DigitalOcean Droplets vs Railway
Pricing data as of 2026-10-12 · refreshed weekly
DigitalOcean Droplets (vps) and Railway (paas) overlap on 15 stacks. The table below shows the cheapest fitting plan on each for a typical startup workload (~50,000 visits/month) — list prices, no promos.
DigitalOcean Dropletsvps
| Basic 512MB | $4/mo |
| Basic 1GB | $6/mo |
| Basic 2GB | $12/mo |
| Basic 4GB | $24/mo |
Railwaypaas
| Hobby | $5/mo |
| Pro | $20/mo |
Cheapest fitting plan per stack (startup traffic)
| Stack | DigitalOcean Droplets | Railway | Cheaper |
|---|---|---|---|
| Next.js | $4 (Basic 512MB) | $5 (Hobby) | DigitalOcean Droplets |
| Nuxt | $4 (Basic 512MB) | $5 (Hobby) | DigitalOcean Droplets |
| Astro | $4 (Basic 512MB) | $5 (Hobby) | DigitalOcean Droplets |
| SvelteKit | $4 (Basic 512MB) | $5 (Hobby) | DigitalOcean Droplets |
| Remix / React Router | $4 (Basic 512MB) | $5 (Hobby) | DigitalOcean Droplets |
| Node.js API | $4 (Basic 512MB) | $5 (Hobby) | DigitalOcean Droplets |
| Django | $6 (Basic 1GB) | $5 (Hobby) | Railway |
| FastAPI | $4 (Basic 512MB) | $5 (Hobby) | DigitalOcean Droplets |
| Laravel | $6 (Basic 1GB) | $5 (Hobby) | Railway |
| Ruby on Rails | $12 (Basic 2GB) | $5 (Hobby) | Railway |
| Spring Boot | $12 (Basic 2GB) | $5 (Hobby) | Railway |
| WordPress | $6 (Basic 1GB) | $5 (Hobby) | Railway |
| Ghost | $6 (Basic 1GB) | $5 (Hobby) | Railway |
| Strapi | $6 (Basic 1GB) | $5 (Hobby) | Railway |
| Static site | $4 (Basic 512MB) | $5 (Hobby) | DigitalOcean Droplets |
Next.js by traffic level
| Traffic | DigitalOcean Droplets | Railway |
|---|---|---|
| Hobby / side project (~5,000/mo) | $4 (Basic 512MB) | $5 (Hobby) |
| Startup / small business (~50,000/mo) | $4 (Basic 512MB) | $5 (Hobby) |
| E-commerce (~200,000/mo) | $6 (Basic 1GB) | $39.1 (Hobby) |
| High traffic (~1,000,000/mo) | $12 (Basic 2GB) | $73.25 (Hobby) |
"+" = even the largest plan may not cover that traffic. Full breakdowns: Next.js on DigitalOcean Droplets · Next.js on Railway
FAQ
Is DigitalOcean Droplets or Railway cheaper?
DigitalOcean Droplets is cheaper more often: at startup traffic (~50,000 visits/month) DigitalOcean Droplets wins on 8 of 15 shared stacks, Railway on 7. Price alone ignores ops work: DigitalOcean Droplets is a VPS, Railway is a PaaS.
What does a Next.js app cost on DigitalOcean Droplets vs Railway?
Cheapest fitting plan by traffic level — hobby / side project: DigitalOcean Droplets $4/month (Basic 512MB) vs Railway $5/month (Hobby); startup / small business: DigitalOcean Droplets $4/month (Basic 512MB) vs Railway $5/month (Hobby); e-commerce: DigitalOcean Droplets $6/month (Basic 1GB) vs Railway $39.10/month (Hobby); high traffic: DigitalOcean Droplets $12/month (Basic 2GB) vs Railway $73.25/month (Hobby).
What is included with DigitalOcean Droplets and Railway?
DigitalOcean Droplets is a VPS with nothing bundled — CDN, TLS automation, previews and deploys are yours to set up. Railway bundles Edge, SSL, Previews, Auto-deploy; not included: CDN, Image opt.
How current are these prices?
They are official list prices as of 2026-10-12, re-checked against each provider's pricing page on a weekly cycle. Intro promos and coupons are not used in totals; taxes are not included unless a plan note says so.