# Google Cloud Run vs Railway Canonical: https://inetgeek.com/compare/google-cloud-run-vs-railway/ Every value below is read from Google Cloud Run's and Railway's own documentation. See https://inetgeek.com/methodology/ for how. ## At a glance | Criterion | Google Cloud Run | Railway | | --- | --- | --- | | Free tier | Yes | Yes | | Pricing model | Metered by resource, billed in 100 ms increments, with no monthly minimum. Two billing settings change what is counted: request-based charges CPU only while a request is being processed, instance-based charges for the whole instance lifecycle. Prices vary by region — the location list is split into Tier 1 and Tier 2 pricing — and the free tier is applied as a spending-based discount at Tier 1 rates. | Plan fee that includes an equivalent usage credit | | Max request duration | 5 minutes by default, extendable to 60 minutes per request. | 15 minutes while data keeps transferring; closed after 5 minutes with no data transferred. Websocket connections are exempt and can stay open indefinitely. | | Git deployment | Supported | Supported | | Docker deployment | Supported | Supported | | Persistent processes | Limited — instance-based billing keeps CPU allocated | Supported | | Edge network | Limited — deploy per region, add a load balancer | Supported | | Scales to zero | Supported | Limited | | Autoscaling | Supported | Limited | | Regions | 41 regions, counted from Cloud Run's own locations list — Google publishes the list rather than a total. They are split into Tier 1 and Tier 2 pricing, so the region chosen changes the bill as well as the latency. | 4 regions: California, Virginia, Amsterdam, Singapore | | SOC 2 | Covered under Google Cloud's core SOC 2 Type II reports, issued quarterly for Google Cloud and Google Workspace products generally. | SOC 2 Type 2 and SOC 3 reports available via Railway's Trust Center. | | HIPAA | Cloud Run is listed as a Covered Product under Google Cloud's HIPAA Business Associate Agreement. | Listed under Compliance certifications, with a dedicated report available. | ## Where they differ ### Pricing model - Google Cloud Run: Metered by resource, billed in 100 ms increments, with no monthly minimum. Two billing settings change what is counted: request-based charges CPU only while a request is being processed, instance-based charges for the whole instance lifecycle. Prices vary by region — the location list is split into Tier 1 and Tier 2 pricing — and the free tier is applied as a spending-based discount at Tier 1 rates. ([source](https://cloud.google.com/run/pricing)) - Railway: Plan fee that includes an equivalent usage credit ([source](https://docs.railway.com/reference/pricing/plans)) ### Max request duration - Google Cloud Run: 5 minutes by default, extendable to 60 minutes per request. ([source](https://docs.cloud.google.com/run/docs/configuring/request-timeout)) - Railway: 15 minutes while data keeps transferring; closed after 5 minutes with no data transferred. Websocket connections are exempt and can stay open indefinitely. ([source](https://docs.railway.com/networking/public-networking/specs-and-limits)) ### Persistent processes - Google Cloud Run: Limited — instance-based billing keeps CPU allocated ([source](https://docs.cloud.google.com/run/docs/configuring/billing-settings)) - Railway: Supported ([source](https://docs.railway.com/services)) ### Edge network - Google Cloud Run: Limited — deploy per region, add a load balancer ([source](https://docs.cloud.google.com/run/docs/multiple-regions)) - Railway: Supported ([source](https://docs.railway.com/networking/edge-networking)) ### Scales to zero - Google Cloud Run: Supported ([source](https://docs.cloud.google.com/run/docs/about-instance-autoscaling)) - Railway: Limited ([source](https://docs.railway.com/reference/app-sleeping)) ### Autoscaling - Google Cloud Run: Supported ([source](https://docs.cloud.google.com/run/docs/about-instance-autoscaling)) - Railway: Limited ([source](https://docs.railway.com/reference/scaling)) ### Regions - Google Cloud Run: 41 regions, counted from Cloud Run's own locations list — Google publishes the list rather than a total. They are split into Tier 1 and Tier 2 pricing, so the region chosen changes the bill as well as the latency. ([source](https://docs.cloud.google.com/run/docs/locations)) - Railway: 