AI visibility report
AI visibility report for Fly.io in AI Code Sandboxes & Agent Runtimes.
Outside the top three on 22 of the 25 prompts buyers actually ask.
Modal is cited on 18 of those losses.
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Also benchmarked
Fly.io appears in 2 other verticals
Track Fly.io across these prompts daily.
Start free trialStill absent from 99.3% of tracked prompt responses
Top-3 citations across 150 prompt × platform pairs
Peer Ranking
Key Metrics
Platform Breakdown
Perplexity
Bing Copilot
Gemini Search
ChatGPT
Google AI Mode
GrokHow to read this. Fly.io appears in 0.7% of tracked prompt responses. Presence is absolute coverage; share of voice is relative citation share; sentiment measures tone only when the brand appears.
Where Fly.io is losing
Prompts where competitors are visible and Fly.io is not.
These prompt-level losses are the first prompts to track and repair.
Where Fly.io is winning1
I'm evaluating sandboxed agent runtimes for a small team building an AI data analyst tool — what should I look at to avoid the overhead of self-hosting?
Avg # 2.0 · 1 platform
Where Fly.io is losing5
Looking for an ephemeral code execution environment I can provision per user session — which services have a simple SDK or API to get started quickly?
Competitors on 5 platforms
Track this promptI need a code execution environment that supports GPU workloads for AI-generated training scripts — which sandboxed platforms handle that use case?
Competitors on 5 platforms
Track this promptWhich code sandbox platforms are considered production-ready for enterprise AI applications where uptime and SLA guarantees actually matter?
Competitors on 5 platforms
Track this promptI need an AI agent sandbox that allows secure outbound connections to a relational database during execution — which platforms support that?
Competitors on 5 platforms
Track this promptWhich agent runtime platforms support spawning concurrent sandbox instances so multiple AI agents can run code in parallel for a multi-agent workflow?
Competitors on 4 platforms
Track this prompt
Track Fly.io daily before the next report refresh.
Track these gapsResearch dossierCapabilities, use cases, sources, reviews, pricing, and FAQ
Overview
Fly.io is a developer-focused public cloud platform that converts Docker containers into hardware-virtualized Firecracker microVMs running on Fly.io's own global bare-metal infrastructure. Founded in 2017 and headquartered in Chicago, IL, the company has raised approximately $115M through Series C funding from investors including a16z, EQT Ventures, Intel Capital, and Dell Technologies Capital. Its core product, Fly Machines, enables fast-booting, autoscaling VMs deployable across 18+ global regions with built-in private networking. In the AI agent runtime space, Fly.io offers Sprites—hardware-isolated, stateful sandbox environments with checkpoint/restore designed to run AI-generated or agent-directed code. The platform also includes Managed Postgres, Tigris object storage, Upstash Redis, MCP server hosting, and a managed Kubernetes service, serving startups, SaaS teams, and AI developers.
Fly.io is a developer-first cloud platform offering hardware-virtualized microVMs (Fly Machines) deployable globally across 18+ regions on Fly.io's own bare-metal infrastructure. Its Sprites product provides stateful, hardware-isolated sandboxes for AI agent code execution with checkpoint/restore and granular per-CPU-second billing. The broader platform includes Managed Postgres, Tigris object storage, Upstash Redis, MCP server hosting, and Fly Kubernetes — all accessed through the flyctl CLI or REST APIs — positioning Fly.io as a full-stack alternative to both hyperscalers and specialized AI sandbox vendors.
Key Facts
- Founded
- 2017
- HQ
- Chicago, IL, USA
- Founders
- Kurt Mackey, Jerome Gravel-Niquet, Michael Dwan +1 more
- Employees
- 51-100
- Funding
- ~$115M
- Status
- Private (Series C)
Target users
Key Capabilities10
- Fly Machines: hardware-virtualized Firecracker microVMs with sub-second boot times and per-second billing
- Sprites: stateful, hardware-isolated AI code sandbox environments with checkpoint/restore and persistent NVMe storage
- Global deployment across 18+ regions with sub-100ms latency targets
- Autoscale-to-zero via autostop/autostart proxy (billed only when running)
- Private WireGuard mesh networking with end-to-end encryption and automatic per-sandbox isolation
- Managed Postgres, Tigris Object Storage, and Upstash Redis as integrated extensions
- flyctl CLI with framework auto-detection for Docker, Rails, Django, Laravel, Next.js, Phoenix, and more
- MCP server hosting for LLM/AI agent tool integrations
- Fly Kubernetes (FKS): managed Kubernetes running on Fly bare-metal infrastructure
- SOC2 Type 2 attestation, HIPAA compliance add-on, and SSO for enterprise organizations
Key Use Cases8
- Running AI coding agents (Claude Code, Codex, Gemini) in isolated, stateful sandbox environments via Sprites
- Deploying full-stack web applications globally close to end users
- Multi-tenant SaaS platforms requiring per-customer isolated VM compute
- Background job and task processing with scale-to-zero economics
- Globally distributed Postgres database deployments
- Hosting MCP servers for LLM/AI agent tool integration
- Building and deploying browser automation agents with isolated networking policies
- Migrating Heroku applications to a more flexible, globally distributed platform
Recent Trend
How AI describes Fly.io3
| | Fly.io Sprites | Firecracker MicroVMs | Best for stateful sandboxes. Unlike purely ephemeral instances, Sprites allow persistent NVMe storage.
