PaaS & Containers
Runs a full backend server or Docker container for you, without managing a machine. Useful when your app needs a long-running process.
Monthly cost as you grow
For a commercial project, using the cheapest plan that fits at each size and our default usage averages. How we estimate
| Provider | 100 users | 1,000 users | 10,000 users | 100,000 users |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DigitalOcean App Platform | $10.00Shared 1 GiB, fixed (1 vCPU) | $10.00Shared 1 GiB, fixed (1 vCPU) | $12.00Shared 1 GiB, fixed (1 vCPU) | $48.00Shared 1 GiB, fixed (1 vCPU) |
| Fly.io | $6.74shared-cpu-1x, 1 GB RAM | $7.10shared-cpu-1x, 1 GB RAM | $10.70shared-cpu-1x, 1 GB RAM | $46.70shared-cpu-1x, 1 GB RAM |
| Railway | $20.40Pro | $24.00Hobby | $60.00Hobby | $420Hobby |
| Render | $25.00Standard (2 GB RAM, 1 CPU) | $27.25Standard (2 GB RAM, 1 CPU) | $54.25Standard (2 GB RAM, 1 CPU) | $324Standard (2 GB RAM, 1 CPU) |
Free tiers and their catches
DigitalOcean App Platform
Free tier (static sites only): Only for apps made of static site components. Web services, workers and jobs need a paid container.
Fly.io
No free plan.
Railway
Free: New accounts start with a 30 day trial that includes a one-time $5 credit. After that, or once the $5 is spent, the account moves to the Free plan with $1 of credit each month.
- Free stops at its limits rather than billing more.
Render
Free web service (512 MB RAM): Render says not to use Free instances for production apps. They are for testing and hobby projects.
- Free web service (512 MB RAM) sleeps after 15 minutes without traffic, and takes about a minute to wake on the next request.
- Free web service (512 MB RAM) stops at its limits rather than billing more.