What Fastly does

Fastly operates a programmable edge cloud platform serving enterprise digital businesses across retail, media, financial services, publishing, and gaming verticals. The platform combines content delivery, security, compute, and observability on a globally distributed network of fewer but more powerful software-defined Points of Presence, processing over 5 trillion daily requests across 578 Tbps of capacity. Core technical differentiators include Instant Purge technology (sub-150ms global cache invalidation), a Next-Gen WAF with ML-based SmartParse detection, and edge compute supporting JavaScript, Rust, Go, and WebAssembly workloads. The company serves 628 enterprise customers (>$100K ARR) representing over 90% of revenue, with named customers including Reddit, Universal Music Group, SeatGeek, Deliveroo, Wayfair, GIPHY, McKesson, and Alaska Airlines.

Fastly monetizes primarily through enterprise subscription contracts with usage-based pricing, complemented by free developer accounts that convert to paid at a $50 monthly usage threshold. Revenue is split across Network Services/CDN (73% of Q1 2026 revenue, $126.2M), Security (22%, $38.8M, growing 47% YoY), and Compute & Observability (5%, $8M, growing 67% YoY on AI demand). FY2025 revenue reached $624M (+15% YoY) with Q1 2026 hitting $173M (+20% YoY), and the company achieved its first full year of non-GAAP profitability ($19.7M). Go-to-market combines direct enterprise sales, product-led growth for developers, and a growing channel partner program with distributors in the Philippines and channel managers across APAC. Recent strategic moves include partnerships with Skyfire (AI agent commerce), LALIGA (anti-piracy), and Google (Ad Tag Gateway), plus convertible notes financings of $150M and $160M in late 2024 and 2025.

Name

Fastly

Legal name

Fastly, Inc.

Website

https://fastly.com

Company type

Public

Founded year

2011

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1,001–5,000 employees

Short description

Fastly operates a programmable edge cloud platform combining CDN, security, compute, and observability for 628 enterprise customers across retail, media, financial services, and publishing, generating $624M in FY2025 revenue.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Edge Cloud Platform / Content Delivery Network

NAICS

Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (5182), Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (518210)

SIC

Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370), Services-Computer Processing & Data Preparation (7374)

akta.pro primary industry

Load Balancing & Application Delivery (ADC, Global Load Balancing) (HDABAGAF)

akta.pro secondary industries

Edge Security Delivery (DDoS, WAF, Bot Mitigation at Edge) (HDABAGAH), Managed Application Platforms (App PaaS & Runtime Services) (HDABAAAD)

Keywords

• Edge cloud platform
• Content delivery network
• Web application firewall
• DDoS protection services
• Edge computing services

Headquarters

HQ city

San Francisco

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Infrastructure, Technology or R&D, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations

Revenue model

1. Network Services (CDN): Core content delivery network services providing fast, personalized global content delivery. This is the largest revenue stream, with Q1 2026 Network Services revenue of $126.2 million representing 73% of total revenue, growing 11% year-over-year. Revenue is generated through subscription contracts with customers paying based on usage tiers and committed volumes.
2. Security Services: Security products including Next-Gen WAF, DDoS Protection, Bot Management, API Discovery, and Client-Side Protection. Security revenue grew 47% year-over-year to $38.8 million in Q1 2026, representing 22% of total revenue. This has been the fastest-growing segment for four consecutive quarters, driven by expanding customer adoption beyond the flagship WAF into newer offerings.
3. Compute and Observability: Edge compute services (including AI workloads), real-time logging, and observability products. Compute revenue surged 67% year-over-year to $8 million in Q1 2026, driven by rising AI-related demand for edge inference and agentic AI workloads. This segment represents the emerging growth opportunity from AI infrastructure adoption.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Fastly operates a programmable edge cloud platform that combines content delivery, security, edge compute, and observability into a unified stack for digital businesses. The platform serves enterprise customers with services including Content Delivery Network (CDN), Next-Gen Web Application Firewall (WAF), DDoS Protection, Bot Management, Edge Compute for serverless workloads, and real-time observability tools. Its infrastructure is built on software-defined Points of Presence (POPs) distributed globally, processing over 5 trillion daily requests across 578 Tbps of capacity.

