Railway vs Relay.app — Pricing, Plans, and Verified Costs (2026)
Railway starts at $5/mo. Relay.app starts at $38/mo. Railway is $33/mo cheaper on the entry tier than Relay.app.
How pricing works
These two tools don't price the same way, so the headline numbers below aren't directly comparable until you plug in your own volume.
- Railway (Hybrid) — Railway is hybrid: a fixed subscription from $5/mo plus metered usage on top (Usage credits). Your real bill moves with volume, not seat count.
- Relay.app (Hybrid) — Relay.app is hybrid: a fixed subscription from $38/mo plus metered usage on top. Your real bill moves with volume, not seat count.
Per-minute, per-credit and per-token rates exclude any downstream model, speech or telephony costs unless the vendor states otherwise.
Modern PaaS positioned as the alternative to Heroku for developers who want git-push-to-deploy simplicity plus per-resource billing. Distinctive for its usage-based pricing (compute per GB-hour, RAM per GB-hour) versus flat dyno pricing at Heroku. Free trial credits give hobby projects room; production apps typically $20-$500/mo. YC-backed, popular with indie hackers and Series A/B startups.
AI-native workflow automation platform — workflows can pause for human approval and use AI to draft any step. Pricing: Free (400 runs/mo), Pro $9/user/mo (5K runs), Team $59/mo (5 users, 20K runs), Enterprise custom. Positioned as the AI-native alternative to Zapier and Make for teams that want human-in-the-loop workflows.
All plans compared
| Tier role | Plan | Railway monthly | Railway annual | Relay.app monthly | Relay.app annual |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free / starter | Free Trial / Free | Free | — | Free | Free |
| Entry paid | Hobby / Professional | $5 | — | $38 | $19 |
| Pro / power | Pro / — | $20 | — | — | — |
| Teams | — / Team | — | — | $118 | $59 |
| Enterprise | Enterprise | Custom | Custom | Custom | Custom |
Tier names differ across vendors. Rows are aligned by tier role, not name. Full tier structures on each tool's page.
What each is best for
Railway is worth it if… developers building side projects or small production apps who want Heroku-style ease with modern pricing — deploy any GitHub repo in one click, scale to serverless functions. Hobby covers indie dev use; Pro adds team features and higher limits.
Relay.app is worth it if… g. AI drafts a customer email, human reviews before sending.
Bottom line: Similar positioning, closer to a preference call than a strategic one.
Choose Railway over Relay.app if…
Choose Railway if…
- You're fine with a base subscription plus metered usage on top (from $5/mo).
- You match the profile Railway is built for: developers building side projects or small production apps who want Heroku-style ease with modern pricing — deploy any GitHub repo in one click, scale to serverless functions.
- You need a general-purpose developer & infrastructure option rather than a vertical-specific one.
Choose Relay.app if…
- You're fine with a base subscription plus metered usage on top (from $38/mo).
- You match the profile Relay.app is built for: Relay.
- You need a general-purpose developer & infrastructure option rather than a vertical-specific one.
At a glance
| Railway | Relay.app | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Entry price | $5/mo | $38/mo |
| Enterprise available | Yes | Yes |
| Pricing model | Hybrid | Hybrid |
| Last verified | September 14, 2026 | September 20, 2026 |
| Full pricing | View full pricing | View full pricing |
Pricing last verified September 20, 2026. Tracked daily.