Edge Computing
Reviewed for 2026
Running code in data centers physically close to users, instead of one central origin.
Edge platforms like Cloudflare Workers, Vercel Edge Functions, Deno Deploy, and Fastly Compute@Edge run your code in dozens or hundreds of locations worldwide. A user in Tokyo gets served from Tokyo, not from your origin in Virginia.
The upside is dramatically lower latency for global users and natural protection against load spikes. The trade-offs are constraints: edge functions are usually short-lived, run on lightweight runtimes (V8 isolates, not full Node), and have limited filesystem and database options.
Edge is well-suited to API gateways, auth, A/B testing, personalization, and lightweight HTML rendering. Heavy compute (AI inference, video encoding) usually still runs centrally, with edge serving as the fast front door.