Product overview

Fastly operates a programmable edge cloud platform organized into four core product pillars: Network Services (Content Delivery / CDN, Live Streaming, Video on Demand, Media Shield, Image Optimizer, Load Balancer, TLS Encryption, Object Storage, HTTP/3 & QUIC), Security (Next-Gen WAF, Bot Management, AI Bot Management, DDoS Protection, API Security, Client-Side Protection), Compute (Edge Compute, Enterprise Serverless, Key Value Store, Websockets & Fanout, Programmable Cache, Developer SDKs, AI with semantic caching, MCP Server), and Observability (Real-time Logging, Edge Observer, Domain Inspector, Origin Inspector, Alerts, Log Explorer & Insights). The platform is complemented by the Sustainability Dashboard for emissions reporting, and Fastly serves enterprise customers across retail, media, financial services, and gaming verticals. The Next-Gen WAF is powered by the acquired Signal Sciences technology, and Fanout's real-time push capability was integrated into Fastly's product portfolio following its 2022 acquisition.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Content Delivery (CDN) Fastly's core content delivery network providing fast, personalized global content delivery through a programmable edge cloud platform with instant purge, multi-CDN routing, and modern protocols including HTTP/3 and QUIC. Used by enterprises requiring high-performance global content distribution.
• Next-Gen WAF Modern web application and API security platform built on Signal Sciences technology, deploying in containers, clouds, on-premises, or at the edge. Uses SmartParse ML-based detection for high-accuracy threat classification with fewer false positives than regex-based WAFs. Almost 90% of customers run this product in blocking mode.
• Edge Compute Serverless edge compute platform enabling developers to build and deploy applications at the network edge using JavaScript, Go, Rust, or WebAssembly, with support for open standards and VCL (Varnish Configuration Language).
• Observability Suite of observability tools including Real-time Logging, Edge Observer for live and historical traffic data, Domain Inspector, Origin Inspector, Alerts, and Log Explorer & Insights, with over 30 logging endpoint integrations.
• DDoS Protection Automated mitigation of disruptive distributed denial-of-service attacks, leveraging Fastly's 578 Tbps global edge network capacity for volumetric attack absorption.
• Bot Management Detects and mitigates bot attacks across web properties and APIs, protecting against automated threats and account takeover attempts.
• AI Bot Management Specialized bot management product designed to stop AI bots from scraping website content, detecting and mitigating automated AI-driven data extraction threats.
• API Security Secures API endpoints with threat detection, access control, and monitoring for API-based architectures.
• Live Streaming Delivers seamless live streaming experiences with instant scaling and lower latency through Fastly's modern edge network.
• Media Shield Multi-CDN deployment optimizer that intelligently routes and load-balances traffic across multiple CDN providers to maximize resilience and performance.
• Enterprise Serverless Enterprise-grade serverless computing platform built on open standards and integrated with Fastly's full suite of security and delivery products.
• Key Value Store High-performance key-value data store accessible at the edge, operating as a fast, easy-to-use database tool for global state management.
• Websockets & Fanout Real-time messaging at global scale with complete personalization and easy setup, powered by the Fanout platform acquired by Fastly in 2022.
• Image Optimizer Rapid image processing at the edge, automatically optimizing image formats and delivery for faster page loads and reduced bandwidth.
• TLS Encryption Reduces the complexity of TLS certificate management with automated provisioning, renewal, and enforcement across the global edge network.
• Load Balancer Provides granular control over traffic routing decisions, enabling intelligent load balancing between origins, cloud providers, and regions.
• AI (Semantic Caching) Fastly AI product that accelerates AI workloads and improves efficiency through semantic caching, which stores AI-generated responses at the edge for reuse to reduce redundant LLM inference calls.
• MCP Server AI-powered control for Fastly services via the Model Context Protocol (MCP), enabling AI agents to programmatically manage and orchestrate Fastly edge infrastructure.
• Client-Side Protection Defends against client-side attacks including magecart, formjacking, and other JavaScript-based threats targeting website visitors.
• Domain Research API Provides instant, accurate domain name discovery and research capabilities for identifying and analyzing domain-level data.
• Programmable Cache Provides full programmatic access to Fastly's caching infrastructure, allowing developers to define custom cache keying, expiration, and invalidation logic at the edge.
• Sustainability Dashboard Provides daily-refreshed, account-specific electricity and emissions data broken down by country, bandwidth, and compute usage, supporting Scope 2 and Scope 3 GHG reporting aligned to the Greenhouse Gas Protocol.
• Fastly Ad Tag Gateway Product built in collaboration with Google that enables advertisers to serve Google tags from their own domains rather than from Google's infrastructure, extending Google's tag gateway programme to Fastly's CDN to deliver a 14% uplift in observed signals by bypassing browser privacy restrictions and ad blocker blocklists.

Quantifiable outcome

• Up to 32% faster time to first byte (TTFB) compared to other CDNs
• +7 more outcomes

Named customers21 records

Segments8 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration5 records

AI capability10 records

Feature6 records

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core, minor and regional.

