Fly.io vs Northflank (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Northflank grades higher than Fly.io: 2.6 against 2.2 out of 4.0.
Checked Nov 12, 2026 · graded Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
Northflank grades higher on the free plan and ease of use. They get the same grade on value for money, features and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Fly.io
Virtual machines and databases in 18 regions, billed per second
Northflank
Container platform for services, jobs, databases and GPUs
Which one is for you
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
Pick Northflank if
- Fits if you want container hosting billed by the second
- Works for teams that want to run in their own AWS, Google Cloud or Azure account
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you stay on Sandbox: 2 services, 2 jobs and 1 database
- Watch out: SAML, SCIM and audit logging need Enterprise
- Watch out: egress is $0.06 per GB on Northflank Cloud
- Pricey if you size up, as the $12 figure is only the smallest compute plan
How we grade them
| 2.2GPAFly.ioFair | 2.6GPANorthflankGood | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | 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. | C$12 a month for the smallest plan, billed by the second, with a 2 vCPU, 4 GB plan at $48. Egress is $0.06 per GB on Northflank Cloud. |
| Free plan and trial | CNew accounts get $1 of credit for 7 days with no card. That's a taste, not a plan. | BSandbox is free with no card: 2 services, 2 jobs, 1 database, always on, up to $20 of resources a month. |
| Features | 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. | BServices, jobs, Postgres and Redis, autoscaling, RBAC, GPUs and bring-your-own-cloud. The listing names no core gap. |
| Ease of use | DNo store rating on record. The flow is built around its command line and a Dockerfile. | CNo store rating on record. You configure services, builds and cloud accounts. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb only, with GitHub, Slack, Tigris and Upstash and a CLI. | BWeb only, with AWS, Google Cloud, Azure, Oracle, Postgres, Redis and an SDK. |
| Best for | small servers in many regions, billed by the second | containers billed by the second, or in your own cloud |
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: Fly.io and Northflank. How we grade
Price against what you get
Fly.io starts at $2.19 a month and scores 2.3 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Northflank starts at $12 a month and scores 2.7.
Northflank scores higher, and starts $9.81 a month higher: the question is whether the extra is worth that to you. Of the other web hosts on the chart, 1 scores higher than Fly.io for less, and none scores higher than Northflank 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
- Fly.io also covers databases and AI agents.
At a glance
| Fly.io | Northflank | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Free plan |
| Starts at | $2.19 per month for the smallest Machine, pay as you go | $12 per month for 0.5 vCPU and 1 GB, billed by the second |
| Free plan | None | Sandbox: free, no card needed, with 2 services, 2 jobs and 1 database, up to $20 a month of resources on Northflank Cloud, and 1 bring-your-own-cloud cluster up to 12 vCPU and 48 GB. |
| Free trial | New accounts get $1 of credit for 7 days, no card required. | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Fly.io | Northflank |
| Price read from | fly.io | northflank.com |
| Checked | Nov 12, 2026 | Nov 12, 2026 |
Worth knowing
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.
Northflank
- Network egress is $0.06 per GB on Northflank Cloud, and ingress is free.
- The Sandbox tier is capped at 2 services, 2 jobs and 1 database.
- SAML, SCIM and audit logging need the Enterprise plan.
- The price depends on what you run; the monthly figures on the page are for always-on compute.
Key features
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.
Northflank
- Bring your own cloud
- Workloads can run on Northflank Cloud or in your own cloud account, where compute is billed at $0.02083 per node vCPU hour.
- Per-second billing
- Every resource is billed by the second, with no seat fees and unlimited users on the paid plan.
- GPUs
- GPUs on Northflank Cloud range from an L4 at $0.80 an hour to a B200 at $5.87 an hour, and BYOC GPUs are billed at $1.00 per GB of VRAM a month.
- Databases and storage
- Postgres and Redis databases are listed, with NVMe persistent disk at $0.11657 per GiB a month.
- Autoscaling and RBAC
- Autoscaling, role-based access control and a Platform SDK are included on pay-as-you-go.
- Bill estimator
- A calculator on the pricing page estimates a month's bill from a chosen mix of services, databases and sizes.
Plans
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.
Northflank
Sandbox$0
2 services, 2 jobs and 1 database, always on with no sleeping, and up to $20 a month of resources.
Pay as you go$12
per month for the smallest compute plan, billed by the second
Unlimited users, deployments and workloads. Compute is $0.01667 per vCPU hour, memory $0.00833 per GB hour; the page shows a 2 vCPU, 4 GB plan at $48 a month.
EnterpriseCustom
Platform fee, usage, support and SLA: your own VPC or air-gapped setup, SAML, SCIM, audit logging and a dedicated Slack channel.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Fly.io or Northflank?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Fly.io is cheaper to start with: $2.19 a month, against $12 a month for Northflank. Fly.io starts at $2.19 per month for the smallest Machine, pay as you go, and Northflank starts at $12 per month for 0.5 vCPU and 1 GB, billed by the second.
Which has a free plan, Fly.io or Northflank?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only Northflank 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.