Railway vs Heroku(2026)
Railway is better for teams that need supports backend apps and databases. Heroku is the stronger choice if large add-ons ecosystem. Railway is freemium (from $5/month) and Heroku is paid (from $5/month).
Full feature breakdown, pricing details, and pros & cons below.
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Railway
Railway is a deployment platform where you can provision infrastructure with one click and deploy from GitHub.
Starting at $5/month
Visit RailwayHeroku
Heroku is a platform as a service (PaaS) that enables developers to build, run, and operate applications entirely in the cloud.
Starting at $5/month
Visit HerokuHow Do Railway and Heroku Compare on Features?
| Feature | Railway | Heroku |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | freemium | paid |
| Starting price | $5/month | $5/month |
| One-click deploys | ✓ | — |
| Built-in databases | ✓ | — |
| Environment variables | ✓ | — |
| Custom domains | ✓ | — |
| Usage-based pricing | ✓ | — |
| Git push deploy | — | ✓ |
| Add-ons marketplace | — | ✓ |
| Managed PostgreSQL | — | ✓ |
| Review apps | — | ✓ |
| CI/CD pipeline | — | ✓ |
Railway Pros and Cons vs Heroku
Railway
Heroku
Should You Use Railway or Heroku?
Choose Railway if…
- •Supports backend apps and databases
- •Simple pricing model
- •Full-stack in one place
Choose Heroku if…
- •Large add-ons ecosystem
- •Mature platform
- •Good documentation