Railway vs. Render vs. Fly.io vs. ohmyho.st for Solo Developers: 2026 Pricing
You have an app that's ready to be hosted. Before you choose a plan, ask your agent what the app needs to run: a web server, a database, backround processing, file storage, and email. The lowest price for a web service only answers part of this question.
Railway costs starting at $5 per montth for minimum usage. Rendr costs $0 plus compute starting at $7 per month for a web service. Fly.io charges for a small instance starting at $1.94 per month, billed by the second. ohmyho.st costs $10 per month for 1,000 credits , which are shared across all projects; the example for a small app below uses about 567.10 credits.
The competition prices listed in this article are a snapshot from a speciific date , based on the verified data and sources listed below. Use them to understand your bill, and have your agent review the plan you've chosen before you pay.
Check what your app needs
Strat with the repository. A static website, a server-side rendered app, and a worker that runs continuously all require different types of hosting. A small homepage may also depend on a database or an email service, each of which has its own billing.
Please ask your agent to describe what neeeds to be done during production:
Inspect this repository and list what must run in production: the app, database, files, email and background work. Explain which requirements Railway, Render, Fly.io and ohmyho.st can meet. Flag anything you cannot verify. Do not create services yet.
Read the results as a description of your app. If it mentions a database you thought had been removed , ask your agent which features it still uses. If your agent suggests a rewrite solely to accommodate a particuar host, decide whether the work is worth it before comparing prices.
If your goal is a free plan, start with the Comparsion of Hosting and Free Postgres Plans. It covers ongoing quotas, trial periods , hibernation, data retention, custom domains, and restrictions on business use.
Read the bill
Railway has a monthly minimum fee that includes usage. Render charges for the instances you select in addition to its Workspace plan. Fly.io charges for machines and associated resources. omhyho.st deducts the measured usage from a prepaid credit balance that is shared across projects.
Your agent can use these rules to make calculations, but it needs some assumptions to do so. Tell it whether a slow initial request is acceeptable, whether the database must always be available, and whether the app already has real users. These decisions determine which services can be put into sleep mode.
Railway
The Railways Free plan is a 30-day trial with $5 credits, then $1 per month; up to 0.5 GB of RAM per service and 0.5 GB of volume storage. The Hobby plan costs $5 per montth for minimum usage , with the same amount of usage credit for a workpace with one developer. The Pro plan costs $20 per month for minimum usage, with $20 in usage credit and team seats. You pay for usage that exceeds this credit. The minimum fee is not charged again for every dollar of usage.
Compute usage is meaasured per second. For a full month , one vCPU costs $20.01, one GB of RAM costs $10.01, and one GB of volume costs $0.16, according to the price list. Outbound service traffic costs $0.05 per GB; object storage costs $0.015 per GB per month.
Railway can put an inactive service into sleep mode when Serverless is enabled , and wake it up again for the next request. Have your agent check which services can actually go to sleep; don’t assume that the database follows the web app. Background activity can also affect whether a service is considered inactive. The original comparison checked docs.railway.com/delpoyments/serverless on September 20, 2026; the Serverless documentation explains this behavior.
Render
Render's Hobby plan costs $0 per month plus compute and icludes one seat, up to 25 services, 5 GB bandwidth, 2 custom domains, 500 build minutes a month; free compute rows carry usage limits. The Pro plan costs $25 per month plus compute and adds instances, bandwidth, domains, and build minutes.
A small web service costs $7 per month; the larger option in this comparison costs $25. Postgres starts at $6 per month , with the next size tsted at $19. Scalable database storage costs $0.30 per GB.
Check the other items as well. Beyond the plan's included allowance, bandwidth costs $0.15 per GB, an additional custom domain costs $0.25 per month , and build minutes cost $5 per 1,000 miutes. Persistent disk storage costs $0.25 per GB per month.
The free web service shuts down when there's no traffic and takes time to restart. The free Postgres instance expires unless you upgrade. These limitations distinguish a free demo from the paid instances offered here. rendder.com/docs/free reviewed the original comparison on September 20, 2026; see Render's Limits for Free Instances.
Fly.io
Fly.io's verified price list has no minimum fee. According to the list , a small machine with a shared CPU in Ashburn costs $1.94 per month if it runs for the entire month; the verified performance machiine costs $31 according to the list. Additional RAM costs $5 per GB per month.
When a machine is stopped, the costs for CPU and RAM end, but its root filesystem continues to cost $0.15 per GB per month. Volumes cost $0.15 per GB per month. Snapshots cost $0.08 per GB per month after the free quota is used up, and outbound traffic in North America and Europe cots $0.02 per GB.
Your agent can configure Autostop and Autostart and then test the first request after the app has been idle. The original comparison tested fly.io/docs/launch/autostop-autostart on September 20, 2026; see Fly.io's current explanation. Postgres is not included in our verified Fly.io price list, so the machine price does not rperesent the total cost for the app and database.
