Hosting
Railway vs Render vs Fly.io
Railway, Render, Fly.io side by side: price, free tier, who each one fits and when to skip it.
| Item | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| What it does | Runs servers, workers and databases from a repo or Docker image, billed by the second. | Hosts web services, background workers, cron jobs and Postgres with deploys from Git. | Runs your Docker app as fast-booting machines in regions around the world. |
| Best for | A SaaS with a Node or Python back end, a queue worker and Postgres that wants it all in one project for about $5 a month. | A SaaS with a traditional back end (Django, Rails, Express) that wants a fixed $7 server instead of a usage-based bill. | A SaaS that wants its back end in several regions close to its users and is comfortable with Docker and a command-line workflow. |
| Skip it if | You need a predictable fixed bill, since memory and CPU are metered and a leaky process can push the dollar invoice up. | You plan to run production on the free tier, where the service sleeps after 15 idle minutes and the free Postgres expires in 30 days. | You want a free tier to keep a side project online, since new accounts only get a trial of 2 machine hours or 7 days. |
| Setup | A little code. About 30 minutes for a Node or Python API with a database. | A little code. About 30 minutes for a web service with Postgres. | Needs a developer. 1 to 2 hours if you know Docker; a day if it's your first time. |
| Price | Hobby $5/month with $5 of usage included; Pro $20/month | Web services from $7/month (Starter, 512 MB) | Pay per second; smallest machine about $2.19/month |
| What it costs in practice | API using 0.5 GB of RAM all month ($5) + 0.1 vCPU on average ($2) + Postgres with 0.25 GB of RAM ($2.50) and a 1 GB volume ($0.15) + 20 GB of egress ($1) ≈ $10.65 of usage. On Hobby ($5 with $5 included) the bill is about $10.65/month. Estimate. | Starter web service ($7) + Basic-256mb Postgres ($6) on the free Hobby workspace = $13/month. With 20 GB of traffic, the 15 GB over the included 5 GB add about $2.25: around $15/month. Estimate. | One shared-cpu-1x machine with 1 GB in Ashburn ($6.70) + 50 GB of outbound traffic (50 × $0.02 = $1) ≈ $7.70/month. Adding Managed Postgres Basic ($38) brings it to about $46/month. Estimate. |
| Free plan | $5 trial credit for 30 days, then a free plan with $1 of usage a month. | 750 free instance hours a month (sleeps after 15 idle minutes) and a 1 GB Postgres that expires in 30 days. | No free tier; a trial of up to 2 machine hours or 7 days, no card needed. |
| Free tier | $1 of usage/month (after $5 trial) | 750 hours/month, sleeps when idle | No free tier (short trial) |
| First paid plan | Hobby: $5/month with $5 of usage | Starter: $7/month (512 MB) | From $2.19/month (shared CPU, 256 MB) |
| Best for | Node, Python, Docker, Postgres, Redis | Django, Rails, Express, Docker | Docker apps, Elixir, multi-region |
| Open source | No: no | No: no | No: no |
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| Price checked | Checked on Oct 28, 2026 · official pricing | Checked on Oct 28, 2026 · official pricing | Checked on Oct 28, 2026 · official pricing |
Prices are read from each official pricing page on the date shown and can change. Always confirm before signing up.
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