PlanetScale's page prices a database and nothing else. Postgres single node starts at $5 a month for development and low-traffic production, Metal with local NVMe starts at $50, and the high-availability configuration is one primary and two replicas across three availability zones with automated failover. Schema changes deploy fully online, are revertable with zero data loss, and clusters resize and reshard online. Billing is a function of topology, storage, backup storage, network usage and add-ons, with SOC 1 Type 2, SOC 2 Type 2 and HIPAA listed and purchase available through the AWS and GCP Marketplaces.
TL;DR
PlanetScale sells managed Postgres: single node from $5 a month, Metal from $50 with local NVMe, high availability as one primary plus two replicas across three zones, online schema deploys and revertable migrations. Railway sells an application platform that happens to run databases: a free tier with a 30-day trial and $5 of credits, then $1 a month; Hobby at $5 minimum usage with $5 of credits included; Pro at $20 minimum usage with $20 of credits included, unlimited workspace seats and up to 10 vCPU and 48GB per service - everything above the included credits is metered per second for CPU and memory, with egress at $0.05 per GB. Choose PlanetScale if the database is a component of a stack you already host elsewhere; choose Railway if you want the app and its database on one platform and will accept usage pricing for that convenience.
Railway prices a workspace and meters what it runs. The free tier begins with a 30-day trial carrying $5 of credits and then costs $1 a month, limited to 1 vCPU and 0.5GB of RAM per service with 0.5GB of volume storage. Hobby requires $5 of minimum usage a month, includes $5 of usage credits, and allows up to 4 vCPU and 8GB per service with volume storage up to 5GB and six replicas. Pro requires $20 a month, includes $20 of credits, adds unlimited workspace seats, up to 10 vCPU and 48GB per service, up to 1TB of volume storage, 42 replicas, concurrent global regions and a 99.99% availability target. Above the included credits, usage is charged by the second: $0.00000772 per vCPU-second, $0.00000386 per GB-second of memory, $0.00000006 per GB-second of volume storage, $0.05 per GB of egress and $0.015 per GB-month of object storage.
Read side by side, the two answer different questions. PlanetScale answers what my database costs with $5 or $50 and a described HA topology; it does not run your web server, workers or cron jobs. Railway answers what my whole app costs with a minimum-usage floor and per-second meters that drop when services idle - the trade is that the number at the end of the month is a function of traffic rather than a price you picked. Teams with an existing app host and a database-shaped hole reach for PlanetScale; teams deploying a stack from a repository reach for Railway.
| Feature | PlanetScale | Railway |
|---|---|---|
| What it sells | Managed Postgres: single node, Metal, high availability | Application platform: services, databases, cron, object storage |
| Entry price | Postgres single node from $5/month | Free trial with $5 credits, then $1/month; Hobby $5 minimum usage |
| Mid tier | Metal from $50/month with local NVMe | Pro $20/month minimum usage with $20 credits and unlimited seats |
| Top tier | High availability: 1 primary + 2 replicas across 3 AZs | Enterprise from $1,000 (HIPAA BAA), $2,000 (SSO/RBAC), $10,000 (dedicated VMs) |
| Billing model | Node price plus topology, storage, backup storage and network usage | Minimum usage plus per-second meters: $0.00000772/vCPU-sec, $0.00000386/GB-sec |
| Egress | Network usage billed as one of the database price drivers | $0.05 per GB for services and sandboxes |
| Scale ceiling | Largest described tier sizes up to 56 CU (224GB RAM) | Up to 10 vCPU and 48GB per service on Pro, 42 replicas, 1TB volume storage |
| Schema and migrations | Fully online deploys, revertable with zero data loss | Standard Postgres tooling; migrations are yours to run |
Pick PlanetScale if
PlanetScale is for stacks where the app already runs somewhere else and the gap is a managed database with real migration tooling. A $5 single node keeps the decision cheap, the HA topology is described rather than negotiated, and online, revertable schema changes are the feature that justifies moving off self-managed Postgres.
Pick Railway if
Railway fits teams deploying services, databases and cron from a repository onto one platform with per-second billing. The $5 Hobby floor includes its own credits, Pro at $20 adds unlimited seats and 42 replicas, and idle services cost close to nothing - but the monthly number is a function of traffic, and enterprise compliance starts at $1,000 a month.
No independent ratings or user quotes are reproduced here; we collected none for this pair. Railway's pricing page carries customer testimonials about cost savings - vendor-published material that we have not verified. All prices were read from planetscale.com/pricing and railway.com/pricing on 2026-10-13.
It is an application platform that runs databases among other services. PlanetScale is a database service: its pricing page sells Postgres single node, Metal and high availability and nothing else.
Railway's free tier starts with a 30-day trial and $5 of credits, then $1 a month, and Hobby's $5 minimum usage includes $5 of credits. PlanetScale lists no free tier; its entry is the $5 single node, a fixed price rather than a usage floor.
PlanetScale's cost follows topology, storage, backup storage and network usage on top of the node price. Railway meters usage by the second above the included credits: $0.00000772 per vCPU-second, $0.00000386 per GB-second of memory and $0.05 per GB of egress.
PlanetScale deploys schema changes fully online and makes them revertable with zero data loss, and runs version updates and resharding online. On Railway, Postgres migrations use standard tooling and are yours to execute.
PlanetScale lists SOC 1 Type 2, SOC 2 Type 2 and HIPAA. Railway sells compliance as add-on tiers: a HIPAA BAA at $1,000 a month and SSO, RBAC and audit logs at $2,000 a month, with dedicated VMs at $10,000.
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