CapRover vs Railway (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Railway grades higher than CapRover: 2.6 against 2.0 out of 4.0.
Checked Nov 12, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 · graded Nov 12, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
CapRover grades higher on the free plan. Railway grades higher on value for money, features, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Railway
App and database hosting billed by the second for usage
Which one is for you
Pick CapRover if
- Fits if you run your own server and want a simple app dashboard
- Works for developers who know Docker and DNS
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want a hosted service, as the site lists none
- Not for you if you cannot set wildcard DNS or open ports 80, 443 and 3000
- Tight if you want paid support, as none is listed
- Watch out: the docs target a fresh Ubuntu 24.04 install
Pick Railway if
- Fits if you run side projects that only run part of the time
- Works for teams that want unlimited seats on the $20 plan
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you stay on Free: 1 project, 3 services, 0.5 GB RAM
- Watch out: usage above the included credit is billed on top of the minimum
- Watch out: Hobby has community support, and support and the 99.99% target start on Pro
- Not for you if you need SSO, RBAC or HIPAA BAAs, as those are Enterprise
How we grade them
| 2.0GPACapRoverFair | 2.6GPARailwayGood | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CFree software, but only free if you host it yourself, and you pay for the server. | BHobby is $5 minimum usage a month, inside the cheaper quarter ($5.28), but usage above the credit is on top and egress is $0.05 per GB. Pro is $20. |
| Free plan and trial | BThe whole platform is free to install, with no paid tier. You need your own server. | CA 30-day trial with $5 and no card, then a Free plan at $1 a month, limited to 1 project, 3 services and 0.5 GB RAM a service. |
| Features | CApps in any language, one-click apps, HTTPS, several deploy methods and Docker Swarm clusters. No hosted version, so updates and backups are yours. | BUsage billing, templates, volumes, object storage, replicas and regions, and sandboxes. The listing names no core gap. |
| Ease of use | DSelf-hosting with a fresh Ubuntu server, wildcard DNS and open ports 80, 443 and 3000. | CNo store rating on record. You set up projects, services and databases. |
| Platforms and integrations | CWeb dashboard with one-click apps and no API or apps listed. | BWeb, iOS and Android, but no desktop app and no integrations listed. |
| Best for | self-hosting your own app platform | side projects billed by usage |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: CapRover and Railway. How we grade
Price against what you get
CapRover has no paid plan and scores 1.7 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Railway starts at $5 a month and scores 2.7.
Railway scores higher, and starts $5 a month higher: the question is whether the extra is worth that to you. Of the other web hosts on the chart, none scores higher than CapRover for less, and none scores higher than Railway for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- CapRover is self-hostable, according to its own site.
- Railway also covers AI agents.
At a glance
| CapRover | Railway | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free | Free trial |
| Starts at | Free | $5 minimum usage per month (Hobby) |
| Free plan | The whole platform is free to install on your own server; the site's headline says "free forever". | None |
| Free trial | None listed | 30-day trial with a one-time $5 credit, no card required. |
| Web | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | CapRover | Railway Corp. |
| Price read from | caprover.com | railway.com |
| Checked | Nov 13, 2026 | Nov 12, 2026 |
Worth knowing
CapRover
- CapRover does not supply servers; you rent and maintain your own, and the docs target a fresh Ubuntu 24.04 install.
- Setup needs a domain with wildcard DNS access and public inbound ports 80, 443 and 3000.
- Support comes from documentation and a community Slack group; no paid support is listed.
- The site lists no hosted version, so updates, backups and security fall to you.
Railway
- Egress is $0.05 per GB, and usage above the included credit is charged on top of the minimum.
- After the trial, the Free plan allows 1 project, 3 services and 0.5 GB of RAM per service.
- Hobby is a single developer workspace with community support; support and a 99.99% target begin on Pro.
- SSO, role-based access control and HIPAA BAAs are Enterprise only.
Key features
CapRover
- Apps in any language
- Node.js, Python, PHP, Java, Ruby, .NET or anything that runs in a container can be deployed.
- One-click apps
- Databases, WordPress, monitoring tools and other popular services can be launched from a catalog.
- Automatic HTTPS
- Let's Encrypt certificates are issued and renewed, with a one-click redirect from HTTP to HTTPS.
- Several ways to deploy
- Deploy from the dashboard, the command-line tool, a webhook, or an existing Git workflow.
- App settings in one place
- Ports, persistent directories, environment variables and instance counts are managed from the dashboard.
- Docker Swarm clusters
- Additional nodes can be added to a Docker Swarm cluster, with load balancing handled by CapRover.
Railway
- Usage-based billing
- Memory costs $0.00000386 per GB-second and CPU $0.00000772 per vCPU-second, so an idle service costs little.
- Templates
- The templates page offers ready-made setups for apps and databases that deploy to a project in a few steps.
- Volumes and object storage
- Persistent volumes are billed per GB-second and object storage is $0.015 per GB-month with free egress.
- Sandboxes and VMs
- Isolated Linux VMs for agents, builds and untrusted code, billed for CPU used and memory held, at about $50 per vCPU-month.
- Replicas and regions
- Services can run up to 5 replicas on Hobby and 42 on Pro, across concurrent global regions.
- Mobile app
- The site lists a Railway app for iOS and Android.
Plans
CapRover
Self-hosted$0
Install it yourself on Ubuntu 24.04 with at least 1 GiB of RAM and 5 GiB of free disk. Server costs are yours; the project asks for donations via OpenCollective.
Railway
Free$0
per month, after the trial
After a 30-day trial with $5 in credits, $1 per month. Up to 1 vCPU and 0.5 GB RAM per service, 0.5 GB volume.
Hobby$5
minimum usage per month, includes $5 of usage
Includes $5 of monthly usage credit, up to 48 vCPU and 48 GB RAM per service, a single developer workspace and 7-day logs.
Pro$20
minimum usage per month, includes $20 of usage
Includes $20 of monthly usage credit, unlimited workspace seats, up to 1,000 vCPU per service and a 99.99% availability target.
EnterpriseCustom
Single sign-on, role-based access control, HIPAA BAAs, dedicated VMs, bring-your-own-cloud and a 99.999% availability target.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, CapRover or Railway?
As of Nov 13, 2026, CapRover is cheaper to start with: it is free, against $5 a month for Railway. CapRover is free, and Railway starts at $5 minimum usage per month (Hobby).
Which has a free plan, CapRover or Railway?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only CapRover has a free plan. Railway does not, though it has a free trial.
Which platforms do CapRover and Railway run on?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only Railway lists iOS and Android apps. Both list a web app. A platform missing from a listing is one its maker's pages did not mention.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.