Servers live in your own cloud account
Connect DigitalOcean, Hetzner, Vultr, OVH or AWS and Railyard provisions and deploys straight onto a server in that account.
DigitalOcean App Platform · no
Railyard vs DigitalOcean App Platform
DigitalOcean App Platform is DigitalOcean's own managed PaaS layer, tied to a DigitalOcean account, priced per app instance plus managed database add-ons. Railyard gives you the same workflow on servers you own.
No markup on compute
You pay your cloud provider directly, at their price. Railyard's fee is a flat amount per team, not a cut of your server bill.
DigitalOcean App Platform · no
Bring any Ubuntu server over SSH
Point Railyard at an existing server's host, a user and an SSH key, and it connects and takes over from there.
DigitalOcean App Platform · no
Deploy from GitHub on every push
Connect a repository once; every push to the branch you choose builds, releases and swaps traffic automatically.
DigitalOcean App Platform · yes
Preview environment per pull request
Each pull request gets its own copy with its own URL and a comment on the PR, torn down automatically when it closes.
DigitalOcean App Platform · yes
Managed databases with scheduled backups
Postgres, MySQL, Redis and more are provisioned on your servers, with backups scheduled, verified by a restore, and kept for the window you set.
DigitalOcean App Platform · yes
Point-in-time database restore
Restore any database to any minute inside your retention window, into a new database alongside the original.
DigitalOcean App Platform · partial
Visual canvas of your project
Every service, database and the links between them render as a live picture you can edit and deploy from.
DigitalOcean App Platform · no
Private network between services
Every server Railyard manages joins a private network automatically, so services talk to each other without touching the public internet.
DigitalOcean App Platform · yes
Sleep when idle, wake on request
An app with no traffic for a while stops its process, then starts it again the moment a request arrives.
DigitalOcean App Platform · yes
Plain-language reason when a deploy fails
A failed deploy names the cause in plain language — a failed health check, a bad build, a missing variable — and links straight to the fix.
DigitalOcean App Platform · no
Apps keep running if you cancel
Your apps are plain containers on servers you own behind a standard proxy. Cancel Railyard and they keep serving traffic; you just lose the dashboard.
DigitalOcean App Platform · no
See the full comparison table
| Railyard | DigitalOcean App Platform | |
|---|---|---|
| Servers live in your own cloud account | yes | no |
| No markup on compute | yes | no |
| Bring any Ubuntu server over SSH | yes | no |
| Deploy from GitHub on every push | yes | yes |
| Preview environment per pull request | yes | yes |
| Managed databases with scheduled backups | yes | yes |
| Point-in-time database restore | yes | partial |
| Visual canvas of your project | yes | no |
| Private network between services | yes | yes |
| Sleep when idle, wake on request | yes | yes |
| Plain-language reason when a deploy fails | yes | no |
| Apps keep running if you cancel | yes | no |
Something changed? Tell us at hello@railyard.run and we'll fix the row.
Where DigitalOcean App Platform is better
- Automatic preview environments spin up for every pull request, alongside separate staging and production environments, out of the box.
- Managed PostgreSQL, MySQL, Redis, Kafka and OpenSearch are all available as attached databases with built-in VPC access and daily backups kept for 7 days.
- A free tier includes 3 static-site apps with a global CDN and DDoS mitigation, no card required.
- Deep integration with the rest of DigitalOcean's platform — Spaces, VPC, Container Registry — for teams already on DigitalOcean.
Pick DigitalOcean App Platform if
Pick DigitalOcean App Platform if you're already on DigitalOcean and want its managed databases and pull request previews wired directly into that one account, with no server to configure yourself.
Pick Railyard if
Pick Railyard if you want that same push-to-deploy simplicity but across DigitalOcean, Hetzner, Vultr, OVH or AWS, on a server you can also SSH into directly, for a flat $19 a month per team instead of a per-app compute line.
Pricing
- DigitalOcean App Platform
- A free tier covers 3 static-site apps; paid compute starts at $5/month for 1 vCPU and 512 MiB RAM, with a development Postgres database add-on from $7/month; autoscaling needs a dedicated, not shared, instance.
Sources: DigitalOcean App Platform: Pricing · DigitalOcean App Platform: App Platform
Move from DigitalOcean App Platform →
Also see Railyard vs Heroku · Railway · The DigitalOcean App Platform alternative page →
Moving over
How teams move off DigitalOcean App Platform
01
Deploy next to DigitalOcean App Platform
Point Railyard at a new server and deploy a copy of your app. Nothing on your current setup changes yet.
02
Prove it on a temporary URL
Test the new deploy end to end before anyone else sees it.
03
Switch DNS when you're ready
Move traffic over in minutes. Your app was never offline during the move.
Your free 7-day server is waiting.
No credit card. No cloud account needed to test. Keep your first server free for good.
Free plan, no card, and 14 days of Pro for every new team. One flat price per team.