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Fastly vs Varnish

Based on 376 and 440 real audits

View Fastly details | View Varnish details
MetricFastlyVarnishWinner
Performance4544Fastly
Accessibility9189Fastly
Best Practices8989Tie
SEO9291Fastly
Security6665Fastly
TTFB148ms202msFastly
Composite7474Tie
Performance
Fastly
45
Varnish
44
Accessibility
Fastly
91
Varnish
89
Security
Fastly
66
Varnish
65
SEO
Fastly
92
Varnish
91
Composite
Fastly
74
Varnish
74

Fastly outperforms Varnish in 5 of 7 categories, with a stronger composite score (74 vs 74). Varnish leads in no categories.

When to choose Fastly

Choose Fastly when your primary concern is server response time and accessibility. Its audit data shows consistent strength in these areas across the sampled sites.

When to choose Varnish

Varnish doesn't clearly lead Fastly in any category on the sampled sites — pick it based on developer experience, ecosystem, or existing team skills rather than the audit scores.

How this comparison was built

Scores are medians across 376 audited Fastly sites and 440 audited Varnish sites in the BeaverCheck database. Every audit runs the same 100+ checks — Lighthouse performance, security headers, accessibility, SEO, server response time — against a real URL. No vendor input, no sponsorship, no affiliate links. Read the full methodology →

FAQ

Which is faster, Fastly or Varnish?
Based on real BeaverCheck audits, Fastly sites score higher on Lighthouse performance (45 vs 44 on average).
Which has better security, Fastly or Varnish?
Fastly sites score higher on security analysis (66 vs 65 on average).
Which has better accessibility, Fastly or Varnish?
Accessibility scores measured by Lighthouse WCAG 2.1 checks favor Fastly (91 vs 89). Both technologies can be made fully accessible with care — the difference reflects common patterns in the sampled sites, not inherent platform limits.
Which is better for SEO, Fastly or Varnish?
Fastly sites score higher on Lighthouse SEO signals (92 vs 91 on average), which cover meta tags, crawlability, mobile friendliness, and structured data. Content strategy and backlinks still matter more than platform choice for ranking.
Which has faster server response (TTFB), Fastly or Varnish?
Fastly sites show lower Time to First Byte (148 ms vs 202 ms on average). TTFB depends heavily on hosting and CDN setup rather than the technology itself, but the sampled sites suggest a meaningful difference in common deployment patterns.
Should I choose Fastly or Varnish for my website?
Both platforms have trade-offs. Fastly scores higher on overall composite score while Fastly may excel in metrics you care about most. Run a free BeaverCheck audit on a real site using each to compare the metrics relevant to your use case.
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