Railway vs Cloudflare Pages for Solo Developers
Comparing Railway and Cloudflare Pages for solo developers. Features, pricing, pros and cons, and which one to pick for your next project.
Quick Comparison
| Feature | Railway | Cloudflare Pages |
|---|---|---|
| Type | Full-stack PaaS | Static + edge functions platform |
| Pricing | $5/mo + usage | Generous free tier / $5/mo Workers Paid |
| Learning Curve | Easy | Easy |
| Best For | Full-stack apps with databases | Static sites and edge-powered apps |
| Solo Dev Rating | 9/10 | 9/10 |
Railway Overview
Railway is a managed PaaS that handles your entire stack. Push code, Railway detects your language with Nixpacks, builds it, and deploys. Databases, Redis, background workers. All in one project with a visual dashboard showing how services connect. Environment variables flow automatically between services.
The developer experience is excellent. I deployed a Node.js API with Postgres in under 10 minutes without writing a single line of configuration. Railway handles SSL, domain routing, and auto-restarts. For solo developers who want to ship without thinking about infrastructure, it's one of the best options available.
Pricing starts at $5/month base plus usage. Most solo projects land in the $7-15/month range.
Cloudflare Pages Overview
Cloudflare Pages started as a static site hosting platform and has grown into something much more powerful. It deploys static sites to Cloudflare's global CDN and supports server-side functionality through Cloudflare Workers (edge functions). Frameworks like Next.js, Astro, SvelteKit, and Nuxt can run on Pages with SSR support.
The free tier is absurdly generous. Unlimited bandwidth, 500 builds per month, and global CDN distribution at no cost. For static sites and JAMstack apps, there's honestly no reason to pay for hosting elsewhere.
Where Pages gets interesting is the Cloudflare ecosystem. You get access to Workers KV (key-value storage), D1 (SQLite at the edge), R2 (S3-compatible object storage), Queues, and Durable Objects. It's not just a hosting platform anymore. It's an edge-first development platform with a growing set of primitives.
Key Differences
Architecture. Railway runs containers in a single data center. Cloudflare Pages distributes your site across 300+ edge locations. For static content and edge-rendered pages, Cloudflare delivers faster load times globally. For server-heavy applications that need persistent connections and databases, Railway's container model is more appropriate.
What you can host. Railway hosts anything that runs in a Docker container. Any language, any framework, any architecture. Cloudflare Pages is optimized for static sites and JavaScript/TypeScript edge functions. If you're running Django, Rails, or Go, Railway is your option. If you're building with Next.js, Astro, or SvelteKit, Pages handles it well.
Database options. Railway offers one-click managed Postgres, MySQL, Redis, and MongoDB. Cloudflare has D1 (edge SQLite) and KV, which are useful but limited compared to a full relational database. For data-heavy applications, Railway's database experience is miles ahead. For lighter data needs, D1 is surprisingly capable and free to start.
Pricing. Cloudflare Pages wins on cost for static sites and lightweight apps. The free tier covers most solo developer needs. Railway's $5/month minimum adds up, especially if you need databases. But for full-stack apps with real backend requirements, Railway's pricing is competitive because everything is bundled.
Build and deploy speed. Cloudflare Pages deploys are fast. Static sites go live in seconds. Railway's container builds take 1-3 minutes. Both support preview deployments for pull requests, which is great for testing changes before going live.
Vendor ecosystem. Cloudflare Pages locks you into the Cloudflare ecosystem for edge features. Workers, KV, D1, R2. These are powerful tools, but they're proprietary. Railway deploys standard containers, so migrating to another platform (or your own server) is straightforward. Portability matters more than most people think.
When to Choose Railway
- You're building a full-stack app with a traditional backend
- You need managed databases, Redis, or message queues
- Your stack includes Python, Go, Ruby, or Java
- You want all services managed in one dashboard
- Portability and standard Docker containers matter to you
When to Choose Cloudflare Pages
- You're building a static site, blog, or documentation
- Your frontend framework supports SSR on Cloudflare (Next.js, Astro, SvelteKit)
- You want the fastest global delivery at zero cost
- Lightweight data storage (D1, KV) covers your needs
- The Cloudflare ecosystem (R2, Workers, Queues) fits your architecture
The Verdict
Railway and Cloudflare Pages aren't really competitors. They serve different layers of the stack. Cloudflare Pages is the best free hosting for static sites and edge-rendered frontends. Railway is the best managed platform for backend services and databases.
For a typical solo developer project, the smart play is using both. Deploy your frontend on Cloudflare Pages for free global CDN and edge rendering. Deploy your API and database on Railway for managed backend infrastructure. You get the best of both worlds and keep costs low.
If you had to pick one, it depends on what you're building. Static site or JAMstack app? Cloudflare Pages. Full-stack app with a real backend? Railway. Simple as that.
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