AZIN vs Fly.io: Managed BYOC vs Global Edge VMs

Fly.io gives you Firecracker micro-VMs and a Machines API to orchestrate them across 18 regions. AZIN gives you managed deployments to your own GCP account today, with AWS and Azure on the roadmap. Two different philosophies for two different problems. Here's how to pick.

#Quick comparison

#Different philosophies

Fly.io runs Firecracker micro-VMs on its own hardware across 18 regions (consolidated from 35+ in 2025). AZIN deploys to your own GCP account via GKE Autopilot with all 40+ GCP regions available. As of February 2026, Fly.io does not offer BYOC at any tier. AZIN includes BYOC on all tiers.

Fly.io and AZIN represent two different answers to the same question: how should developers deploy applications?

Fly.io says: "Here are VMs. Build what you want." You get Firecracker micro-VMs, a powerful REST API to manage them, Anycast networking, and the freedom to build any deployment architecture you can imagine. The Machines API boots VMs in ~300ms. You can create, start, stop, and destroy them programmatically. It's infrastructure-as-a-service with a developer-friendly wrapper.

AZIN says: "Push code. We handle the rest." You connect a repo, pick your cloud, and deploy. Preview environments spin up per PR. Databases get provisioned automatically. Autoscaling is managed. The operational surface area you touch is minimal.

The trade-off is control vs. operational overhead. Fly.io gives you more levers to pull. AZIN gives you fewer things to manage.

#Infrastructure model

Fly.io: Firecracker micro-VMs on their hardware

Fly.io runs applications as Firecracker micro-VMs on hardware they own. In 2025, they consolidated their region footprint from 35+ down to 18 regions, improving reliability per region at the cost of geographic reach. The current 18 regions span North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, South America, and Africa.

Each VM gets hardware-level isolation via Firecracker (the same technology AWS uses for Lambda and Fargate). Requests route to the nearest instance via Anycast networking. This architecture works well for latency-sensitive, globally distributed applications.

AZIN: containers in your own cloud

AZIN deploys to your GCP account using native cloud services — GKE Autopilot for compute, Cloud SQL for databases, and Memorystore for Redis. Your code runs on infrastructure you own and pay for directly. AWS and Azure BYOC are on the roadmap.

For teams that don't need BYOC yet, lttle.cloud (in early access) offers micro-VMs targeting sub-10ms cold starts and true scale-to-zero as a low-cost starting point.

#The Machines API: Fly.io's unique strength

The Machines API is what makes Fly.io different from every other PaaS. It's a REST API for full VM lifecycle management with subsecond boot times.

# Create a machine on Fly.io
curl -X POST "https://api.machines.dev/v1/apps/my-app/machines" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $FLY_API_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "config": {
      "image": "my-app:latest",
      "guest": { "cpu_kind": "shared", "cpus": 1, "memory_mb": 256 },
      "auto_destroy": true
    }
  }'

This enables use cases that managed PaaS platforms don't support: per-user dev environments, programmatic scaling logic, on-demand processing workers, and custom orchestration. If you need to spin up 50 VMs in 5 seconds and tear them down when done, the Machines API handles that.

AZIN takes the opposite approach. Instead of exposing VM primitives, AZIN manages the infrastructure layer entirely. AZIN uses Railpack for automatic language and framework detection — a zero-config builder that identifies your stack and builds without configuration. You configure what your application needs. AZIN provisions the right resources in your cloud account.

# AZIN deployment config
services:
  web:
    build: .
    port: 3000
    scaling:
      min: 1
      max: 10
      target_cpu: 70
 
  worker:
    build: ./worker
    command: "npm run worker"
 
  postgres:
    type: managed
    version: "16"
 
  redis:
    type: managed

#Pricing comparison

Fly.io pricing (as of February 2026)

Fly.io bills per second of VM uptime. No subscription tiers.

Fly.io pricing based on published rates as of February 2026. AZIN costs vary by cloud provider and usage — see azin.run/pricing for current rates.

Fly.io offers trial credit for new accounts rather than a permanent free tier (as of February 2026).

AZIN pricing

AZIN charges a platform fee. Infrastructure is billed directly by your cloud provider. On lttle.cloud, pricing includes scale-to-zero so you pay nothing when services are idle.

Where each platform costs less

For the cheapest possible small workload, Fly.io wins. A 256 MB shared VM at ~$2/mo is hard to beat for hobby projects.

For production workloads, AZIN's model can be more cost-effective for some workloads because infrastructure is billed directly by your cloud provider. And you're not paying $29-$199/mo extra for support access.

The bigger concern with Fly.io isn't the base pricing — it's predictability. Usage-based billing across multiple dimensions (VMs, storage, bandwidth, IPv4 addresses, and support tiers) requires modeling expected usage across all dimensions to estimate monthly costs.

