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Alex Spinov
Alex Spinov

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Fly.io Has a Free API That Deploys Docker Apps Globally With Edge Hosting

Fly.io runs Docker containers on servers worldwide. Your app runs in 30+ regions, closest to your users. Built-in Postgres, Redis, and persistent volumes.

Quick Start

brew install flyctl
fly auth login
fly launch  # detects Dockerfile, creates app
fly deploy  # deploys to nearest region
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Scale Globally

fly regions add ams lhr nrt syd  # add regions
fly scale count 3                 # 3 instances
fly scale vm shared-cpu-2x        # bigger VMs
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Fly Postgres

fly postgres create --name my-db
fly postgres attach my-db
# DATABASE_URL automatically set
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Machines API (Microservices)

# Create a machine (lightweight VM)
fly machine run myimage:latest --region iad --size shared-cpu-1x
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Free Tier

  • 3 shared-cpu-1x VMs (256MB each)
  • 3GB persistent volumes
  • 160GB outbound transfer

Fly.io vs Railway vs Render

Feature Fly.io Railway Render
Global edge 30+ regions 1 region 4 regions
Docker Native Yes Yes
Databases Managed Postgres Built-in Managed
Free tier 3 VMs 500 hours 750 hours

The Bottom Line

Fly.io is for apps that need to be fast everywhere. Global edge deployment, Docker-native, managed databases. Best choice for latency-sensitive applications.


Need to automate data collection or build custom scrapers? Check out my Apify actors for ready-made tools, or email spinov001@gmail.com for custom solutions.

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