Free calculator · runs in your browser
One cheap VPS or a managed platform?
A VPS is cheap but you look after it. A platform costs more but runs itself. Enter your apps and what your time is worth to see which is really cheaper.
Cheapest first
Railway
| Option | Bill | Time | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Railway PaaS | $14.50 | $12.50 | $27.00 |
| DigitalOcean App Platform Shared 1 vCPU / 512 MiB × 4 PaaS | $20.00 | $12.50 | $32.50 |
| Vultr Regular Cloud Compute 1 vCPU / 2 GB VPS | $10.00 | $50.00 | $60.00 |
| DigitalOcean Basic Droplet 1 vCPU / 2 GiB VPS | $12.00 | $50.00 | $62.00 |
| Hetzner CPX12 (1 vCPU AMD / 2 GB, EU) VPS | $14.09 | $50.00 | $64.09 |
Sources
- platform.claude.com/docs/en/about-claude/pricing
- developers.openai.com/api/docs/pricing
- ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/pricing
- claude.com/pricing
- one.google.com/about/plans
- api.vultr.com/v2/plans
- hetzner.com/cloud/regular-performance/
- digitalocean.com/pricing/droplets
- digitalocean.com/pricing/app-platform
- digitalocean.com/pricing/managed-databases
- railway.com/pricing
- brevo.com/pricing/
How it works
- VPS: for each provider, the cheapest plan with enough RAM for all apps plus 0.5 GB of overhead, plus your upkeep hours × your rate.
- Railway: the Hobby plan fee (which includes $5 of usage) plus CPU, RAM and egress above that, at Railway's published per-unit rates, plus platform upkeep.
- App Platform: the smallest instance that fits one app, times the number of apps, plus platform upkeep.
RAM is usually what decides it. Our own content box runs six sites, a database and analytics in 1 GB; see the guide.
Questions
How much RAM does a small app need?
A static site needs almost none. A small Node, Python or Go API usually sits at 50 to 250 MB. A Next.js server or a Rails app is more like 200 to 500 MB. Measure yours with docker stats or your platform's metrics.
What goes into the 'hours per month' for a VPS?
Security updates, renewing anything that doesn't renew itself, checking disk space, fixing the occasional stuck container, and backups. With a simple setup (Docker, a reverse proxy with automatic HTTPS, unattended upgrades) it can be an hour or two a month. Your first setup takes longer.
Why is Railway one line and App Platform 'per app'?
Railway bills the whole workspace by usage, so many small services share one plan fee. App Platform bills each app component by its instance size, so the cost scales with the number of apps.