stackstash

DigitalOcean Droplets vs Railway

DigitalOcean Droplets is $1/mo cheaper.

That’s $12/year.

DigitalOcean Droplets logo: Simple cloud VMs (Droplets) with predictable pricing from $4/mo.
DigitalOcean Droplets logo: Simple cloud VMs (Droplets) with predictable pricing from $4/mo.

DigitalOcean Droplets

Est. $4/mo

Simple cloud VMs (Droplets) with predictable pricing from $4/mo.

Try it

Pros of DigitalOcean Droplets

  • Clear pricing compared with AWS/GCP

  • Fast to get a server online

  • Great docs for beginners and indies

  • App Platform if you don't want to manage VMs

  • Solid bandwidth allowances

Cons of DigitalOcean Droplets

  • Fewer regions and services than AWS/Azure

  • Not the cheapest at large scale

  • Less set-and-forget than pure PaaS like Vercel

  • Advanced networking/IAM is thinner than big clouds

Railway logo: Hosts apps, workers, and databases from a Git repo with little config.
Railway logo: Hosts apps, workers, and databases from a Git repo with little config.

Railway

Est. $5/mo

Hosts apps, workers, and databases from a Git repo with little config.

Try it

Pros of Railway

  • A backend and a database live in one project

  • You are not writing a long infrastructure file

  • Preview environments exist for branches

Cons of Railway

  • Less control than a VM on Fly or AWS

  • Usage pricing is harder to predict than a flat VPS