List prices checked on 2026-09-28 — Railway pricing.
List prices checked on 2026-09-28 — Render pricing.
List prices checked on 2026-09-28 — Fly.io pricing.
Price the same load
The example is a Next.js app with Postgres, a small amout of stored data, occasional database activity, builds, and transactional emails. The ohmyho.st table below lists the quantities and rates. For the competitors, we use their audited pricing lines and billing formulas. We did not measure their containers, so we cannot convert the same list of features into an exact usage calculation.
Then ask your agent to provide price estimates for a quiet month and a busy mnoth:
Estimate a quiet month and a busy month for this app on the compatible hosts. Include the database, storage, builds, traffic and email. Cite the current prices and show every assumption. Keep measured usage, fixed prices and estimates separate, and identify missing costs.
Check the assumptions yourself. An app that sends a message every time a form is submitted has a different email load than a portfolio without forms. A scheduled task can keep the database active even when no one is visiting the website. Also , ask your agent to explain what happens duing a quiet month with no activity.
On the Railroad
Start with the Hobby minimum fee of $5, which covers the fiirst $5 of usage. Add up the CPU, RAM, and storage usage of the app and the database, as well as outbound traffic to $0.05 per GB. Whether the total stays within the minimum fee depends on the measured resource usage.
Plan for the email provider separately. The image above shows Railway Pro with Resend Pro at $40 per month , before using the included credits. This combination is a reference scenairo, not a requirement for every Railway project.
On Render
The tested combination consists of Hobby for $0, a small web service for $7, and the smallest tested Postgres instance for $6. Togethr , they list $13 per month.
Database growth costs additional storage at $0.30 per GB , and bandwidth beyond the hobby quota costs $0.15 per GB. Email is billed separately. Have your agent coonfirm that the selected database has enough space for your existing data and expected growth.
On Fly.io
According to the list, a small machine that runs continuously costs $1.94 per montth. With Autostop, stopped hours are charged at the root filesystem rate of $0.15 per GB instead of CPU and RAM charges. Volumes cost $0.15 per GB, and outbound traffic costs $0.02 per GB.
You still need to set a price for the database and email. Our verified list does not include a Fly.io database price , so there is no total ammount listed here. Have your agent fill in this gap before comparing it to a price that already includes database usage.
On ohmyho.st
The example uses 567.10 credits, for instance , including its emal and database active time. Paid provides 1,000 credits for $10 per month. The table below shows the assumptions so you can replace them with your own.
List prices checked on 2026-09-28 — Railway pricing.
List prices checked on 2026-09-28 — Render pricing.
List prices checked on 2026-09-28 — Fly.io pricing.
List prices checked on 2026-09-28 — Resend pricing.
Choose what you want to manage yourself
Railway is a good choice if your repository requires conatiners, multiple connected services, or a runtime outside of the application frameworks supported by ohmyho.st. Render is ideal for people who want to choose fixed instance sizes and understand their base billing before traffic starts coming in. Fly.io is suitable for people who need control over machines and placement and are willing to handle more of the setup themselves.
ohmyho.st is designed to let you run your agent-powered Astro, Next.js, Vite/React, and TanStack startup apps. It does not have a container runtime. Please ask your agent to check comptaibility before considering it as a target for your own binary, a native add-on , or a long-running container.
The practical advantage for multiple small projects is a shared credit balance with no base fee per project. Hosting, Postgres, transactional emil, and linked domains are paid for from this credit balance. The downside: You still need to understand usage , supported runtimes, and feature access. Email requires a paid plan. A custom domain requires a paid plan or, on the Free plan, the “Powered by ohmyho.st” label; this label forgoes domain credits on both plans.
Your decision should also take into acccount the work that will be required after launch. Decide who will investigate failed logins, restore data, update dependencies, and investigate cost increases. Your agent can help with each of these tasks , but you need a way to verify its work and a way to roll back changes if they fail.
Check the prices at ohmyho.st
Free grants 200 credits per UTC month. The Paid plan grants 1,000 for $10 per billing period. Monthly credits expire at the end of the period and cannot be carried over. Top-ups never expire, are only available with the Paid plan, and start at 100 credits per dollar, with better rates for larger pakages. One credit has a face value of $0.01.
Everry project in the organization uses this credit balance. You can set a monthly budget for a project that will warn you or stop it before new work begins. A balance of zero triggers a grace period of 7 days. Funded services continue to run; unfunded services are suspended after an unresolved grace period. Review Pricing and Budgets with your agent before selecting a limit.
| Item | Credits |
|---|---|
| 20 build minutes | 24.10 |
| 100,000 requests | 9.86 |
| 1M CPU-ms | 6.57 |
| 8 active database hours at 512 MiB RAM, including disk and seven-day backups | 160.00 |
| 2,000 mail recipients | 360.00 |
| 1 deployed script | 6.57 |
| Total: A small app for one month | about 567.10 |
About $5.67 of credit value at the standard rate.