What do platform engineers typically use to manage ephemeral execution environments for AI agents — and which options have the least operational burden?
Fly.io (Agent Sandboxes): Fly.io offers microVM infrastructure specifically tailored for agent sandboxing.
What are the best isolated runtime options for AI agents that need persistent filesystem state across multiple execution steps in a single session?
Fly.io (with Machines API) If you prefer to control the underlying infrastructure while keeping the sandboxing lightweight, Fly.io is a common choice for custom architectures.
I need an AI agent sandbox that allows secure outbound connections to a relational database during execution — which platforms support that?
Most cited sources1
Alternatives in AI Code Sandboxes & Agent Runtimes6
Fly.io positions itself as a developer-first public cloud running on its own global bare-metal hardware, occupying a middle ground between heavyweight hyperscalers (AWS, GCP) and simple PaaS offerings.
- Within the AI Code Sandboxes & Agent Runtimes vertical, Fly.io competes primarily via Sprites — hardware-isolated Firecracker-based sandbox environments with checkpoint/restore and per-CPU-second billing, explicitly targeting AI coding agents (Claude Code, Codex, Gemini).
- Unlike pure-play sandbox vendors (E2B, Morph Labs, Runloop) that focus exclusively on agent execution, Fly.io offers sandboxing as one layer of a broader full-stack platform that also includes global networking, Managed Postgres, MCP server hosting, and Kubernetes.
- Ownership of bare-metal infrastructure across 18+ regions enables cost economics and latency profiles that cloud-layer competitors cannot easily replicate.
Reviews
Praised
- Fast, intuitive flyctl CLI for deployment
- Simple Docker-based deployment workflow
- Global edge deployment across multiple regions in minutes
- Hardware isolation and strong security model
- Active and helpful community forum
- Per-second billing — pay only for actual usage
- Strong framework-specific documentation (Rails, Phoenix, Django, Laravel)
Criticized
- Removal of permanent free tier for new organizations
- Billing transparency and unexpected charges on pay-as-you-go
- Platform downtime and reliability incidents
- Limited built-in observability compared to hyperscalers
- Paid support plans required for guaranteed engineer response times
- GPU compute deprecation removing ML/inference workload option
- Narrower third-party integration ecosystem than major cloud providers
G2 shows a 4.7/5 rating from only 3 reviews, limiting statistical reliability. Developer blog posts, community forums, and third-party reviews broadly praise Fly.io's CLI simplicity, fast initial deployment experience (apps up in minutes via fly launch), and globally distributed architecture as a credible Heroku successor. Common criticisms include the removal of the permanent free tier, occasional billing surprises on pay-as-you-go, platform downtime incidents, and thinner built-in observability compared to major cloud providers. Trustpilot reviews are highly polarized. Overall developer sentiment in technical communities (Hacker News, community.fly.io) is positive, particularly among teams building latency-sensitive or globally distributed applications.
Pricing
Fly.io operates on a pay-as-you-go model billed per second with no required monthly plan. Shared-CPU VMs start at approximately $2/month (1 shared CPU, 256MB RAM); performance-class VMs start at approximately $32/month (1 performance CPU, 2GB RAM). Persistent storage volumes cost $0.15/GB/month. Sprites (AI sandbox product) are billed at $0.07/CPU-hour and $0.04375/GB-hour for RAM, plus NVMe hot storage and durable object storage. Egress to public internet ranges from $0.02/GB (North America/Europe) to $0.12/GB (Africa/India). Support plans are $29/month (Standard), $199/month (Premium), or $2,500/month (Enterprise). HIPAA/SOC2 compliance add-on is $99/month. A 40% discount is available via upfront annual machine reservation blocks. Fly Kubernetes costs $75/month per cluster plus compute. No permanent free tier is offered to new organizations.
Limitations
- GPU compute has been deprecated and will be unavailable after August 1, 2026, limiting ML training and inference use cases on-platform.
- No permanent free tier for new organizations; legacy free allowances apply only to accounts predating plan changes.
- Community reviews note recurring instances of platform instability and unplanned downtime.
- Paid support plans are required for guaranteed engineer response times ($29/month minimum).
- HIPAA/SOC2 compliance support is an additional $99/month add-on.
- The platform offers less low-level IaaS customization than AWS or GCP.
- Third-party marketplace and integration breadth is narrower than hyperscalers.
