Railway vs Vercel: 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 Vercel.
⚡ Quick Verdict
Vercel edges ahead with a 4.8/5 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 | Vercel |
|---|---|---|
| Solo (1 user) | $5/mo | $0/mo |
| Small (5 users) | $25/mo | $100/mo |
| Growing (10 users) | $50/mo | $200/mo |
| Free Tier | ✅ $5 free credits/month. 500 execution hours. 100GB outbound bandwidth. No credit card required. | ✅ 100GB bandwidth/month. 100 deployments/day. Serverless function 10s timeout. 1 team member. |
Pricing Plans
| Plan | Railway | Vercel |
|---|---|---|
| Free Plan | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Hobby | $5/mo | $20/mo |
| Pro | $20/mo | Custom |
| Enterprise | Custom | — |
Feature Comparison
| Feature | Railway | Vercel |
|---|---|---|
| DX (Developer Experience) | ★★★★★ | ★★★★★ |
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
Vercel
✅ Pros
- Zero-config deployment for Next.js, Nuxt, SvelteKit
- Free tier is generous for personal projects (100GB bandwidth)
- Preview deployments on every PR — great for review
- Edge Functions for globally fast API routes
- Automatic HTTPS, CDN, and image optimization
❌ Cons
- Pro plan is $20/user/mo — adds up for teams
- Serverless function cold starts can affect performance
- Vendor lock-in if using Vercel-specific features
- Free tier has 10s function timeout (too short for heavy APIs)
- Bandwidth overages are expensive ($40/100GB)
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 Vercel if...
- You are a solo devs deploying next.js or static sites
- You are a frontend teams wanting zero-config ci/cd
- You are a startups that need fast iteration with preview deploys
🚫 Skip if...
- Backend-heavy apps (use Railway or Fly.io)
- Teams needing long-running background jobs
- Cost-sensitive teams at scale (bandwidth costs)
🏆 Our Verdict
Both Railway (4.6/5) and Vercel (4.8/5) are excellent tools in their category. Vercel 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 Vercel?
It depends on your needs. Railway excels in some areas while Vercel has its own strengths. Read our full comparison above to see which tool fits your specific requirements.
How does Railway pricing compare to Vercel?
Railway starts at Free / $5/mo, while Vercel starts at Free / $20/mo. Both offer different value propositions — check our pricing comparison section for a detailed breakdown.
Can I migrate from Railway to Vercel?
Yes, most B2B tools offer data import/export features. Vercel typically provides migration guides and sometimes even dedicated support for switching from Railway.
Which is easier to use, Railway or Vercel?
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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