Pick Elestio if
small teams who will start on a $11 / month dedicated VM while they open a first PostgreSQL card, then buy Level 2 at $50 / month when they want a printed SLA and 14-day backups.
Read the Elestio pageElestio vs Railway
Our take
Pick Elestio if small teams who will start on a $11 / month dedicated VM while they open a first PostgreSQL card, then buy Level 2 at $50 / month when they want a printed SLA and 14-day backups. 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, then land on Hobby at $5 minimum / month when they need 50
Railway
usage-metered deploy desk
Best for
Elestio A catalog VM you do not patch yourself
Railway A service you start at $0 / $1
Free plan
Elestio No free plan
Railway No free plan
Lowest paid
Elestio Disk $0.15
Railway Usage (services) $0.00000386
Next step up
Elestio BYO cloud $5
Railway Sandboxes $0.00001929
Coding agent
Elestio
Railway Sandboxes
Runs where
Elestio Hosted
Railway Local; you host it
Watch out
Elestio $11 / month is a starting VM, not unlimited software
Railway Free becomes $1/month after the 30-day $5-credit trial
Last checked
Elestio 2026-10-23 · elest.io/pricing
Railway 2026-10-22 · railway.com/pricing
Which one, then?
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, 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