Railway vs Render.
Prices checked
Railway is cheaper on 1 of the 2 shapes both sell, the widest gap pro tier at $20/mo against $25/mo, checked .
Where to start
Railwayall 2 prices It takes your code or an image and runs a container of it for you.
Starts at
$5/mo
Hobby
Renderall 17 prices It takes your code or an image and runs a container of it for you.
Starts at
$7/mo
0.5c-512mb · 0.5 vCPU · 512 MB
Side by side
| Fact | Railway | Render |
|---|---|---|
| Kind of platform | App platform | App platform |
| Prices published | 2 | 17 |
| Entry price | $5/mo | $7/mo |
| Cheaper of the two | 1 of 2 | 0 of 2 |
| Free tier | none listed | Free web service, sleeps when idle |
| Transfer per GB | 5¢ per GB | $0.15 per GB |
| One build minute | not published | 0.5¢ per minute |
| One extra member | not published | not published |
| A GB of disk a month | 1.5¢ per GB a month | $0.25 per GB a month |
Every shape both sell
2 shapes, sizes first, smallest first. Monthly prices.
| Shape | Railway | Render |
|---|---|---|
| Hobby tier | $5Hobby1 seatalways on | freeHobby workspaceno seat feeidling unknown |
| Pro tier | $20Prono seat feealways on | $25Pro workspaceno seat feeidling unknown |
How we count
Railway is cheaper on 1 of the 2 shapes both sell, Render on 0, and 1 are level or have a free tier on one side. Both are the same kind of platform, so what a price buys is the same shape at each and the money is most of what separates them.
A shape is a runtime with the same stated memory at both, smallest first, or a subscription at the same step of both ladders. A seat and a gigabyte are never put in the same row.
Where one side of a row costs nothing, neither is marked as the cheaper: free is a limit rather than a price. What each platform meters on top is listed beside the prices and never folded into them, and a rate that is not published is not a rate of zero.
Frequently asked
- Is Railway cheaper than Render?
- On the 2 shapes both sell, Railway is cheaper on 1, Render on 0, and 1 are level or have a free tier on one side. Prices exclude tax and were read on 1 Nov 2026.
- What is the difference between Railway and Render?
- Railway: You push a repository or an image and the platform builds it, runs it and keeps it running. There is no operating system to look after and no root, which is the point: the container is replaced rather than repaired. What you size is memory and a share of a processor. Render: You push a repository or an image and the platform builds it, runs it and keeps it running. There is no operating system to look after and no root, which is the point: the container is replaced rather than repaired. What you size is memory and a share of a processor.
- Does Railway or Render stop your app when nothing calls it?
- Railway: it lists no free tier. Render: its free tier sleeps when idle.
- What does each one charge on top of the plan price?
- Railway: transfer 5¢ per GB, builds not published, members not published. Render: transfer $0.15 per GB, builds 0.5¢ per minute, members not published. A rate that is not published is not a rate of zero, and none of these is folded into the monthly figures above.
- How current are these prices?
- Both catalogues are read every 3 days. Railway was last read 1 Nov 2026 and Render 1 Nov 2026; the whole index was refreshed 1 Nov 2026. Prices exclude tax, and a tier that costs nothing is listed here and is the cheaper of two nowhere.
Platform pages