Railway vs Render: Which One Fits Your Solo Dev Stack?
Free tier limits, real costs for 1-10 users, and honest "not for" warnings. The Solo Dev decision guide for Railway vs Render.
⚡ Quick Verdict
Railway edges ahead with a 4.6/5 rating. However, the best choice depends on your team size, budget, and workflow needs. Read on for the full breakdown.
💰 Cost by Team Size
| Team Size | Railway | Render |
|---|---|---|
| Solo (1 user) | $5/mo | $0/mo |
| Small (5 users) | $25/mo | $19/mo |
| Growing (10 users) | $50/mo | $19/mo |
| Free Tier | ✅ $5 free credits/month. 500 execution hours. 100GB outbound bandwidth. No credit card required. | ✅ Static sites unlimited. Free web services spin down after 15min of inactivity. 750 hours/mo free instance. |
Pricing Plans
| Plan | Railway | Render |
|---|---|---|
| Free Plan | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Hobby | $5/mo | $7/mo |
| Pro | $20/mo | $19/mo |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom |
Feature Comparison
| Feature | Railway | Render |
|---|
Pros & Cons
Railway
✅ Pros
- Deploy anything — Docker, Node, Python, Go, Rust, databases
- One-click PostgreSQL, Redis, MySQL provisioning
- Usage-based pricing — only pay for what you use
- Beautiful dashboard and dead-simple DX
- Built-in private networking between services
❌ Cons
- Free tier is just $5 credit (runs out fast with always-on services)
- No serverless functions (everything is container-based)
- Can get expensive for high-traffic apps
- Limited regions compared to AWS/GCP
- No built-in CDN — need Cloudflare in front
Render
✅ Pros
- Simple GitHub/GitLab deploy pipeline
- Generous free tier for static sites
- Built-in PostgreSQL databases
- Transparent pricing — no surprise bills
❌ Cons
- Free tier services spin down (cold starts)
- Performance can lag behind Vercel/Fly.io for edge workloads
- Limited regions compared to major clouds
Who Should Use What?
✅ Choose Railway if...
- You are a backend apps, apis, and workers that need always-on compute
- You are a solo devs who want heroku-like simplicity with modern pricing
- You are a quick database provisioning (postgres, redis) alongside apps
🚫 Skip if...
- Static sites or JAMstack (use Vercel or Netlify)
- Enterprise needing multi-region deployments
- Cost-sensitive projects (VPS on Hetzner is cheaper)
✅ Choose Render if...
- You are a side projects and mvps
- You are a full-stack apps needing managed db
🚫 Skip if...
- Enterprise with multi-region requirements
- Real-time low-latency apps
🏆 Our Verdict
Both Railway (4.6/5) and Render (4.4/5) are excellent tools in their category. Railway takes a slight edge overall, but the best choice ultimately depends on your team's specific needs, budget, and existing tool ecosystem.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Railway better than Render?
It depends on your needs. Railway excels in some areas while Render has its own strengths. Read our full comparison above to see which tool fits your specific requirements.
How does Railway pricing compare to Render?
Railway starts at Free / $5/mo, while Render starts at Free / $7/mo. Both offer different value propositions — check our pricing comparison section for a detailed breakdown.
Can I migrate from Railway to Render?
Yes, most B2B tools offer data import/export features. Render typically provides migration guides and sometimes even dedicated support for switching from Railway.
Which is easier to use, Railway or Render?
Ease of use depends on your team's experience and workflow preferences. We evaluated both tools on usability — see our feature comparison scores above for details.
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