Railway vs Zeabur (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Railway grades higher than Zeabur: 2.6 against 2.2 out of 4.0.
Checked Nov 12, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 · graded Nov 12, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
Railway grades higher on features and platforms. They get the same grade on value for money, the free plan and ease of use.
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
Zeabur
Deployment platform with a dashboard for apps and servers
Which one is for you
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
Pick Zeabur if
- Fits if you want one dashboard over several servers you own
- Works for small teams on the $79 plan with 3 seats
Look elsewhere if
- Watch out: the plan price covers the dashboard, so servers and running costs are extra
- Tight if you stay free, with 1 manageable server and no advanced Agent messages
- Too light for a fast-answer support need: standard tickets target a first reply within 4 working days
- Pricey if you grow a team, as extra seats are $24 a month each past 3
How we grade them
| 2.6GPARailwayGood | 2.2GPAZeaburFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | 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. | BDev is $5 a month after a 14-day trial, inside the cheaper quarter of web hosting. The price is for the dashboard, and server costs are separate. |
| Free plan and trial | 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. | CFree plan has dashboard basics, community support and 48 hours of logs. The 14-day trial on Dev and Pro is the way to try more. |
| Features | BUsage billing, templates, volumes, object storage, replicas and regions, and sandboxes. The listing names no core gap. | CServices and servers, monitoring, backups, logs, email and team roles. Advanced-model Agent messages are not on Free, and running costs sit outside the plan. |
| Ease of use | CNo store rating on record. You set up projects, services and databases. | CDeploying services means choosing servers and setup, and the listing shows a learning curve with no store rating. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb, iOS and Android, but no desktop app and no integrations listed. | CWeb dashboard only, with a single integration on the listing. |
| Best for | side projects billed by usage | deploying apps with an AI build planner |
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: Railway and Zeabur. How we grade
Price against what you get
Railway starts at $5 a month and scores 2.7 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Zeabur starts at $5 a month and scores 2.0.
Railway scores higher for the same starting price. Of the other web hosts on the chart, none scores higher than Railway for less, and 13 score higher than Zeabur 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
- Railway also covers AI agents.
At a glance
| Railway | Zeabur | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Free plan |
| Starts at | $5 minimum usage per month (Hobby) | $5 per month (Dev plan, after a 14-day free trial) |
| Free plan | None | Dashboard basics, community support, 1 manageable own server, a 2C4G build machine and 48 hours of log retention. |
| Free trial | 30-day trial with a one-time $5 credit, no card required. | 14 days free on the Dev and Pro plans |
| Web | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Railway Corp. | Zeabur Inc. |
| Price read from | railway.com | zeabur.com |
| Checked | Nov 12, 2026 | Nov 13, 2026 |
Worth knowing
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.
Zeabur
- The plan price covers dashboard features; the pricing page has a server and cluster selector, so the cost of running services is separate.
- Advanced-model Agent messages are not included on the Free plan (0 a month).
- Standard support tickets target a first response within 4 working days; faster replies use limited express passes.
- Extra Team seats cost $24 per seat per month beyond the 3 included.
Key features
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.
Zeabur
- Dashboard for services and servers
- Manage services, plus servers you bought and own elsewhere, from the Zeabur dashboard.
- AI build planner and agent
- zbplan reads your code to generate a build, and the Zeabur Agent has a monthly quota of advanced-model messages: 30 on Dev, 200 on Pro, 600 on Team.
- Monitoring, backups and logs
- Dev and above add monitoring and backups; log retention runs from 48 hours on Free to 90 days on Team.
- Email service and domains
- Paid plans can send email through Zeabur and buy domains from the dashboard, with daily send quotas that grow by plan.
- Team roles
- The Team plan adds project collaboration and role and permission management for its 3 included seats.
Plans
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.
Zeabur
Free$0
per month
Dashboard basics, 1 manageable own server, 48-hour log retention and community support.
Dev$5
per month, after a 14-day free trial
Adds monitoring and backups, 3 own servers, 7-day logs, a Zeabur Agent quota and email.
Pro$19
per month, after a 14-day free trial
Adds 10 own servers, a 4C8G build machine, 30-day logs, log search and forwarding, priority support.
Team$79
per month, 3 seats included, +$24 per extra seat
Everything in Pro with unlimited own servers, team collaboration, roles and 90-day log retention.
EnterpriseCustom
Custom usage limits, dedicated technical resources and custom contracts, sold through sales.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Railway or Zeabur?
As of Nov 13, 2026, they start at the same price. Railway starts at $5 minimum usage per month (Hobby), and Zeabur starts at $5 per month (Dev plan, after a 14-day free trial).
Which has a free plan, Railway or Zeabur?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only Zeabur has a free plan. Railway does not, though it has a free trial.
Which platforms do Railway and Zeabur 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.