Cloudflare Pages vs Fly.io (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, we pick Cloudflare Pages: it is second in our ranking of web hosts, and it grades higher too, 2.8 against 2.2.
Checked Nov 12, 2026 · graded Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
Cloudflare Pages grades higher on value for money, the free plan and ease of use. Fly.io grades higher on features. They get the same grade on platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Cloudflare Pages
Git-based hosting for static sites and full-stack apps
Fly.io
Virtual machines and databases in 18 regions, billed per second
Which one is for you
Pick Cloudflare Pages if
- Fits if you run static sites or front-end apps and want no bandwidth bill
- Works for people already using Cloudflare DNS and Workers
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want a dynamic app on the free allowance, since Functions run on Workers billing
- Tight if you push often: 500 builds a month, one at a time, with a 20-minute build limit
- Not for you if a single file is over 25 MiB
- Watch out: Cloudflare recommends Workers for new projects, so Pages may not be where the work goes
Pick Fly.io if
- Fits if you want machines near users in several regions and are fine on the command line
- Works for apps that stop when idle and pay by the second
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want a free plan, as the trial is $1 for 7 days
- Not for you if you don't like a command line
- Pricey if you add a database: Managed Postgres starts at $38 a month
- Watch out: the prices quoted are for Ashburn and Secaucus, the cheapest regions, and a dedicated IPv4 is $2 a month
- Watch out: data out costs $0.02 per GB in North America and Europe and $0.12 in Africa and India
How we grade them
| 2.8GPACloudflare PagesGood | 2.2GPAFly.ioFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | AFree with no bandwidth charge for static requests, and the paid add-on is $5 a month, under the category's cheaper quarter of $5.28. | C$2.19 a month buys a 256MB machine, but the vendor's own example of a small app with Managed Postgres is about $44 a month, and Postgres starts at $38. |
| Free plan and trial | B500 builds a month, 100 projects and unlimited preview deployments, one build at a time. One person can live on it; Functions are capped at 100,000 requests a day. | CNew accounts get $1 of credit for 7 days with no card. That's a taste, not a plan. |
| Features | CGit and upload deploys, previews, Functions, rollbacks and a REST API. The gaps: docs point new projects to Workers, assets are capped at 25 MiB and dynamic apps aren't covered by the free allowance. | BMachines in 18 regions, launch from a repo, Managed Postgres, volumes, snapshots and free shared IPv4. The listing names no gap in the core job. |
| Ease of use | CNo store rating on record. You connect a repo, set a build command and manage domains, so there's setup work. | DNo store rating on record. The flow is built around its command line and a Dockerfile. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb only, but with GitHub, GitLab, Workers KV, Durable Objects, R2 and a REST API. | BWeb only, with GitHub, Slack, Tigris and Upstash and a CLI. |
| Best for | static sites with free bandwidth | small servers in many regions, billed by the second |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Cloudflare Pages and Fly.io. How we grade
Price against what you get
Cloudflare Pages starts at $5 a month and scores 2.3 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Fly.io starts at $2.19 a month and scores 2.3.
They score the same, and Fly.io starts $2.81 a month lower. Of the other web hosts on the chart, 1 scores higher than Cloudflare Pages for less, and 1 scores higher than Fly.io for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Cloudflare Pages also covers page speed.
- Fly.io also covers databases and AI agents.
At a glance
| Cloudflare Pages | Fly.io | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free trial |
| Starts at | $5 per month (Workers Paid, for Pages Functions usage) | $2.19 per month for the smallest Machine, pay as you go |
| Free plan | Unlimited static requests and bandwidth, 500 builds a month, 20,000 files per site, 100 projects, and Functions requests counted against 100,000 a day. | None |
| Free trial | None listed | New accounts get $1 of credit for 7 days, no card required. |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Cloudflare | Fly.io |
| Price read from | developers.cloudflare.com | fly.io |
| Checked | Nov 12, 2026 | Nov 12, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Cloudflare Pages
- Cloudflare's docs say Workers supports most Pages use cases and recommend starting new projects on Workers.
- The Free plan allows 500 builds a month, one at a time, with a 20-minute build timeout; Pro and Business raise this to 5,000 and 20,000.
- A single site asset can be at most 25 MiB, and a Pages account is limited to 100 projects.
- Functions usage is billed through a Workers plan, so dynamic apps are not covered by the free static allowance.
Fly.io
- There is no free plan; the trial is a $1 credit that lasts 7 days or until it is used up.
- Machine prices quoted are for Ashburn and Secaucus, the lowest-priced regions, and vary by region.
- Outbound data costs $0.02 per GB in North America and Europe and $0.12 per GB in Africa and India.
- A dedicated IPv4 address is $2 a month, and a small web app with Managed Postgres is about $44 a month by the vendor's own example.
Key features
Cloudflare Pages
- Git and direct upload deploys
- Each push to a connected GitHub or GitLab repository triggers a build, and sites can also be deployed by direct upload or the CLI.
- Preview deployments
- The limits page says projects can have an unlimited number of preview deployments active at once.
- Pages Functions
- Server-side code runs as Functions, with bindings to Workers KV and Durable Objects, and is billed as Workers requests.
- Free static bandwidth
- The pricing docs say static asset requests are free and unlimited on both free and paid plans.
- Rollbacks and custom domains
- The docs list rollbacks, custom domains, redirects and headers files, deploy hooks and branch deployment controls.
- REST API
- A REST API is documented for managing Pages projects and deployments.
Fly.io
- Fly Machines
- Fast-booting VMs for production apps, run in 18 regions, billed by the second while running and at a lower rate when stopped.
- Launch from GitHub or the CLI
- fly launch deploys an app from a repo or folder and generates a Dockerfile for many popular frameworks when none exists.
- Managed Postgres
- A managed database service, or you can run your own datastore on Machines with attached volumes.
- Sprites
- Hardware-isolated sandboxes that start quickly, stay on and scale to zero when idle, aimed at agents and untrusted code.
- Volumes and snapshots
- Persistent volumes cost $0.15 per GB a month and snapshots $0.08 per GB, with the first 10GB of snapshots free.
- Free shared IPv4 and certificates
- Apps get a shared IPv4 address and IPv6 addresses free, and the first 10 single-hostname SSL certificates are free.
Plans
Cloudflare Pages
Free$0
1 build at a time, 500 builds a month, unlimited preview deployments, and Functions within the Workers Free limit of 100,000 requests a day.
Workers Paid$5
per month minimum per account
Raises the Functions allowance to 10 million requests a month, shared with Workers. Static asset requests are free either way.
Fly.io
Pay As You Go$2.19
per month for a 256MB Machine, billed by the second
No platform fee. 512MB is $3.69, 1GB is $6.70 and 2GB is $13.39 a month in Ashburn and Secaucus; other regions cost more.
Managed Postgres$38
per month for the Basic cluster, plus $0.28/GB storage
Managed database clusters run from $38 a month (Basic) to $1,922 a month (Performance).
Standard support$29
per month
Optional paid support. Premium is $199 a month and Enterprise starts at $2,500 a month; community support is free.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Cloudflare Pages or Fly.io?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Fly.io is cheaper to start with: $2.19 a month, against $5 a month for Cloudflare Pages. Cloudflare Pages starts at $5 per month (Workers Paid, for Pages Functions usage), and Fly.io starts at $2.19 per month for the smallest Machine, pay as you go.
Which has a free plan, Cloudflare Pages or Fly.io?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only Cloudflare Pages has a free plan. Fly.io does not, though it has a free trial.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.