Fastly vs KeyCDN
A comparison of Fastly and KeyCDN built from values read directly from each provider's own documentation, with the source recorded against every figure.
The short answer
- Pick Fastly if
- High-traffic sites where volume-discount tiers actually kick in, or teams that want CDN and edge compute (Fastly Compute) on the same platform.
- Pick KeyCDN if
- Low-commitment testing or small sites — no free tier, but the $4/month floor and no-commitment billing make it cheap to try against real traffic.
4 sourced criteria separate them:
- Free tier
- Fastly: Yes
- KeyCDN: No
- Pricing model
- Fastly: Usage-based with built-in volume-discount tiers — the per-GB and per-request rate falls as monthly usage rises.
- KeyCDN: Pay-as-you-go, tiered by volume, with no commitment required.
- Egress over allowance
- Fastly: North America/Europe: free for 0-100 GB, then $0.12/GB for 100 GB-10 TB, $0.08/GB for the next 10 TB.
- KeyCDN: $0.04/GB for North America and Europe, first 10 TB per month.
- Image optimization
- Fastly: Image Optimizer: $0.50 per 10,000 requests for 100K-10M monthly requests, with volume discounts scaling down to $0.01 per 10,000 requests beyond 5 billion monthly requests.
- KeyCDN: Image Processing: $0.40 per 1,000 operations, transforming and optimizing images in real time via query parameters.
Pick the criteria you care about. The chart counts how many of them lean toward each provider — the same read as scanning the bars below, just totalled for the ones you chose.
Fastly 0
KeyCDN 0
At a glance.
| Criterion | Fastly | KeyCDN |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | ||
| Free tier | Yes | No |
| Pricing model | Usage-based with built-in volume-discount tiers — the per-GB and per-request rate falls as monthly usage rises. | Pay-as-you-go, tiered by volume, with no commitment required. |
| Egress over allowance | North America/Europe: free for 0-100 GB, then $0.12/GB for 100 GB-10 TB, $0.08/GB for the next 10 TB. | $0.04/GB for North America and Europe, first 10 TB per month. |
| CDN | ||
| Image optimization | Image Optimizer: $0.50 per 10,000 requests for 100K-10M monthly requests, with volume discounts scaling down to $0.01 per 10,000 requests beyond 5 billion monthly requests. | Image Processing: $0.40 per 1,000 operations, transforming and optimizing images in real time via query parameters. |
Where they differ.
Free tier
- Fastly
- Yes
- KeyCDN
- No
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Fastly Pricing ↗
“100 GB free bandwidth. 1 Million free requests. 5 domains free for TLS. 100,000 free image requests. 10 Million Compute requests free.”
Read 2026-09-11 · official pricing
- KeyCDN Pricing ↗
“Minimum charge is $4 per month based on the combined total account traffic volume and other services used. [No free trial mentioned.]”
Read 2026-09-11 · official pricing
Pricing model
- Fastly
- Usage-based with built-in volume-discount tiers — the per-GB and per-request rate falls as monthly usage rises.
- KeyCDN
- Pay-as-you-go, tiered by volume, with no commitment required.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Fastly Pricing ↗
“Spend less as you use more with our built-in pricing tiers.”
Read 2026-09-11 · official pricing
- KeyCDN Pricing ↗
“Get access to our entire content delivery network without commitment.”
Read 2026-09-11 · official pricing
Egress over allowance
- Fastly
- North America/Europe: free for 0-100 GB, then $0.12/GB for 100 GB-10 TB, $0.08/GB for the next 10 TB.
- KeyCDN
- $0.04/GB for North America and Europe, first 10 TB per month.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Fastly Pricing ↗
“0 - 100 GB: free. 100 GB - 10 TB: $0.12 per GB. Next 10 TB: $0.08 per GB.”
Read 2026-09-11 · official pricing
- KeyCDN Pricing ↗
“$0.04/GB [North America and Europe, first 10 TB per month].”
Read 2026-09-11 · official pricing
Image optimization
- Fastly
- Image Optimizer: $0.50 per 10,000 requests for 100K-10M monthly requests, with volume discounts scaling down to $0.01 per 10,000 requests beyond 5 billion monthly requests.
- KeyCDN
- Image Processing: $0.40 per 1,000 operations, transforming and optimizing images in real time via query parameters.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Fastly Pricing ↗
“Image Optimizer. 100,000 - 10 Million requests: $0.50 per 10,000 requests. [Scaling to] $0.01 per 10,000 requests beyond 5 billion monthly requests.”
Read 2026-09-11 · official pricing
- KeyCDN Pricing ↗
“Image Processing costs $0.40 per 1,000 operations. Transform and optimize images in real time with simple query parameters.”
Read 2026-09-11 · official pricing
When these numbers change, hear about it. Sources are re-checked monthly; a repricing goes out as a short note.
Which should you choose?
Choose Fastly if…
High-traffic sites where volume-discount tiers actually kick in, or teams that want CDN and edge compute (Fastly Compute) on the same platform.
Editorial · Palash Bagchi · approved
Choose KeyCDN if…
Low-commitment testing or small sites — no free tier, but the $4/month floor and no-commitment billing make it cheap to try against real traffic.
Editorial · Palash Bagchi · approved
Consider something else if…
- Fastly: Traffic is modest — the $1,500/month entry plan for dedicated network services is priced for scale a smaller site won't reach, where a pay-as-you-go CDN has no equivalent floor.
- KeyCDN: Bandwidth volume is large — $0.04/GB is the highest entry-tier bandwidth rate of the CDNs sourced here for North America/Europe.
Documented by only one.
These criteria are published by one provider and not the other. An absence here means we have not found a source, not that the feature is missing.
Questions this comparison answers.
Free tier: Fastly or KeyCDN?
Fastly: Yes
KeyCDN: No
Egress over allowance: Fastly or KeyCDN?
Fastly: North America/Europe: free for 0-100 GB, then $0.12/GB for 100 GB-10 TB, $0.08/GB for the next 10 TB.
KeyCDN: $0.04/GB for North America and Europe, first 10 TB per month.
Should I choose Fastly or KeyCDN?
Pick Fastly if High-traffic sites where volume-discount tiers actually kick in, or teams that want CDN and edge compute (Fastly Compute) on the same platform.
Pick KeyCDN if Low-commitment testing or small sites — no free tier, but the $4/month floor and no-commitment billing make it cheap to try against real traffic.