Fastly Case Studies Linktree's Scalability Success with Fastly's Edge Cloud Platform

	Linktree's Scalability Success with Fastly's Edge Cloud Platform Fastly

Linktree's Scalability Success with Fastly's Edge Cloud Platform

Fastly

Technology Category	Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Application Development Platforms
Applicable Industries	Consumer Goods
Use Cases	Traffic Monitoring Transportation Simulation
Services	Cloud Planning, Design & Implementation Services
Challenge	Linktree, an Australian SaaS startup, had created a unique niche for itself as a 'link as a service' provider. With over 16 million global users, the platform was experiencing a steady growth in views, reaching close to 1 billion views per month. However, as consumer behaviors shifted, Linktree faced the challenge of maintaining uptime, managing traffic, and delivering profiles with low latency on a global scale. The company was also preparing for a potential traffic spike, as it aimed to support 4 million new users in 3 months. Linktree's small team had big growth goals, and they needed a solution that could improve their security posture and scale seamlessly. They had initially used another vendor's WAF, but it was not comprehensive enough for their needs. Read More
About Customer	Linktree is an Australian SaaS startup that has carved out a unique space for itself as a 'link as a service' provider. The platform has over 16 million global users and is designed to make online content easier to find, manage, and convert. Linktree is typical of SaaS startups, employing a DevOps approach to continuous delivery and improvement. Despite being a small team, they have ambitious growth goals. Over the past 12 months, Linktree views have grown steadily, reaching close to 1 billion views per month. The company was also preparing for a significant increase in users, aiming to support 4 million new users in just 3 months. Read More
Solution	Linktree turned to Fastly's edge cloud platform and next-gen WAF to address their challenges. Fastly worked with Linktree during the proof of concept (POC) to determine the most effective deployment option for their next-gen WAF. The Cloud WAF deployment option offered a developer-friendly feature: the ability to work at the edge and use Typescript code at the application layer. This solution allowed Linktree to scale up and use much of their existing code. The Fastly next-gen WAF POC had an immediate impact, helping to fix specific issues. For instance, it detected a Python bot creating multiple fake accounts daily and created new rules to block it. Additionally, after deploying the Fastly CDN, Linktree's uptime surged from 96% to 99.999% overnight, better preparing the platform for unexpected traffic spikes. Read More Log in to view content
Contents

Technology Category

Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Application Development Platforms

Applicable Industries

Consumer Goods

Use Cases

Traffic Monitoring

Transportation Simulation

Services

Cloud Planning, Design & Implementation Services

Challenge

Linktree, an Australian SaaS startup, had created a unique niche for itself as a 'link as a service' provider. With over 16 million global users, the platform was experiencing a steady growth in views, reaching close to 1 billion views per month. However, as consumer behaviors shifted, Linktree faced the challenge of maintaining uptime, managing traffic, and delivering profiles with low latency on a global scale. The company was also preparing for a potential traffic spike, as it aimed to support 4 million new users in 3 months. Linktree's small team had big growth goals, and they needed a solution that could improve their security posture and scale seamlessly. They had initially used another vendor's WAF, but it was not comprehensive enough for their needs.

About Customer

Linktree is an Australian SaaS startup that has carved out a unique space for itself as a 'link as a service' provider. The platform has over 16 million global users and is designed to make online content easier to find, manage, and convert. Linktree is typical of SaaS startups, employing a DevOps approach to continuous delivery and improvement. Despite being a small team, they have ambitious growth goals. Over the past 12 months, Linktree views have grown steadily, reaching close to 1 billion views per month. The company was also preparing for a significant increase in users, aiming to support 4 million new users in just 3 months.

Solution

Linktree turned to Fastly's edge cloud platform and next-gen WAF to address their challenges. Fastly worked with Linktree during the proof of concept (POC) to determine the most effective deployment option for their next-gen WAF. The Cloud WAF deployment option offered a developer-friendly feature: the ability to work at the edge and use Typescript code at the application layer. This solution allowed Linktree to scale up and use much of their existing code. The Fastly next-gen WAF POC had an immediate impact, helping to fix specific issues. For instance, it detected a Python bot creating multiple fake accounts daily and created new rules to block it. Additionally, after deploying the Fastly CDN, Linktree's uptime surged from 96% to 99.999% overnight, better preparing the platform for unexpected traffic spikes.

Impact #1	The move to Fastly's edge cloud platform and next-gen WAF brought significant operational benefits to Linktree. The solution effectively protected applications in production without blocking legitimate traffic, impacting app performance, or creating too many false positives. The ability to work at the edge and use Typescript code at the application layer offered a developer-friendly feature that was appreciated by the Linktree team. The immediate impact of the Fastly next-gen WAF POC, including the detection and blocking of a Python bot creating fake accounts, solved a major headache for the customer success team and helped validate user numbers. The massive boost in uptime put the platform in a much better position to handle unexpected traffic spikes and supported the company's ambitious growth goals.

Impact #1

The move to Fastly's edge cloud platform and next-gen WAF brought significant operational benefits to Linktree. The solution effectively protected applications in production without blocking legitimate traffic, impacting app performance, or creating too many false positives. The ability to work at the edge and use Typescript code at the application layer offered a developer-friendly feature that was appreciated by the Linktree team. The immediate impact of the Fastly next-gen WAF POC, including the detection and blocking of a Python bot creating fake accounts, solved a major headache for the customer success team and helped validate user numbers. The massive boost in uptime put the platform in a much better position to handle unexpected traffic spikes and supported the company's ambitious growth goals.

Benefit #1	Boosted uptime from 96% to 99.999% overnight
Benefit #2	Supported a 3-month signup spike, adding 4 million new users
Benefit #3	Handled signups peaking at around 43,000 per day

Benefit #1

Boosted uptime from 96% to 99.999% overnight

Benefit #2

Supported a 3-month signup spike, adding 4 million new users

Benefit #3

Handled signups peaking at around 43,000 per day

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Overview

Linktree's Scalability Success with Fastly's Edge Cloud Platform

Operational Impact

Quantitative Benefit