Our take
Pick Dagger if platform teams who will run the OSS engine at $0 while they write a first function, then start Starter’s Try for free and land on $20/month (1 user, 1-month traces) — or Scale at $200/month when they need unlimited users and 1-year traces. Pick Railway if app teams who will stay on Free $0 during the 30-day $5-credit trial (then $1/month, 1 project, 3 services) while they ship a first GitHub service,
Best for
Dagger A pipeline you start at $20
Railway A service you start at $0 / $1
Free plan
Dagger No free plan
Railway No free plan
Lowest paid
Dagger Starter $20/mo
Railway Usage (services) $0.00000386
Next step up
Dagger Scale $200/mo
Railway Sandboxes $0.00001929
Coding agent
Dagger
Railway Sandboxes
Runs where
Dagger Hosted
Railway Local; you host it
Watch out
Dagger $20 is 1 user and 1-month traces
Railway Free becomes $1/month after the 30-day $5-credit trial
Last checked
Dagger 2026-10-22 · dagger.io/pricing
Railway 2026-10-22 · railway.com/pricing
platform teams who will run the OSS engine at $0 while they write a first function, then start Starter’s Try for free and land on $20/month (1 user, 1-month traces) — or Scale at $200/month when they need unlimited users and 1-year traces.
Read the Dagger pageapp teams who will stay on Free $0 during the 30-day $5-credit trial (then $1/month, 1 project, 3 services) while they ship a first GitHub service, then land on Hobby at $5 minimum / month when they need 50 projects and 48 vCPU — or Pro at $20 minimum when they need 100 projects and 30-day logs.
Read the Railway page