Railway
The cloud that takes the complexity out of shipping software.
Overview
Railway is an infrastructure platform designed to simplify deployment and hosting. It allows developers to provision services, including databases like PostgreSQL and MySQL, from a template or Dockerfile. While it doesn't have 'branching' as a first-class feature in the same vein as Neon or PlanetScale, it achieves a similar workflow through its environment management. Developers can create ephemeral 'preview environments' for each pull request, which includes a completely new, isolated copy of the database, seeded with data if configured.
✨ Key Features
- Ephemeral Preview Environments
- Automatic provisioning of services (including databases)
- Usage-based pricing
- Support for multiple database types (Postgres, MySQL, Redis, etc.)
- Infrastructure as Code via `railway.json`
🎯 Key Differentiators
- Extreme simplicity and developer experience
- Usage-based pricing for all services
- Automatic creation of full preview environments for pull requests
Unique Value: Ship software without thinking about infrastructure. Railway's ephemeral environments provide an isolated, full-stack copy for every PR, including the database.
🎯 Use Cases (4)
✅ Best For
- Automatically spinning up a full preview environment (backend, frontend, and database) for every pull request.
- Deploying a multi-service application without managing underlying cloud infrastructure.
- Scaling services based on real-time resource consumption.
💡 Check With Vendor
Verify these considerations match your specific requirements:
- Large enterprises with complex, bespoke infrastructure or compliance requirements.
- Workflows that require instant, copy-on-write database branching for very large databases (as Railway creates full copies).
🏆 Alternatives
Unlike platforms that only host frontends or require more configuration (like Heroku), Railway provides a seamless, 'it just works' experience for the entire stack. Its preview environment feature, while not 'true' branching, provides the same workflow benefit of isolated testing.
💻 Platforms
🔌 Integrations
🛟 Support Options
- ✓ Email Support
- ✓ Live Chat
- ✓ Dedicated Support (Enterprise tier)
🔒 Compliance & Security
💰 Pricing
✓ 14-day free trial
Free tier: $5 of usage credits per month
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