Fastly vs Akamai
CDN & Edge pricing comparison · 2026
Fastly costs $50–$6,000/mo, while Akamai costs $5–$1,665/mo. These products use different pricing models (Per-seat subscription vs ), so a direct price comparison isn't meaningful — costs depend on usage volume and mix.
Fastly
Fastly is a premium edge cloud platform and CDN built on a heavily customized version of V
verified 4mo ago
$3.2K
$31K
Akamai
Akamai Connected Cloud (formerly Linode) offers publicly listed compute pricing starting a
verified 9w ago
$3.2K
$31K
Recorded annual contract medians
Akamai
median is
$28K
less than
Fastly
· different customer contracts; not a quote
Cheapest
$3.2K
Spread
90%
Estimated license cost
at 25 seats
List price × seats. Click a tier below to lock it.
Basic
$18K/yr
year 1 license · flat plan price
Linode 2GB (Shared CPU)
$3.6K/yr
year 1 license · $12/seat
What buyers actually pay
median, annual
Vendr deal-flow data. The real benchmark, not list price.
Median annual
$31K/yr
Vendr · n=128
avg 17% negotiated
↓ Lowest median
Median annual
$3.2K/yr
Vendr · n=37
REF · 01
Sources & confidence
Every dollar amount and contract clause below traces back to a sourced fact. We don't manufacture composite scores.
Where this data comes from
Vendr · TrustRadius · Reddit · BBB · official docs
Sources
14 sourced facts
8 hidden-cost · 3 contract · Vendr median · 2 review platforms
Last verified
3mo ago
Confidence
Medium confidence
Sources
5 sourced facts
3 hidden-cost · 1 contract · Vendr median
Last verified
2mo ago
Confidence
Medium confidence
REF · 02
Plans at a glance
Every tier per product. Lock one to drive the cost row above and reveal a tier-specific outbound CTA.
Tier ladder
Click a tier to lock the cost row to it. Locking surfaces a tier-specific Visit CTA.
REF · 04
Contract terms
The fine print, surfaced. Green = buyer-friendly. Each clause backed by a quoted source.
Fastly
Akamai
Auto-renewal
Yes
—
Cancellation
Requires support ticket - no self-service cancellation available
—
Commitment
✓
Monthly for Usage plan; annual options available for packages
Volume-based traffic commits typical for enterprise customers
Price escalation
No published schedule, but growth can lead to rapid cost increases due to bandwidth-based pricing
—
Can downgrade
No
—
REF · 05
What users say
Aggregated, with sample sizes. We use whichever review platform has data.
User reviews
TrustRadius · Trustpilot · G2
Decide
Get a quote from each vendor
Each link opens the vendor's pricing page in a new tab.
License cost is computed from publicly listed plans (real math, list price × seats).
Median annual cost is from Vendr's deal flow when available — see source badges.
Hidden costs and contract terms each cite their own sources. We do not invent composite scores.
VS
Fastly and Akamai both operate in the cdn & edge category. This page compares their list pricing.
Plan-by-Plan Pricing
| Plan | Fastly | Akamai |
|---|---|---|
| Usage (Pay-As-You-Go) | $50 /month | $5 /month |
| Basic | $1.5K /month | $12 /month |
| Starter | $6K /month | $24 /month |
| Advantage | Custom | $48 /month |
| Enterprise | Custom | $36 /month |
| Ultimate | Custom | $60 /month |
| GPU RTX 4000 Ada (entry) | — | $350 /month |
| GPU RTX 6000 Quadro (entry) | — | $1K /month |
| GPU RTX Pro 6000 Blackwell (1-card) | — | $1.7K /month |
Market Intelligence
Fastly
- Median annual cost
- $31,465
- Average negotiated discount
- 17%
- Based on
- 128 deals
Akamai
- Median annual cost
- $3,200
- Based on
- 37 deals
Contract Terms
| Term | Fastly | Akamai |
|---|---|---|
| Auto-renewal | Yes | — |
| Cancellation | Requires support ticket - no self-service cancellation available | — |
| Minimum commitment | Monthly for Usage plan; annual options available for packages | Volume-based traffic commits typical for enterprise customers |
| Price escalation | No published schedule, but growth can lead to rapid cost increases due to bandwidth-based pricing | — |
| Can downgrade | No | — |