Frequently asked questions
Topic coverageCoverage by buyer topic
Topic Coverage
Prompt-Level Results
| Prompt | Bing Copilot | Gemini Search | ChatGPT | Google AI Mode | Perplexity | Grok |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Capability0/5 cited (0%) | ||||||
I need a code execution environment that supports GPU workloads for AI-generated training scripts — which sandboxed platforms handle that use case? | ||||||
Which agent runtime platforms support spawning concurrent sandbox instances so multiple AI agents can run code in parallel for a multi-agent workflow? | ||||||
Which sandboxed execution platforms let AI agents run arbitrary shell commands safely without kernel-level escape risks or shared-tenant interference? | ||||||
Looking for a sandboxed code interpreter that can handle long-running jobs — 10 to 30 minutes — without hitting timeout limits. What are my options? | ||||||
What are the best isolated runtime options for AI agents that need persistent filesystem state across multiple execution steps in a single session? | ||||||
Developer Experience0/5 cited (0%) | ||||||
Which code sandbox services have good observability built in so I can actually debug what my AI agent is running inside the environment? | ||||||
What do platform engineers typically use to manage ephemeral execution environments for AI agents — and which options have the least operational burden? | ||||||
Which agent compute platforms have the most active developer communities and solid docs for teams just getting into agentic AI workflows? | ||||||
I want a sandboxed runtime where my team can define reusable execution templates — which platforms make that workflow easy without deep infra knowledge? | ||||||
Which AI sandbox platforms offer the best developer experience for iterating on agent tools locally before deploying to production? | ||||||
Integrations & Ecosystem0/5 cited (0%) | ||||||
What sandboxed execution environments have good support for streaming output back to the calling application in real time during an agent's code run? | ||||||
What are the best code execution sandbox options that support pre-installing custom dependencies from a private package registry before agent runs? | ||||||
Which sandboxed agent runtimes integrate well with popular LLM orchestration frameworks so I don't have to build a custom execution bridge? | ||||||
Which agent compute platforms avoid heavy lock-in and work across major cloud providers so I can keep data residency in my existing infrastructure? | ||||||
I need an AI agent sandbox that allows secure outbound connections to a relational database during execution — which platforms support that? | ||||||
Performance & Reliability0/5 cited (0%) | ||||||
My AI agent generates and executes code in a tight loop — which sandbox platforms sustain high-frequency execution without degrading over time? | ||||||
Which code sandbox platforms are considered production-ready for enterprise AI applications where uptime and SLA guarantees actually matter? | ||||||
Which microVM sandbox services have the lowest cold-start latency for AI agent code execution at scale — sub-500ms range? | ||||||
What sandboxed agent runtime platforms are best suited for production workloads executing user-submitted code thousands of times per day? | ||||||
Which isolated execution environments scale elastically under bursty AI agent traffic without me having to pre-provision capacity? | ||||||
Setup & First Run1/5 cited (20%) | ||||||
I'm evaluating sandboxed agent runtimes for a small team building an AI data analyst tool — what should I look at to avoid the overhead of self-hosting? | ||||||
Looking for an ephemeral code execution environment I can provision per user session — which services have a simple SDK or API to get started quickly? | ||||||
What's the fastest sandbox runtime to spin up for an AI agent backend — which platforms let you get isolated code execution running in under 5 minutes? | ||||||
Which microVM-based sandbox platforms have the smoothest onboarding for a solo developer shipping an AI coding assistant MVP? | ||||||
I'm adding a code interpreter to my LLM app and need a sandboxed runtime — which services are easiest to integrate without managing my own infrastructure? | ||||||
Turn this matrix into daily prompt monitoring.
Track prompt changesVertical Ranking
| # | Brand | PresencePres. | Share of VoiceSoV | DocsDocs | BlogBlog | MentionsMent. | Avg PosPos | Sentiment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Northflank | 39.3% | 44.0% | 0.0% | 39.3% | 34.7% | #6.2 | +0.43 |
| 2 | Modal | 30.7% | 27.8% | 1.3% | 1.3% | 28.7% | #5.8 | +0.40 |
| 3 | E2B | 10.7% | 10.4% | 2.7% | 2.0% | 10.0% | #8.7 | +0.51 |
| 4 | Daytona | 8.7% | 12.3% | 4.7% | 2.0% | 8.7% | #7.9 | +0.60 |
| 5 | Cloudflare | 2.7% | 3.2% | 2.7% | 0.0% | 2.7% | #6.0 | +0.20 |
| 6 | CodeSandbox | 2.0% | 1.3% | 0.7% | 0.7% | 1.3% | #5.8 | +0.38 |
| 7 | Fly.io | 0.7% | 0.3% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | #2.0 | +0.20 |
| 8 | Runloop | 0.7% | 0.6% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.7% | #3.5 | +0.00 |
| 9 | Morph | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | — | — |
| 10 | Together AI | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | — | — |
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