vxcloud vs Fly.io
Your own servers.
Five clouds, not one.
Fly.io hosts your containers on their proprietary hardware. vxcloud gives you Fly-like git-deploy CLI commands, but deploys containers to standard virtual machines you own on AWS, GCP, Azure, Linode, and Alibaba.
When teams move from Fly.io to vxcloud
Fly.io is popular for small projects, but scaling teams often hit limitations around private network clustering, database reliability, and provider outages.
- True Multi-Cloud Portability. Fly.io is its own cloud platform with its own custom IP routing layer. If Fly goes down, your app goes down. With vxcloud, you can run active-passive or active-active setups across AWS, Google Cloud, and Azure using a single, unified command set.
- Real Managed Databases. Fly Postgres is a container running Postgres, not a managed service. vxcloud provisions production-grade managed DB instances (RDS, Cloud SQL, Akamai Linode DBs) that feature automated snapshots, failover mechanisms, and security patching.
- Direct Server Diagnostics. Because Fly.io abstracts the host away behind their Fly Machines layer, you cannot easily SSH in, run standard kernel metrics, debug network sockets, or adjust docker daemon configurations. vxcloud deploys directly onto standard Ubuntu/Debian virtual instances where you retain absolute root SSH access.
Side-by-side comparison
| Feature | vxcloud | Fly.io |
|---|---|---|
| Hosting Location | Your own cloud account (AWS, GCP, Azure, Linode, Alibaba) | Fly.io's custom hardware hubs |
| Deploy Target | Standard Linux VM (EC2, GCE, VPS) | Fly Machine (Firecracker MicroVM) |
| SSH Access | Yes — full root shell credentials | Limited (interactive console proxies) |
| Managed DBs | Yes — native RDS / Cloud SQL integrations | No (Postgres runs as standard microVM app) |
| Multi-Cloud Deployments | Yes — uniform CLI commands across 5 clouds | No — Fly.io only |
| Database Storage Persistence | Standard cloud volume drives (EBS, block storage) | Fly Volumes (tied to specific machine IDs) |
| Built-in AI Agents | Yes — Agentic shell execution and logs diagnostics | No |
| Network Surcharges | Raw cloud provider costs (no markup) | Fly.io custom bandwidth tiers |
Deploying a container: side-by-side CLI
The developer experience is fast on both. The core difference is where the underlying container runs.
Fly.io Deploymentbash
# 1) Configure application settings
# (requires writing a fly.toml file)
# 2) Deploy to Fly's internal network
fly deploy
# Result: Container runs inside a Firecracker microVM,
# routed through Fly's proxy, on Fly's custom hardware.vxcloud Deploymentbash
# 1) Provision VM on AWS/GCP/Linode (run once)
vxcli vm create --name web-vm --cloud aws --instance-type t3.medium
# 2) Deploy your code (SSL, reverse proxy, health-checks automatic)
vxcli deploy laravel \
--source-dir ./ \
--domain app.example.com \
--enable-ssl \
--host <vm-ip> --ssh-user ubuntu --key-pair-name MYKEY
# Result: Container runs on YOUR dedicated virtual machine instance,
# routed through Traefik/Nginx, billed directly on your cloud account.When Fly.io is still a good option
- You are running a hobby or side project and want to take advantage of Fly's free tier.
- You need microVM instances to boot up and shut down within milliseconds to handle fast scaling events.
- You want automated global routing out of the box without configuring any content delivery networks (CDNs).
- You do not want to manage or link external cloud accounts on AWS or Google Cloud.
vxcloud vs Fly.io FAQ
Bring your own VM. Get PaaS convenience.
Deploy Next.js, Django, FastAPI, Laravel, or Go in one command on AWS, GCP, Azure, or Linode.