platform and CDN  that we use for real-time Edge Caching and instant caching purging, allowing us to update data globally within seconds. It sits between our enterprise users and backend servers, caching content, specifically candidate data, so we do not need to load that data every time.

Fastly 's caching and purging significantly improve our application performance and security by caching and delivering content from Edge locations closer to users, optimizing performance for our high traffic web app by caching static assets like candidate data and API responses at the Edge locations. When we call an API from the backend while requesting a page with candidate data, we initially store it in the Edge location after the first call, and subsequent calls use the cached content, blocking malicious traffic and filtering requests before they reach our servers.

We also use Fastly for cache purging to instantly update content across all Edge nodes, significantly reducing page load time, backend traffic, and improving the experience for our global users, especially in the European regions.

The best feature that Fastly offers is the Edge location, which reduces latency, making our applications work smoother because we do not have to constantly call the backend. Real-time Edge Caching is crucial for us as it enables efficient data retrieval without constant queries, while instant cache purging and powerful Edge computing capabilities instantly update data across all Edge nodes, reflecting changes globally in seconds.

Edge computing is excellent because it runs code closer to the user, utilizing WebAssembly for fast execution, and stands out with microsecond startup time, eliminating the need to hit backend APIs for logic execution. The key point is the secure, fast execution within microseconds.

Fastly positively impacts our organization by enhancing our application's performance through observability and Edge computing capability, as we needed to get data quickly, reducing latency for millions of users in European regions. We observed a 30 to 50% reduction in response time and a significant reduction in backend load of 40 to 60%, improving visibility through a real-time dashboard for monitoring traffic, errors, and performance.

We measure the 50% reduction in response time by checking the P95, where we assess how quickly 95% of APIs respond, after implementing Edge locations and caching data closer to users. Initially, we faced load time issues, but after deploying Fastly and optimizing our queries, we achieved a response time cut to less than 1 millisecond from an initial 3 to 4 seconds. We utilized a tool starting with S, specifically Sentry , to track API response times.

Fastly can be improved in certain areas such as VCL, which is powerful but has a steep learning curve for normal users. A more user-friendly, UI-based configuration could simplify the experience, alongside better templates for common use cases and dashboard improvements, as the current dashboard feels complex for beginners, and pricing can be hard to predict for smaller companies.

I chose 8 out of 10 because it has excellent performance and low latency delivery, making it suitable for larger applications, with strong Edge Caching and instant purging capabilities. However, VCL complexity and pricing predictability, especially for smaller companies, along with a user-friendly dashboard are areas impacting my score.

I have been currently working in my field for three years.

Fastly is quite stable according to my experience, being highly reliable for enterprise-scale applications with high uptime guarantees and strong global infrastructure, though no service can be 100% immune to outages.

Scalability-wise, Fastly proves very scalable, having supported our growth from 10,000 to 1 lakh users, seamlessly handling massive traffic without requiring backend changes due to its globally distributed Edge network and stateless API-driven design.

We have not needed customer support so far, but the 24/7 helpline is excellent for addressing critical issues, demonstrating the team's technical expertise in CDN  and Edge architecture.

Previously, we used Cloudflare , which provided similar CDN and security features but lacked the Edge computing capabilities we needed. Fastly offers the performance and control we want over caching logic, whereas Cloudflare  simplified setups but did not meet our growing performance requirements.

We purchased Fastly through the AWS Marketplace .

We see a clear return on investment with Fastly, mainly through improved performance, reduced infrastructure cost, and better user experience, realizing a 30 to 50% reduction in latency and page load time, ensuring users experience a seamless workflow, while reducing infrastructure costs by 40 to 60% because Edge Caching minimizes backend traffic, resulting in lower computing costs.

The pricing of Fastly can be hard to predict because it is primarily usage-based with minimal setup costs and flexible licensing. It operates on a pay-as-you-go structure, but costs scale with traffic, requiring monitoring to avoid unexpected spikes based on data transfers and the number of requests handled. Setup costs are low since no infrastructure needs provisioning, mainly focusing on DNS configurations, cache rules, and origin integration, with customized pricing for our enterprise needs including SLAs and support.

Before choosing Fastly, we evaluated Cloudflare, valuing its all-in-one solution for global coverage and security, but as we scaled, we found Fastly better suited our needs for more control over caching logic.

I advise others considering Fastly that if their application plans to grow significantly without increasing backend servers, this structure is very appropriate, making it ideal for startups building applications to enhance bandwidth over the years. I gave this product a rating of 8 out of 10.

I am using Fastly  in the Adobe Commerce  Cloud project. In this project, it is working as a reverse proxy for CDN  and WAF , web application firewall, additionally image optimization.

I am using Fastly  in the Adobe Commerce  Cloud project. In this project, it is working as a reverse proxy for CDN  and WAF , web application firewall, additionally image optimization.

For the e-commerce domain, many images are present and we require images to be in the best optimized manner to get optimized performance of the application. Additionally, protecting against bot rules, bot and miscellaneous IP for that, IP restriction.

I believe that Fastly should provide guidelines for their WAF blocking rules. It should be public what the rules are that are blocking their contents.

I believe Fastly should provide regional IP addresses instead of POP IPs.

Fastly should provide features similar to Cloudflare  regarding a block list. Additionally, a POP address should be there with a wide range of IP addresses provided, public static IP addresses, so customers can integrate egress IPs.

Fastly should provide WebP image processing on the backend instead of on the fly. It would be a very useful feature to avoid unnecessary time for browser to browser and local cookies.

I believe that Fastly service has a few gaps. We are not getting quick responses from Fastly technical support engineers. Sometimes they depend on their D3 developers. There should be transparency.

I have been using the solution for around six to seven years.

I believe that Fastly service has a few gaps. We are not getting quick responses from Fastly technical support engineers. Sometimes they depend on their D3 developers. There should be transparency.

Neutral

We offer two kinds of teams. We have predefined Fastly for Adobe Commerce Cloud and on-premises merchant, and multiple times we use Cloudflare .

We use Cloudflare for cost considerations for some customers.

My name is Parth Pandya and my job title is Technical Support Engineer at Adobe.

Fastly provides CDN, WAF, image optimization, and IP restriction.

I am a technical person, not working in sales, so I don't have specific metrics.

Overall, Fastly is good for performance, good for CDN, good for WAF, and average for services.

We are partners in Adobe Commerce Cloud.

I have rated Fastly 9 out of 10.