DigitalOcean vs Railway for Solo Developers

Quick Comparison

DigitalOcean Overview

DigitalOcean built its reputation on being the developer-friendly cloud provider. While AWS confuses you with 200+ services, DigitalOcean offers a focused set: Droplets (VPS), App Platform (PaaS), Managed Databases, Kubernetes, Spaces (object storage), and Functions (serverless). Each service is well-documented and reasonably priced.

The two main ways solo developers use DigitalOcean are Droplets and App Platform. Droplets are straightforward VPS instances starting at $4/month. You get full root access to a Linux server and can run whatever you want. App Platform is their managed PaaS that auto-deploys from Git, similar to Heroku or Railway.

I've used DigitalOcean Droplets for years. The documentation is genuinely the best in the cloud provider space. Every tutorial covers the topic thoroughly, and the community answers handle edge cases. When I didn't know how to set up Nginx as a reverse proxy, a DigitalOcean tutorial walked me through it step by step.

Railway Overview

Railway strips away everything between your code and production. There are no servers to configure, no Docker files to write (though you can), and no infrastructure to manage. Push code, and Railway's Nixpacks figure out how to build and run it. Need a database? Click a button. Need environment variables shared between services? Railway handles the wiring.

The platform excels at managing multi-service projects. A typical solo developer project might have an API server, a PostgreSQL database, a Redis cache, and a background worker. On Railway, all four services live in one project with a visual graph showing their connections. Logs, metrics, and costs display per service.

Railway's biggest advantage is speed to production. I can go from an empty Git repo to a deployed full-stack app with a database in under 10 minutes. No server setup, no build configuration, no DNS management. Railway handles all of it.

Key Differences

Abstraction level. DigitalOcean offers both low-level (Droplets) and high-level (App Platform) options. You choose your abstraction level. Railway is always high-level PaaS. If you want to SSH into a server and install software manually, DigitalOcean accommodates that. Railway doesn't give you server access because there's no server to access.

Service breadth. DigitalOcean offers managed Kubernetes, object storage (Spaces), CDN, load balancers, VPNs, and managed databases as separate products. Railway focuses on application hosting and databases. If you need object storage or a CDN, DigitalOcean has it. Railway doesn't.

Pricing flexibility. DigitalOcean Droplets start at $4/month with fixed pricing. You know exactly what you're paying. App Platform starts at $5/month per component. Railway charges $5/month base plus usage, which varies monthly. For predictable budgets, DigitalOcean's fixed Droplet pricing is simpler. For small projects, Railway's usage-based model can actually be cheaper.

Database management. Both offer managed PostgreSQL. DigitalOcean's starts at $15/month for a dedicated managed database. Railway includes database hosting in your usage charges, typically adding $2-5/month for a small Postgres instance. For solo developers, Railway's lightweight database pricing is more economical. DigitalOcean's managed databases are more robust but overkill for small projects.

Deployment workflow. Railway auto-deploys from Git push with zero configuration. DigitalOcean App Platform also auto-deploys from Git but with slightly more setup. Droplets require manual deployment (or you set up CI/CD yourself). Railway's deployment experience is the most streamlined option.

Flexibility vs. simplicity. DigitalOcean gives you more options and more control. You can run a Droplet with Docker, use App Platform for PaaS, or mix both. Railway gives you less control but more speed. The choice depends on whether you want options or want decisions made for you.

When to Choose DigitalOcean

• You want the flexibility to use both VPS and PaaS approaches
• You need additional cloud services (object storage, CDN, Kubernetes)
• Predictable, fixed-price hosting matters for your budget
• You're comfortable with some server management for Droplets
• You want excellent documentation and tutorials for every setup

When to Choose Railway

• You want the fastest path from code to production
• Managing servers and infrastructure doesn't interest you
• Your project is a standard full-stack app with a database
• You prefer a visual dashboard showing all services in one view
• You're okay with usage-based pricing that varies slightly monthly

The Verdict

DigitalOcean is the more versatile platform. Between Droplets and App Platform, it covers both the "I want to manage my own server" and "just deploy my code" workflows. The documentation alone makes it worth considering, and the Droplet pricing is hard to beat for raw compute.

Railway is the more focused platform. It does one thing, deploying and running applications, and does it better than DigitalOcean App Platform. The integrated database experience, visual project graph, and zero-config builds make Railway faster for typical full-stack projects.

My recommendation: if you only need application hosting and databases, Railway is the better developer experience. If you need a cloud provider that can grow with you into object storage, Kubernetes, or managed databases with high availability, DigitalOcean is the more complete platform. Many solo developers start with Railway and add DigitalOcean services when they need capabilities beyond simple hosting.