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Fly.io — Developer Tools

from $29/mo

Fly.io (Developer Tools): Fly.io provides hardware-isolated Linux VMs for AI agents, evals, and tools with pay-as-you-go pricing. Pricing: from $29/mo. (data verified August 2026)

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About Fly.io

What is Fly.io?

Fly.io is a platform that runs real hardware-isolated Linux computers (called 'Sprites') for AI agents, evals, and tools. It gives each agent its own Linux box with persistent storage, automatic checkpointing, and the ability to sleep when not in use, so you only pay for what you use.

Problem it solves

Traditionally, running AI agents and untrusted code on your laptop or shared infrastructure is risky and resource-heavy. Fly.io solves this by providing isolated, disposable, and egress-locked VMs with a durable filesystem that can scale from side project to production without rearchitecting.

Who it is for

Fly.io is for developers building AI agent harnesses (like Claude and Codex), running MCP servers, or executing untrusted code. It's also ideal for personal agents that need access to your inbox and calendar without living on your laptop. If you need a simple, scalable infrastructure for AI workloads, Fly.io is for you.

Real use cases

Coding agents that checkpoint their work, personal agents that sleep until needed, MCP servers with persistent disk, and agent-built apps that go live directly from the Sprite. Fly.io supports 18+ regions worldwide with sub-second boot times.

Key features

  • Hardware-isolated VMs - Run untrusted code in clean, disposable Linux boxes with no state sharing.
  • Automatic checkpointing - Sprites checkpoint themselves, so agents always have a recent snapshot to resume from.
  • Persistent, scalable storage - Disk grows up to 100 GB, backed by object storage, with rollback to any checkpoint in seconds.
  • Connectors - Configure a service once for your whole org; every Sprite can reach it without pasting tokens.
  • Egress policy control - Restrict network access from your Sprites to only the services you allow.
  • Fast deployment - Boot in under 1 second, typical deploy time 500ms, with 99.9% uptime SLA.
  • No disk sizing - Disk grows as you write, and you only pay for bytes actually used.

SaaSpartout Score

7.4 /10
Ease of use 7.5
Features depth 8.5
Value for money 7.0
Support quality 6.5
Integrations 7.0
Scalability 8.0
Documentation 7.0
Onboarding speed 8.0

Editorial score from our review methodology — not user ratings.

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Fly.io Pricing

Fly.io pricing: from $29/mo.

For comparison: the median starting price in Developer Tools is $19.99/month, measured across 301 tools we track. See the full SaaS Pricing Index →

Pay-as-You-Go

Start with micro VMs and persistent storage, billed by usage. The bill goes to zero when nobody's home.

Serious Support

Starting at $29/month, get access to dedicated engineers.

Pay Up Front and Save

Get 40% off by making a machine reservation.

Enterprise

Custom configurations, SLA requirements, emergency support. Contact sales for pricing.

Compliance

HIPAA-compliant workloads with BAAs and SOC2s for $99/month.

Free to start with pay-as-you-go; no free tier mentioned, but accidental deployments may be waived for paid support customers.

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Frequently asked questions

What is Fly.io used for?
Fly.io provides hardware-isolated Linux VMs for AI agents, evals, and tools. It's used to run coding agents, MCP servers, personal agents, and untrusted code.
How much does Fly.io cost?
Fly.io has a pay-as-you-go model for infrastructure. Support plans start at $29/month, and compliance add-ons are $99/month.
Is Fly.io free?
Fly.io does not advertise a free tier, but you only pay for what you use with pay-as-you-go. You can start with micro VMs and persistent storage.
What are the top alternatives to Fly.io?
Alternatives include Heroku, Render, DigitalOcean App Platform, and AWS EC2, but Fly.io is unique for its focus on AI agents with hardware isolation and checkpointing.
Who is Fly.io best for?
Fly.io is best for developers building AI agent harnesses, running MCP servers, or executing untrusted code in a secure, scalable environment.
What is a Sprite?
A Sprite is a hardware-isolated Linux VM that checkpoints itself while an agent works, providing persistent storage and the ability to sleep until needed.

Don’t take our word for it — ask your AI about Fly.io

Gemini ChatGPT Claude Perplexity Grok