# Fastly vs Akamai: which do AI models recommend for CDN, October 2026

IT AI Recommendation Index, October 2026 Edition, Content delivery networks. Zero of fourteen models named Fastly first on the direct prompt; zero named Akamai. Page: https://it-ai-index.com/network/content-delivery-networks/fastly-vs-akamai/

| | First-choice share | Rank | Negative rate | Labels | Models naming it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fastly | 4% | #5 of 8 | 20% | 61 | 14 of 14 |
| Akamai | 2% | #6 of 8 | 38% | 48 | 14 of 14 |

## The direct prompt, model by model

- GPT-5.4 mini: neither first, one named (first choices: Cloudflare) (alternatives: Amazon CloudFront, Fastly)
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: neither first, one named (first choices: Cloudflare) (alternatives: Bunny.net, Fastly)
- Perplexity Sonar: neither first, one named (first choices: Cloudflare) (alternatives: Akamai, Amazon CloudFront)
- Kimi K2: neither first, one named (first choices: Cloudflare) (alternatives: Bunny.net, Fastly, KeyCDN)
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: neither first, one named (first choices: Cloudflare) (alternatives: Amazon CloudFront, Bunny.net, Fastly)
- GPT-6 Luna: neither first, one named (first choices: Cloudflare) (alternatives: Amazon CloudFront, Fastly)
- Muse Glimmer 30B: neither first, one named (first choices: Cloudflare) (alternatives: Amazon CloudFront, Bunny.net, Fastly, KeyCDN)
- Claude Haiku 4.5: neither named (first choices: Amazon CloudFront, CDN77) (alternatives: Azure CDN, Cloudflare, Gcore)
- Grok 4.1 Fast: neither named (first choices: Cloudflare) (alternatives: Amazon CloudFront, Bunny.net, KeyCDN)
- Mistral Small: neither named (first choices: Bunny.net, KeyCDN)
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: neither named (first choices: Cloudflare) (alternatives: Amazon CloudFront, Bunny.net)
- Llama 4 Maverick: neither named (first choices: Bunny.net, KeyCDN) (alternatives: BlazingCDN)
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: neither named (first choices: KeyCDN) (alternatives: BlazingCDN, Bunny.net, Cloudflare)
- MiniMax M2.5: neither named (first choices: Bunny.net, KeyCDN) (alternatives: Amazon CloudFront, Cloudflare)

## What the models said about Fastly

- "Avoid enterprise ones (Akamai, Fastly) as they're pricier." (Grok 4.1 Fast, budget prompt, hard negative)
- "Fastly’s VCL‑based cache logic is powerful but can be brittle; mis‑configuration can lead to cache‑invalidation issues or performance regressions." (GLM 4.7 FlashX, negative prompt, soft negative)
- "good option for development-heavy teams ... but it is more specialized than Cloudflare for a broad mid-market B2B use case" (Perplexity Sonar, direct prompt, soft negative)
- "Fastly: *The "Developer-First" Choice.* Best-in-class real-time purging ... Ideal if your engineering team wants complete programmatic control." (Gemini 3.5 Flash, scale prompt, first choice)
- "I'd recommend evaluating Cloudflare, Fastly, Akamai, and CloudFront first" (GLM 4.7 FlashX, scale prompt, first choice)
- "Fastly if your site or app needs very fast purging, high configurability, real-time control, or developer-heavy workflows" (GPT-5.4 mini, paraphrase prompt, alternative)

## What the models said about Akamai

- "Avoid enterprise ones (Akamai, Fastly) as they're pricier." (Grok 4.1 Fast, budget prompt, hard negative)
- "Avoid—too pricey/complex for mid-market." (Grok 4.1 Fast, direct prompt, hard negative)
- "traditionally complex to configure, slower to deploy changes, and usually the most expensive. Typically suited for very large enterprises" (Gemini 3.5 Flash, scale prompt, soft negative)
- "One of the oldest and largest CDNs; handles ~30 %+ of internet traffic. ... Global scale & compliance: Akamai." (GLM 4.7 FlashX, comparative prompt, first choice)
- "I'd recommend evaluating Cloudflare, Fastly, Akamai, and CloudFront first" (GLM 4.7 FlashX, scale prompt, first choice)
- "best when you need maximum resilience, compliance, and security depth, but it is generally positioned more toward large enterprises than mid-market teams" (Perplexity Sonar, direct prompt, alternative)

Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts over all fourteen models, for a mid-market B2B company; rank is within the category. Comparisons are drawn for the top eight products in each category. Published under CC BY 4.0; the output is the models' output, and nothing here is a recommendation by the index.