Cloudflare Workers vs Fly.io
Agent-native side-by-side. Scores are curated estimates on a 0–10 scale. Lock-in: higher = worse. Prefer JTBD picks via /api/decide when choosing for a job.
| Dimension | Cloudflare Workers | Fly.io |
|---|---|---|
| Overall | 8.5 | 8.3 |
| Capability fit | 8.6 | 8.8 |
| Price / performance | 9.2 | 8.2 |
| Latency / reliability | 9.2 | 8.0 |
| Developer & agent DX | 8.5 | 8.8 |
| Privacy / data retention | 8.0 | 7.8 |
| Lock-in risk (higher = worse) | 5.5 | 3.5 |
| Maturity / track record | 9.5 | 8.5 |
| Pricing | Request-based Workers + Durable Objects + R2 + Queues; generous free tier; CPU time limits. | Pay for machines/volumes/bandwidth; Firecracker VMs; scale-to-zero; Machines API for agents. |
| Tagline | Best edge runtime for lightweight agent gateways and tools. Heavy LLM loops still belong on Modal/Fly/GPU… | Excellent for globally distributed agent sidecars and Machines-based sandboxes. Prefer Railway/Render if you… |
Cloudflare Workers
Best edge runtime for lightweight agent gateways and tools. Heavy LLM loops still belong on Modal/Fly/GPU hosts. Strengths: Insane global edge; R2 zero-egress narrative; Durable Objects for agent state.
Strengths
- Insane global edge
- R2 zero-egress narrative
- Durable Objects for agent state
Weaknesses
- CPU/time limits constrain heavy agent loops
- Vendor-specific programming model
- Debugging distributed edge is hard
Fly.io
Excellent for globally distributed agent sidecars and Machines-based sandboxes. Prefer Railway/Render if you want less infra thinking. Strengths: Global edge VMs close to users; Machines API great for ephemeral agent workloads; WireGuard private networking.
Strengths
- Global edge VMs close to users
- Machines API great for ephemeral agent workloads
- WireGuard private networking
Weaknesses
- Ops complexity vs PaaS
- Support historically uneven
- Pricing surprises on egress/volumes
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