edge-compute.html

Pick your edge runtime — 10 options across the five categories that decide most picks

Your edge runtime decides whether your AI streams in 50ms or 500ms, whether your bandwidth bill is reasonable or punishing, and whether your team writes V8-isolate code or Docker containers. Filter by V8 isolate / serverless / WASM / CDN-function / JS runtime, plus pricing and Node compatibility.

10 SIDE-BY-SIDE COMPARISONS → TOP-5 DECISION HUB →

Filter the list

Category
Pricing
Sort

Showing 10 of 10

Bun

Fast JS runtime. Not edge-native but ships everywhere — pair with edge platforms via standard fetch.

  • CatJS runtime
  • LangTS / JS
  • Coldfast
  • PoPsself-hosted
Node-compat
Read the take →

WasmEdge

CNCF WebAssembly runtime for cloud and edge. Tiny footprint, polyglot, infra-flavoured.

  • CatWASM
  • LangWASM
  • Coldinstant
  • PoPsself-hosted
Instant cold start
Read the take →

Cloudflare Workers

V8 isolates on 300+ PoPs. Sub-millisecond cold starts, lowest cost at scale, the edge default.

  • CatV8 isolate
  • LangV8 / TS / WASM
  • Coldinstant
  • PoPs300+
Instant cold start Node-compat
Read the take →

Vercel Edge Functions

V8 isolates inside Vercel. Tight Next.js integration, smaller PoP network than Cloudflare.

  • CatV8 isolate
  • LangV8 / TS
  • Coldinstant
  • PoPs~50
Instant cold start Node-compat
Read the take →

Deno Deploy

V8 isolates from the Deno team. Web-standard APIs, cleaner runtime than Node.

  • CatV8 isolate
  • LangTS / JS
  • Coldinstant
  • PoPs~35
Instant cold start
Read the take →

AWS Lambda@Edge

AWS Lambda functions running on CloudFront. Full Node, slow cold starts, AWS-locked.

  • CatServerless function
  • LangNode.js / Python
  • Coldslow
  • PoPs~600
Node-compat
Read the take →

AWS CloudFront Functions

Sub-millisecond JS at CloudFront edge. Lighter than Lambda@Edge, narrower scope.

  • CatCDN-attached function
  • LangJS (subset)
  • Coldinstant
  • PoPs~600
Instant cold start
Read the take →

Fastly Compute

WASM-based edge compute. Multi-language (Rust, Go, AssemblyScript), enterprise-shape.

  • CatWASM
  • LangWASM (Rust, Go, JS, AssemblyScript)
  • Coldinstant
  • PoPs~80
Instant cold start
Read the take →

Akamai EdgeWorkers

JavaScript at the Akamai edge. Enterprise CDN-attached compute, narrower runtime.

  • CatCDN-attached function
  • LangJS (subset)
  • Coldinstant
  • PoPs4000+
Instant cold start
Read the take →

Fly.io Machines

Docker containers at 30+ regions. Heavier than V8 isolates, full Node + binary support.

  • CatServerless function
  • LangAny (Docker)
  • Coldfast
  • PoPs30+
Node-compat
Read the take →

The runtime choice is the easy half — your platform integration is the hard one

Picking the runtime is the easy half. The hard half is integrating with your existing data layer, your auth, your build pipeline, and your monitoring. The 30-min call is where you describe your stack and your latency budget; I tell you what fits.