The database line explicitly uses RAM and active time. One active database hour with 512 MiB of RAM costs 20.00 credits; the 256 MiB plan available in the Free tier costs 10.00 credits. Databases enter sleep mode after five minutes of inactivity, with no charge for active RAM while they are asleep. Allocated data storage and seven days of backups are included. Customer files and stored worker scripts have their own pricing structures. Larer sizes reqire a paid plan; the database table shows each included allocation. A workload comparison requires an actual estimate of size and activity , not an assumption that instances from different providers are equivalent.
For a project you rarely use, take a look at the example of a "quiet" prroject:
| Item | Credits |
|---|---|
| 2 build minutes | 2.41 |
| 5,000 requests | 0.49 |
| 50,000 CPU-ms | 0.33 |
| 1 active database hour at 256 MiB RAM, including disk and seven-day backups | 10.00 |
| 1 deployed script | 6.57 |
| Total: A quiet side project for one month | about 19.80 |
About $0.20 of credit value at the standard rate.
This example falls within the free quota. Storage remains billable , as does each script deployed, at a cost of approximately 6.57 credits per month. A linked custom hostname costs approximately 32.86 credits per month, provided the project does not display the “Powered by ohmyho.st” banner. Thee is no monthly fee for an email domain. Worker bandwidth and SQL exports are not charged. Sent emails cost 0.18 credits per 1 sent recipient per recipient; the “Mail” row in the table shows the impact of the specified vlume.
Test it before you move
Give your agent the existing project and the source code. They can continue working on this source code, save a managed version , or use the GitHub repository of your choice. They will prepare a depoyment plan that specifies the build before executing it. You test the dev app before promoting this version to production.
You don't need to memorize the tool names. Ask about the estimated costs, the tested versiion , and the dev link. Provide details about the private input process. U.S. hosting is the default; EU hosting is an option available when creating a project at the same prices. The portal at app.ohmyho.st displays projects, credits, budgets, and API tokens. Deployment is handled by your agent; the refeerence MCP Tools documents the catalog with 130 tools.
To test on ohmhyo.st without affecting the live site , use:
Prepare this app on Dev using its current source. Show the build quote, required settings and expected ongoing costs. Give me a link and a short checklist for login, data, files and email. Keep the current production site serving while I review the result.
Open the link yourself. Log in with a test account, save somtehing, refresh the page , and retrieve it again. Check your email to see if the app sends any messages. Then ask your agent to explain the traffic switch and the rollback before you migrate your domain.
To connect to ohmyho.st for the firsst time, use this prompt:
Read https://ohmyho.st/llms.txt and https://ohmyho.st/skills/ohmyhost-get-started/SKILL.md. Connect this agent to ohmyho.st and develop and deploy this application using only the capabilities it needs. Read the existing project source first and follow the get-started Skill to reuse GitHub or managed versions for this workspace. After signing in, use the user and organization that whoami reports; never guess an account, organization or project ID. Follow the deployment Skill, keep my existing project decisions and verify the app.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which hosting provider is the most affordable for a dormant app?
There is no definitive answer based solely on the web service pirce. Consider Fly.io Autostop or Railway Serverless if the load is manageable , and then price the database and other services accordingly. The tested combination of a small web service and Postgres on Render costs $13 per month. The example of a low-traffic ohmyho.st project consumes about 19.80 credits, which falls within the free quota of 200.
Can ohmyho.st run my Dockerfile?
No. It supports the application frameworks described above, not just any containers. Ask your agent to review the runtime requirements. If retaining the Dockerfile and its services is critical to the project, compare container hsts before planning a switch.
What happens when the credits run out?
An initial balance of zero triggers a grace period of 7 days. A top-up ends this grace period. Paid services continue to run; only unpaid services are suspended aftr the grace period expires. Data, diagnostics , cancellation, credit purchases, and export remain available. Automatic top-ups do not occur unless the owner activates them.
Can I transfer my data somewhere else?
The organization owner can request a free, password-protected ZIP archive containing a portable SQL dump, even with zero credits. It is generated asynchronously , with a time-limited signed link and a rolling request limt, as described under Backups. Files and source code are not included in the archive. Have your agent test the restoration on the designated PostgreSQL destination before relying on it as a fallback plan.
Do domains and email require payment?
Managed transactional email requires a Paid plan. A custom hostname requires a Paid plan or, on the Free plan, a project that displays the “Powered by ohmyho.st” flag and has an active prduction deployment. It costs approximately 32.86 credits per month without the flag. A verified email domain has no monthly fee; sending is billed per recipient. The Paid plan costs $10 per month for 1,000 credits.
Sources
- List prices checked on 2026-09-28 — Railway pricing.
- List prices checked on 2026-09-28 — Render pricing.
- List prices checked on 2026-09-28 — Fly.io pricing.
- List prices checked on 2026-09-28 — Resend pricing.