Who each one suits
Choose Codara Cloud if
- You want a hosting bill that does not move with usage. On Codara Cloud an action past a limit is refused, not billed.
- You run several small projects and want them to share one plan rather than each adding its own metered usage.
- You want managed databases with backups. Railway describes its database templates as unmanaged: you configure backups and maintenance yourself.
- You want apps, databases and backups stored in the EU by a European company.
Choose Railway if
- You need regions outside Europe: Railway runs in California, Virginia, Amsterdam and Singapore. Codara Cloud runs only in Helsinki today.
- Your usage is low or intermittent enough that paying per second costs less than a fixed plan.
- You need services larger than Codara’s self-serve caps. Railway’s Hobby plan allows up to 48 GB of RAM and 48 vCPU per service.
- You want to start today without an invitation or a card. Railway’s trial needs neither; Codara Cloud is invitation-only while in beta.
Side by side
| Feature | Codara Cloud | Railway |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Fixed monthly price per organization: Starter €5, Standard €20, Pro €50, Scale €100, before tax. Several projects share one plan’s capacity. | Hobby $5/month or Pro $20/month. The fee is a minimum that covers that much usage. Resources are metered: RAM $10/GB-month, CPU $20/vCPU-month, volumes $0.15/GB-month, egress $0.05/GB. |
| Small app: web service + Postgres + daily cron | €5/month on Starter if the web service and job fit in its shared 0.5 vCPU / 512 MiB and one shared Postgres database is enough (it reserves 10 GiB, all of Starter’s storage). €20/month on Standard for 1 vCPU / 2 GiB and 20 GiB. | Depends on metered usage, with a $5 minimum on Hobby. Memory alone for 0.5 GB running all month is about $5 at list rates; CPU, the database and egress come on top. |
| Usage above the plan | No automatic usage overage. An action past a plan limit is refused, not billed. Outgoing transfer is included under fair use. | Billed automatically: usage above the plan amount is added to the bill. You can set usage alerts and a hard limit (from $10) that takes workloads offline when reached. |
| Free tier or trial | No free tier. Beta by invitation: the first month is free on any plan, or the first 3 months if you join our Discord (card required); Starter adds a 7-day trial first. | Trial with a one-time $5 credit for up to 30 days, no card needed. After that, a Free plan with $1 of credit a month. |
| Databases | Managed PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, Redis and MongoDB inside the plan. Supported backups are kept for up to 7 days. | PostgreSQL, MySQL, Redis and MongoDB templates, or any database from a Docker image. Railway calls the templates unmanaged: you handle backups, tuning and monitoring. |
| Cron and background work | Scheduled (any cron expression) and one-off jobs, plus always-on workers. They use the plan’s capacity. | A cron schedule on a service, at most every 5 minutes. A run is skipped while the previous one is still active. |
| Regions and data location | One region: Helsinki, Finland (Hetzner Cloud). Apps, databases and backups are stored in the EU. | US West (California), US East (Virginia), EU West (Amsterdam) and Southeast Asia (Singapore). |
| Deploy from | GitHub repository, container image, or a folder, ZIP or HTML file through the MCP tools. Dockerfile, Railpack, Nixpacks or static builds. | GitHub repository, local directory (railway up) or Docker image. Private registry images need Pro. |
| CLI, MCP and AI agents | codaracloud CLI, HTTP API and a local MCP server for Claude Code, Cursor, Codex and other MCP clients. Agent tokens are development-only by default. | Railway CLI and an official MCP server, hosted at mcp.railway.com or run locally. Agent usage has its own spending limit. |
| Team members | Starter: 1 member. Standard up to 25, Pro up to 50, Scale up to 100, with no per-seat fee. | Pro and Enterprise are built for teams, and Pro seats are free; members share the workspace’s usage. |
| Availability | Beta, by invitation. A new product from Codara Solutions SL (Madrid). | Generally available, open sign-up. |
What a small app costs
Take a small app: one web service using about 0.5 GB of memory all month, a small Postgres database and a cron job that runs a few minutes a day.
On Codara Cloud it costs €5 a month on Starter if the web service and the job fit within Starter’s shared 0.5 vCPU and 512 MiB, and one shared Postgres database is enough. That database reserves 10 GiB, all of Starter’s persistent storage. With more headroom it costs €20 on Standard. Neither price grows with traffic.
On Railway, Hobby costs at least $5, which covers $5 of usage. At the published $10 per GB of RAM per month, 0.5 GB running all month is about $5 of memory by itself. The service’s CPU, the database’s memory and volume, and egress at $0.05/GB come on top, so a small always-on app normally ends up above $5. How far above depends on its actual usage, which is why we give no single figure.
Codara Cloud prices are in euros before tax. Railway publishes prices in US dollars; we have not converted them.
How to move a project over
A Railway service built from a GitHub repository moves over most directly: connect the same repository to Codara Cloud. Railway’s database templates run as ordinary services, so export the data with a dump tool before you switch.
- Write down what runs today: each service with its start command and port, the database, cron schedules, volumes and environment variables. The deployment inventory in our guide is a good template. Full steps in the docs
- Get access. Codara Cloud is in beta: request an invitation, then create a project; it comes with a production environment. Full steps in the docs
- Create the app from the same GitHub repository or container image. A root Dockerfile is used as written; otherwise Codara detects Railpack, Nixpacks or a static build. Full steps in the docs
- Copy runtime environment variables and secrets. Build arguments are never for secrets. Full steps in the docs
- Create the database, export your data with pg_dump (or your engine’s dump tool) and import the dump from an HTTPS URL through the API or MCP tools. Postgres and MariaDB imports are supported. Full steps in the docs
- Recreate scheduled tasks as Codara jobs with the same cron expression, usually running the same image as the app. Full steps in the docs
- Test on a staging environment with test data, then point your custom domain at Codara. Keep the old service running until the new one is verified. Full steps in the docs
Questions
- Is Codara Cloud cheaper than Railway?
- Not in every case. Codara Cloud’s €5 or €20 is fixed, while Railway’s bill follows usage from a $5 minimum. A very light or intermittent workload can cost less on Railway. Several apps that run all month are easier to budget on one Codara plan. Compare with your own usage figures.
- Does Railway have a European region?
- Yes, EU West in Amsterdam, alongside three regions in the US and Asia. Codara Cloud runs only in Helsinki today.
- Can an AI coding agent deploy to both?
- Yes. Railway has an official MCP server. Codara Cloud has the codaracloud CLI and a local MCP server; its agent tokens are development-only by default.
Sources
Prices checked on 26 September 2026.
Railway
- Railway pricingrailway.com/pricing
- Railway plansdocs.railway.com/pricing/plans
- Understanding your Railway billdocs.railway.com/pricing/understanding-your-bill
- Railway cost controldocs.railway.com/pricing/cost-control
- Railway free trialdocs.railway.com/pricing/free-trial
- Railway databasesdocs.railway.com/databases
- Railway cron jobsdocs.railway.com/reference/cron-jobs
- Railway deployment regionsdocs.railway.com/reference/deployment-regions
- Railway services and deploy sourcesdocs.railway.com/guides/services
- Railway MCP serverdocs.railway.com/reference/mcp-server