Fastly: The Edge Cloud Platform for Speed, Security, and Scale

Overview

Fastly is an American web infrastructure company based in San Francisco. It was founded in March 2011 by Artur Bergman and Simon Wistow. Fastly describes itself as an edge cloud platform that helps developers run, secure, and deliver websites and applications as close to the end user as possible. By moving execution to the edge, Fastly enables real-time experiences at global scale, robust security against AI-scale threats, and programmable control over content delivery.

Benefits

Fastly's platform is designed to resolve complexity at scale, offering a unified solution for performance, security, and observability. Unlike traditional CDNs that focus primarily on caching static content, Fastly provides a programmable edge that allows for real-time configuration changes, custom logic execution, and deep visibility into traffic. This approach helps organizations achieve:-Real-time experiences: Deliver dynamic content and personalized experiences instantly.-Security: Protect apps and APIs from bots, DDoS attacks, and malicious traffic.-Speed: Achieve sub-millisecond Time to First Byte (TTFB) and faster load times.-Control: Gain full programmability to customize delivery logic without touching origin servers.

Use Cases

Fastly powers the world's leading media brands, e-commerce platforms, and SaaS companies. Key products and services include:

1. Content Delivery Network (CDN)

Fastly's cloud CDN accelerates the delivery of dynamic and static content. Key features include:-Instant Purge: Invalidate cached content globally in under 150 milliseconds, enabling real-time updates.-Dynamic Content Delivery: Optimized for event-driven and unpredictable content.-Streaming Media: Supports live media streaming, video on demand (VOD) with just-in-time transmuxing, and multi-CDN optimization (Media Shield).-Image Optimization: Reduces page load times and improves user experience.-Load Balancing: Provides real-time visibility and traffic management.-TLS Encryption: Terminates secure connections at the edge to offload traffic from origin servers.

2. Edge Computing (Fastly Compute)

Fastly Compute allows developers to run serverless code in a secure, microsecond execution environment at the edge. Built on WebAssembly, it supports languages like JavaScript, Python, and Go. Use cases include:- Running custom logic closer to users to reduce latency.- Accelerating AI workloads with semantic caching.- Processing data in real-time without sending it to the origin.- Key-value and object storage services for edge applications.

3. Security Solutions

Fastly offers a comprehensive suite of security products designed to protect against modern threats:-Web Application Firewall (WAF): Next-Gen WAF blocks malicious actors at the edge, protecting against application-layer attacks.-Bot Management: Classifies automated traffic at the network edge to allow, challenge, or block bots, including AI crawlers and scrapers.-DDoS Protection: Automatically mitigates application-layer DDoS attacks using the network's massive bandwidth.-API Security: Provides API discovery, enforcement, and abuse mitigation.-Data Privacy: Tools to protect personally identifiable information (PII) and browsing history.

4. Observability

Fastly provides real-time and historical visibility into traffic, system health, and suspicious activity:-Logging: Customizable logging endpoints for real-time insights.-Domain Inspector: Tracks every domain request, byte, and status code.-Origin Visibility: Granular metrics on origin server performance.-Carbon Footprint Dashboard: Tracks electricity consumption and GHG emissions to understand the digital carbon footprint.

Pricing

Pricing details are not available in the provided article.

Vibes

Customers report significant improvements when using Fastly. Notable benefits reported by customers include:-Performance: 24% faster load times and 33% better TTFB compared to previous providers.-Security: 95% reduction in bot traffic and significant reductions in bandwidth and cloud storage costs.-Cost Efficiency: Reductions in operating costs and delivery costs through optimized caching and edge computing.-Speed to Market: Rapid integration (e.g., fully integrated in 20 days for a major client) and the ability to deploy new features quickly.

Additional Information

Fastly has a rich history and continues to grow. Key details include:-Founding: Established in 2011 by Artur Bergman and Simon Wistow.-Growth: Raised $50 million in funding in September 2015.-Acquisitions: Acquired Signal Sciences (cybersecurity) in August 2020 for $775 million and Domain Status in August 2023.-Leadership Changes: Joshua Bixby served as CEO from 2020 to 2024. Kip Compton was appointed CEO in June 2025. Joan Jenkins was appointed Chief Marketing Officer in March 2026.-Stock Listing: In November 2025, Fastly transferred its listing from the NYSE to the Nasdaq Global Select Market, trading under the ticker symbol FSLY.-Financials: As of 2025, the company reported revenues of approximately $1.5 billion.

Fastly operates a powerful global network designed for efficiency and speed. The network has over 622 Tbps of edge network capacity. It achieves sub-millisecond TTFB at the 99th percentile and a regional mean purge time of less than 150ms. The platform serves over 5 trillion daily requests. The architecture uses fewer, more powerful Points of Presence (POPs) compared to competitors, fully software-defined for maximum flexibility.

Fastly is built by developers and driven by values such as transparency, integrity, and inclusion. The company emphasizes:-Endless Spirit of Service: Respecting privacy and not exploiting customer data.-Open Source: Offering free services for open-source and nonprofit projects.-Innovation: Continuously moving data and applications to the edge to improve the internet.-Ethical Team: Fostering a kind, inclusive, and passionate workforce.

Fastly represents a modern approach to web infrastructure, combining the reliability of a CDN with the flexibility of edge computing and advanced security. By enabling developers to control delivery logic in real-time, Fastly helps organizations deliver fast, secure, and personalized digital experiences at global scale, adapting to the evolving demands of the modern internet.