Fly.io vs Railway: Complete Comparison Guide
Compare Fly.io and Railway on edge deployment, ease of use, global distribution, and cost. Discover which platform best fits your deployment strategy.
Fly.io
Fly.io is a platform that runs applications as Firecracker microVMs at locations around the world. Unlike traditional PaaS platforms, Fly.io runs your containers close to your users at 30+ locations globally. This makes it ideal for latency-sensitive applications requiring global distribution. Fly.io supports any Docker container and offers persistent volumes, private networking, and auto-scaling.
Railway
Railway is a modern Platform-as-a-Service that puts developer experience at its core. With instant deploys, usage-based pricing, and excellent service integration, Railway makes it simple to deploy applications with databases and background services. Railway runs from a limited number of regions but compensates with superior ease of use and seamless monorepo support.
Comparison table
| Feature | Fly.io | Railway |
|---|---|---|
| Deployment model | Firecracker microVMs at 30+ global locations (edge) | Containers in limited regions — focus on simplicity over distribution |
| Global distribution | Applications run worldwide close to end users | Few regions available — no native multi-region support |
| Ease of use | Fly CLI-driven — powerful but steeper learning curve | Intuitive UI and CLI — very low barrier to entry |
| Databases | Fly Postgres (community-managed), SQLite with LiteFS | Integrated PostgreSQL, MySQL, and Redis as managed services |
| Persistent storage | Fly Volumes with persistent SSD storage per region | Persistence via integrated database services |
| Pricing model | Pay-per-VM with free allowance — more complex cost structure | Usage-based with simple, transparent billing |
Verdict
Fly.io and Railway approach hosting from opposite directions. Fly.io optimizes for global distribution and low latency by running your application at multiple locations worldwide — perfect for international applications with strict latency requirements. Railway optimizes for developer experience with the fastest and simplest deploy flow on the market. For most applications, regional hosting is sufficient and Railway offers a superior experience; for global distribution, Fly.io is unmatched.
Our recommendation
At MG Software, we choose Vercel for frontend deployment (which automatically distributes globally via its Edge Network) and Supabase for backend services. For clients who need to globally distribute full-stack applications, we recommend Fly.io for its unique multi-region capabilities. For standard web applications and APIs, we recommend Railway for its superior ease of use. The combination of Vercel + Supabase covers most use cases we encounter, however.
Frequently asked questions
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