a2a cloud vs Fly.io for deploying AI agents
Fly.io runs fast-booting VMs close to your users, and Fly Machines are a great primitive for latency-sensitive apps. But it gives you compute, not an agent — and with GPU machines deprecated after August 2026, GPU agent workloads need a new home. a2a cloud deploys the whole agent app and proves what it did.
Where Fly.io is genuinely strong — and where a2a cloud is different.
Fast VMs, run anywhere
Fly Machines boot in seconds and run close to your users, with a clean CLI and a genuinely good developer experience for latency-sensitive apps. If you want raw, global compute you fully control, Fly is excellent at it.
The whole agent app, not just the VM
a2a cloud gives every agent a managed Postgres database, an MCP server, an OpenAPI gateway, a frontend, and auth — from one `a2a deploy`. Authority is Ed25519-signed scoped grants, not broad secrets, and every run returns a signed, replayable receipt. Framework-agnostic, so the Aug-2026 GPU sunset isn't your migration problem.
a2a cloud vs Fly.io, dimension by dimension.
A fair comparison. Both columns are accurate as we understand the products today — the difference is what the runtime owns by default.
Pick the tool that matches the job.
Reach for Fly.io when
- You want raw, globally-distributed VMs you fully control.
- Latency and edge placement are your primary concern.
- You're happy to build the DB, MCP, auth, and audit layers yourself.
Reach for a2a cloud when
- You need the full agent app — DB, MCP, API, frontend — not just compute.
- You're migrating GPU agent workloads off Fly before the Aug 2026 deprecation.
- You need scoped grants and signed receipts for governance and proof.
Trust the receipt.
a2a cloud deploys any agent — LangGraph, OpenAI Agents SDK, CrewAI, or custom — and ships it with a managed Postgres database, an MCP server, an API, a frontend, and an Ed25519-signed receipt for every run. Scoped grants, no ambient production access. One deploy, the whole agent app, with proof.