Val Town vs Fastly Compute@Edge
A detailed comparison to help you choose between Val Town and Fastly Compute@Edge.
Quick Verdict
3.6/5
Val Town
0 reviews
3.8/5
Fastly Compute@Edge
0 reviews
Fastly Compute@Edge is rated higher (3.8 vs 3.6). Val Town is a social site for writing and running serverless JavaScript snippets. Create functions (vals) that run on HTTP, on a schedule, or in response to emails. Collaborative and public by default. 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.
Val Town Serverless JavaScript snippets with HTTP endpoints |  Fastly Compute@Edge Serverless on Fastly's programmable CDN edge | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Rating | 3.6 (0 reviews) | 3.8 (0 reviews)✓ |
| Pricing model | freemium | freemium |
| Starting price | Free tier available | Free tier available |
| Best for | Developers and small teams who want script-shaped automations, small APIs, and cron jobs running on real URLs without managing any infrastructure | Latency-sensitive edge logic — personalization, auth, routing, API gateways, streaming — especially for teams already on Fastly's CDN or requiring per-request sandbox isolation |
| 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 tierus datacenter | free tierapi accesseu datacenterus datacenterapac datacenter |
| Visit Val Town → | Visit Fastly Compute@Edge → | |
Val Town
Pros
- + Fastest path from script to a live HTTPS URL we've seen — no infra setup at all
- + Genuinely usable free tier: 100,000 runs/day, unlimited public vals
- + Published per-plan limits in one place (runs, wall-clock time, memory, cron frequency)
- + SQLite, blob storage, email send/receive, and a documented HTTP API included
- + Version history, branching, and PR-style collaboration built into the code model
Cons
- - JavaScript/TypeScript only, on a web-standard runtime
- - No public datacenter locations, no SLA outside custom Enterprise deals
- - Private vals and custom domains are paid-only; public-by-default is the free posture
- - 1–10 minute execution caps and 3–10 day log retention limit production use
- - Seed-stage company — plan names and pricing have already shifted more than once
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
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