• SkyfirecoreTechnology or Integration · 10 June 2026Fastly partnered with Skyfire to integrate identity and payment-backed credentials into its programmable edge cloud platform, enabling enterprises to securely identify, verify, and transact with AI agents in real time at global scale. The solution allows businesses to distinguish trusted, revenue-generating AI agents from malicious automation without re-architecting existing infrastructure, using verified KYC credentials and identity-based policies. Skyfire CEO noted the partnership aims to transform AI agent traffic from anonymous automation into accountable economic activity.
• Agentic AI FoundationminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 18 May 2026Fastly joined the Agentic AI Foundation as a Silver Member, contributing to open standards for agentic AI development. The Foundation added 43 new members in the past quarter bringing total membership to 180 organizations spanning financial services, government, academia, and enterprise technology. Organizations building production AI systems are increasingly choosing open standards over fragmented proprietary approaches.
• SOFTSWISSminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 6 May 2026Fastly is a confirmed speaker at Tech Race Summit 2026, a new high-load technology conference for the iGaming industry scheduled for September 10, 2026, in Warsaw, Poland. Fastly joins Amazon and Gcore as confirmed speakers addressing topics including high-load systems architecture, AI implementation at scale, cybersecurity, and cloud infrastructure. The event targets engineers, CTOs, and technology decision-makers.
• VST ECS Phils.regionalChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 16 April 2026VST ECS Phils. appointed as Fastly's first distributor in the Philippines, enabling expansion of content delivery and cybersecurity solutions to local enterprises. The partnership allows VST ECS to offer Fastly's edge-based services combining content delivery, edge computing, and web and API protection through its nationwide channel partner network. Fastly cited the Philippines as a growth opportunity driven by rising demand for faster and more secure digital services.
• LALIGAcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 9 April 2026Fastly and LALIGA partnered to develop AI-powered anti-piracy solutions for live sports streaming. LALIGA estimates piracy costs its clubs between $700-800 million annually. Fastly developed an intelligent detection system using AI and proprietary content signals to identify and remove illegal streams in real time, enabling rights holders to better protect intellectual property. LALIGA achieved 60% reduction in pirated streams in Spain during 2024/25 season through legal and technological measures.
• GooglecoreTechnology or Integration · 8 April 2026Fastly launched Fastly Ad Tag Gateway in collaboration with Google, enabling advertisers to serve Google tags from their own domains rather than from Google's infrastructure. The feature extends Google's tag gateway program to Fastly's CDN, reportedly delivering 14% uplift in observed signals by routing tag traffic through first-party domains to bypass browser privacy restrictions and ad blocker blocklists. Fastly joins Cloudflare, Google Cloud Platform, and Akamai as CDN providers supporting this architecture.
• BlackpepperregionalTechnology or IntegrationBlackpepper, a digital marketing and eCommerce platform company serving multi-channel retailers across New Zealand and Australia, has maintained a decade-long partnership with Fastly. Blackpepper processes 5 billion requests per month using Fastly's infrastructure for content delivery, DDoS protection, Next-Gen WAF, and Bot Management. The partnership has automated security responses and eliminated manual interventions for attacks that previously occurred every two to three days. Blackpepper has recently expanded to the UK market using Fastly's infrastructure.

Scale indicators17 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Emerging players

• StackPath: StackPath provides edge computing, CDN, and security services targeted at developers and SMBs. Smaller scale direct peer in edge compute and security with similar PLG orientation.
• Imperva: Imperva specializes in web application and API protection (WAF, bot management, DDoS) — direct overlap with Fastly's Next-Gen WAF and Bot Management. Thales-owned, focused on security rather than CDN/compute.
• Vercel: Vercel operates an edge platform (via Next.js and Edge Functions) with CDN, serverless compute, and security. Competes with Fastly in developer-led edge compute deployments, particularly for front-end workloads.

Direct peers

• Cloudflare: Cloudflare operates a competing edge cloud platform with CDN, security (WAF, DDoS, bot management), and serverless compute (Workers). It is Fastly's closest direct competitor across all four product pillars (Network, Security, Compute, Observability).
• Akamai Technologies: Akamai is the legacy CDN market leader offering content delivery, edge security (including WAF and bot management), and edge compute. Directly competes with Fastly in media delivery, streaming, and enterprise CDN contracts.
• Edgio: Edgio (formed via Limelight + Verizon Media/CDN Edgecast merger) competes directly with Fastly in CDN, edge compute, and media delivery. A smaller, more narrowly focused direct peer often competing in media and streaming segments.
• F5: F5 (via NGINX and Distributed Cloud Services) provides ADC, load balancing, and API security — overlapping with Fastly's load balancing, API security, and WAF offerings. Particularly relevant for hybrid and on-premises-to-edge deployments.

Broad incumbents

• Amazon CloudFront: AWS CloudFront is the hyperscaler CDN bundled with broader AWS infrastructure. Competes head-to-head with Fastly on price and integrated cloud origin economics — notably mentioned by Fastly customer SeenThis as the prior provider they switched from.
• Google Cloud CDN: Google Cloud CDN is bundled within Google Cloud Platform and includes Cloud Armor for security. Co-opetitive with Fastly: Google partnered with Fastly for the Ad Tag Gateway but also offers a competing CDN/security stack to enterprise GCP customers.
• Microsoft Azure Front Door: Azure Front Door provides CDN, WAF, and DDoS protection within the Azure ecosystem. Competes with Fastly in enterprise deals where Azure is the primary cloud, often through bundled pricing.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/Fastly
• YouTubeyoutube.com/@Fastly-Inc
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/fastly
• Instagraminstagram.com/fastlyinc
• Facebookfacebook.com/FastlyEdgeCloud

Compliance5 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles13 records

Subsidiaries2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds9 records

Investors13 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A5 records

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Fastly