Railway

Railway hosts apps that need more than a static website: a backend, a database, a bot or a background job. Connect a GitHub project or pick a template, and Railway works out how to build and run it. Add a Postgres, MySQL or Redis database with one click, and see everything laid out on a visual canvas.

You pay by the second for the computing power and memory your app actually uses, rather than renting a fixed-size server. Hobby is $5 a month and Pro $20, and each plan's fee is also your included usage, so small projects often cost just the base fee. Templates make it easy to run tools like n8n or a Discord bot yourself, and the Railway Agent and MCP server let AI set things up for you.

The catch is that usage pricing can creep up if an app is busy or badly written, and the free plan is very limited once the 30-day trial ends. It's also aimed at people comfortable with code, so a non-coder will lean on Claude Code to drive it.

• Developers
• Indie builders
• Startups
• Agencies

Builders and small teams who need to host an app, API, bot or database without managing servers.

• Deploy from GitHub or templates

  Railway detects how to build your project, or you start from a ready-made template.

• One-click databases

  Add Postgres, MySQL, Redis or MongoDB next to your app, with backups built in.

• Pay for what you use

  Billed by the second for active computing and memory, with no fixed server sizes to pick.

• Project canvas

  See your app, database and jobs as boxes on one screen, and change settings from there.

• Preview environments

  Each pull request can get its own copy of the app to test before it goes live.

• Railway Agent and MCP

  Let an AI agent or Claude Code create services, change settings and read logs.

• Free

  $0, after a 30-day trial with $5 credit

  Trying it out.

  • 1 project after the trial
  • Up to 1 vCPU and 0.5 GB memory per service
  • 0.5 GB storage
  • Community support
• Our pick

  Hobby

  $5/mo, includes $5 of usage

  Side projects and small business tools.

  • Up to 50 projects
  • Up to 48 vCPU and 48 GB memory per service
  • 5 GB storage
  • 7-day logs

• Pro

  $20/mo, includes $20 of usage

  Production apps and teams.

  • Unlimited team seats
  • Much higher limits per service
  • Up to 1 TB storage
  • 30-day logs and Railway support

• Enterprise

  Custom

  Companies with compliance needs.

  • SSO and audit logs
  • HIPAA agreements
  • Dedicated machines or your own cloud

Prices in USD unless noted, checked 3 November 2026. Vendors change plans often, so confirm on their site before you buy.

Ways Railway can slot into your week.

1. 1

   Self-host n8n

   Deploy n8n from a template with its own database and run your automations without per-task fees.

2. 2

   Host the backend Claude Code built

   Push the project to GitHub, connect it to Railway and add a Postgres database next to it.

3. 3

   Run a bot or scheduled job

   Keep a Slack or Discord bot online, or run a script every morning with a cron job.

It runs the backend and database while the front end can live on Vercel or Netlify, or you can host everything on Railway. GitHub holds the code.

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