Fastly Compute@Edge vs Napkin
A detailed comparison to help you choose between Fastly Compute@Edge and Napkin.
Quick Verdict
3.8/5
Fastly Compute@Edge
0 reviews
3.5/5
Napkin
0 reviews
Fastly Compute@Edge is rated higher (3.8 vs 3.5). Fastly Compute@Edge runs WebAssembly serverless functions at Fastly's edge PoPs globally. Ultra-low latency, near-instant startup, and support for Rust, JavaScript, Go, and other WASM-compiled languages. Napkin lets you write and run Node.js and Python serverless functions directly in the browser with zero setup, deploying them as authenticated HTTP endpoints.
 Fastly Compute@Edge Serverless on Fastly's programmable CDN edge | Napkin Write and deploy Node.js and Python functions as HTTP endpoints from a browser editor | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Rating | 3.8 (0 reviews)✓ | 3.5 (0 reviews) |
| Pricing model | freemium | freemium |
| Starting price | Free tier available | Free tier available |
| Best for | Latency-sensitive edge logic — personalization, auth, routing, API gateways, streaming — especially for teams already on Fastly's CDN or requiring per-request sandbox isolation | Developers who need an HTTP endpoint today — webhooks, bots, scheduled automations, and prototypes — without opening a cloud console or running infrastructure. |
| Features | ||
| IPv6 | ✓ | |
| DDoS protection | ✓ | |
| Automated backups | ||
| Snapshots | ||
| Managed option | ||
| Bare metal | ||
| GPU available | ||
| S3-compatible | ||
| Hourly billing | ||
| Free tier | ||
| Data-center locations | ||
| Regions | 100+ city-level PoPs across North America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia/NZ | — |
| Tags | ||
| Tags | free tierapi accesseu datacenterus datacenterapac datacenter | free tier |
| Visit Fastly Compute@Edge → | Visit Napkin → | |
Fastly Compute@Edge
Pros
- + Per-request WebAssembly sandboxes with very fast startup — effectively no cold starts
- + Generous free allowances: 10 million requests and 100 million vCPU-milliseconds free every month
- + Billing by requests and vCPU only (duration meter removed for new purchases) rewards efficient code
- + Runs globally on Fastly's 100+ PoP network with HTTP/3, IPv6 and DDoS mitigation included
- + Official SDKs for Rust, JavaScript, Go and C++, plus KV Store, Secret Store, Object Store and Fanout
Cons
- - WASM compilation and capability-based sandboxing add real tooling friction versus mainstream serverless
- - Free-trial state on first deploy, account-type-dependent limits, and two legacy pricing regimes complicate planning
- - Edge state stores use Fastly-specific APIs — no S3-compatible or Redis-compatible interface
- - Outside the official SDK languages, you are a pioneer; long-running workloads do not fit
- - Production use pushes toward a sales conversation rather than pure self-serve
Napkin
Pros
- + Genuinely free plan: $0/month with 25,000 API calls, unlimited functions, custom domains, and team invites
- + One-click deploy from a browser editor — Node.js and Python, no cloud console or CLI required
- + Clear published limits: 500 MB/0.5 vCPU free (2 GB/2 vCPU Pro), 15s/30s timeouts, explicit rate caps
- + Endpoint SSL, auth, production logs, and scheduled triggers included on both tiers
- + Pro tier is capacity-only at $10 per user per month — no feature gating, no sales call
Cons
- - No published SLA, regions, or data residency; small-vendor reliability story
- - Free tier caps at 5 requests/second and a 15-second timeout — real design constraints
- - Browser-only workflow with no local development story and no obvious export path
- - Node.js and Python only — no Go, Rust, PHP, or Ruby runtimes
- - Stale limit figures circulate on marketing and third-party pages, so verify before budgeting
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