4 regions: California, Virginia, Amsterdam, Singapore ([source](https://docs.railway.com/reference/regions)) ### SOC 2 - Google Cloud Run: Covered under Google Cloud's core SOC 2 Type II reports, issued quarterly for Google Cloud and Google Workspace products generally. ([source](https://cloud.google.com/security/compliance/soc-2)) - Railway: SOC 2 Type 2 and SOC 3 reports available via Railway's Trust Center. ([source](https://trust.railway.com/)) ### HIPAA - Google Cloud Run: Cloud Run is listed as a Covered Product under Google Cloud's HIPAA Business Associate Agreement. ([source](https://cloud.google.com/security/compliance/hipaa)) - Railway: Listed under Compliance certifications, with a dedicated report available. ([source](https://trust.railway.com/)) ## Which should you choose? Pick Google Cloud Run if A container you already build, that should cost nothing when nobody is using it. Scales to zero by default and back up on request volume, with a 60-minute ceiling per request that most request-driven platforms do not offer. Pick Railway if Teams that want a plan fee which doubles as usage credit, and deploy services straight from a Dockerfile without managing servers. The $5 Hobby fee comes back as $5 of resource usage. Consider something else: Google Cloud Run — You need a process that stays running between requests, or a disk that survives a deploy. Consider something else: Railway — You need to run in a region outside California, Virginia, Amsterdam or Singapore. ## Documented by only one - Entry paid plan: Railway: $5 / month (Hobby) - Egress over allowance: Railway: $0.05 / GB - When you exceed a cap: Railway: Billed automatically: on the Hobby plan ($5/month, includes $5 of resource usage) usage above the included amount is charged as a delta on top of the subscription — no throttling or suspension is documented - Storage (entry plan): Railway: 5 GB maximum volume size on the Hobby plan ($5/month); volume storage is not included, it is billed on usage - Memory (entry plan): Railway: 48 GB on Hobby ($5/month) — but that is a ceiling, not an allocation. Railway's table states the figure is a maximum including replica multiplication, so it is 8 GB across each of up to 6 replicas, and memory is billed at $10 per GB per month on top of the $5 fee. Recorded without a magnitude because a cap you pay for is not comparable with an allowance you are given. - Sites or apps included: Railway: 50 projects and 50 services on the Hobby plan ($5/month); 3 members per project (Pro: 100 projects, 100 services) - Monthly visits cap: Railway: No monthly visit or bandwidth cap is published. Rate limits are enforced platform-wide on all services and all plans: approximately 11,000 HTTP requests/sec per domain and 10,000 concurrent connections - Streaming response limit: Railway: Platform-wide: an HTTP request may run up to 15 minutes while data keeps transferring, and is closed after 5 minutes with none. Idle HTTP/1.1 connections close after 60 seconds between requests. WebSocket connections are exempt. Railway documents the connection's duration here, not how the response is delivered. - Managed connection pooling: Railway: Supported - Containers: Google Cloud Run: Supported - Scheduled jobs: Railway: Supported - Persistent storage: Railway: Supported - Managed databases: Railway: Limited - ISO 27001: Google Cloud Run: The Google Cloud Services ISMS holds an accredited ISO/IEC 27001 certification, audited by an independent third party. - GDPR / data residency: Railway: Listed in the Trust Center's Compliance section. - PCI DSS: Google Cloud Run: Cloud Run is listed among the individual Google Cloud products certified against PCI DSS via annual third-party audit. - Encryption at rest: Railway: Documented as a Data Security feature. ## Questions this comparison answers **Should I choose Google Cloud Run or Railway?** Pick Google Cloud Run if A container you already build, that should cost nothing when nobody is using it. Scales to zero by default and back up on request volume, with a 60-minute ceiling per request that most request-driven platforms do not offer. Pick Railway if Teams that want a plan fee which doubles as usage credit, and deploy services straight from a Dockerfile without managing servers. The $5 Hobby fee comes back as $5 of resource usage.