#Developer experience

Fly.io: powerful, steeper learning curve

Fly.io's CLI (flyctl) and fly.toml config give you control over placement, scaling, networking, volumes, and secrets. The deploy flow:

# Initialize and deploy on Fly.io
fly launch
fly deploy

But the "launch and forget" simplicity ends quickly. As of February 2026, there are no built-in preview environments, and load-based autoscaling requires building custom logic on top of the Machines API. Database management means either paying $38/mo+ for managed Postgres (via Supabase partnership) or running your own Postgres in a VM with attached volumes.

Fly.io's community forums and documentation are strong. But the platform assumes more infrastructure knowledge than Railway or Render. You're expected to understand concepts like volumes, regions, auto-stop behavior, WireGuard networking, and process groups.

AZIN: managed experience, less to learn

AZIN auto-detects your framework and language. Connect a GitHub repo, confirm the detected settings, choose your cloud target, and deploy. Preview environments spin up automatically per pull request. Managed databases are provisioned alongside your application.

# Deploy to your own GCP with AZIN
# (CLI planned — dashboard-based deploys available today)
azin deploy --cloud gcp --region europe-west4

The trade-off: you don't get Fly.io's level of VM control. You can't boot arbitrary VMs via API or write custom orchestration logic. AZIN manages the infrastructure; you manage the application.

#Scaling

Fly.io: scale-to-zero, no load-based autoscaling

Fly.io machines can auto-stop when idle and auto-start when requests arrive. This is genuine scale-to-zero and it works well for low-traffic applications, saving money on services that sit idle.

If traffic spikes, you need to have enough machines running or build your own scaling logic using the Machines API. The platform doesn't automatically add instances based on CPU or memory usage as of February 2026.

AZIN: managed autoscaling + scale-to-zero

AZIN provides managed horizontal and vertical autoscaling. Set a target CPU threshold and min/max instance count. The platform handles the rest. On lttle.cloud, services scale to zero when idle and resume on incoming requests targeting sub-10ms cold starts.

#When to choose Fly.io

Fly.io is the right choice when:

• Global edge distribution matters. 18 regions across 6 continents. If your users are everywhere and latency is critical, Fly.io's Anycast routing delivers.
• You want low-level VM control. The Machines API is unmatched. No other PaaS gives you programmatic, subsecond VM lifecycle management.
• You're running Elixir or Phoenix LiveView. Fly.io is the Elixir community's default deployment target. Their built-in clustering support, WireGuard private networking, and multi-region distribution make LiveView apps feel instant. This is Fly.io's sweet spot.
• You need the cheapest small workloads. A ~$2/mo VM is among the cheapest options in the PaaS market.
• You want hardware-level isolation. Firecracker VMs provide stronger isolation than container-based platforms.

#When to choose AZIN

AZIN is the right choice when:

• You need BYOC. Your code runs in your own cloud account. Fly.io doesn't offer this at any tier.
• You want managed infrastructure without ops overhead. Preview environments, autoscaling, managed databases, environment management. No Machines API to wrangle.
• Compliance or data residency matters. With BYOC, your data stays in your cloud account in the region you choose. No need for a $99/mo HIPAA add-on when your cloud provider already covers it.
• Your team doesn't want to build infrastructure tooling. Fly.io gives you lower-level building blocks, while AZIN includes preview environments, autoscaling, and CI/CD out of the box.
• You need more than 18 regions. BYOC gives you access to every region your cloud provider offers. GCP alone has 40+ regions, with AWS and Azure BYOC on the roadmap.

#Fly.io: pros and cons

#AZIN: pros and cons

#Migration considerations

Moving from Fly.io to AZIN means shifting from a VM-centric model to a managed deployment model. The key changes:

• fly.toml maps to AZIN's deployment config. Services, environment variables, and ports translate directly.
• Volumes move to managed cloud storage (Persistent Disks on GCP).
• Fly Postgres moves to managed Cloud SQL.
• Machines API calls get replaced by AZIN's managed autoscaling and deployment triggers.
• Multi-region is handled via your cloud provider's regions instead of Fly.io's Anycast.

The biggest adjustment is mental, not technical. On Fly.io, you think in terms of machines, regions, and VM lifecycle. On AZIN, you think in terms of services, environments, and deployment targets.

#Frequently asked questions

#Related comparisons

• AZIN vs Railway — Railway's visual canvas vs AZIN's managed BYOC
• AZIN vs Render — AZIN vs the modern Heroku replacement
• AZIN vs Heroku — The original PaaS is now in maintenance mode
• Best Heroku Alternatives in 2026 — Full comparison of 9 platforms

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