Render vs Fly.io
A comparison of Render and Fly.io built from values read directly from each provider's own documentation, with the source recorded against every figure.
The short answer
- Pick Render if
- Workloads that need real background workers and persistent processes alongside web services, deployed from a repository or a Dockerfile. Managed Postgres and static sites run on the same platform.
- Pick Fly.io if
- Workloads that ship as Docker images and need placement in particular regions. Billing is purely usage-based with no plan tiers, which suits spiky or region-pinned traffic better than a flat monthly fee.
6 sourced criteria separate them:
- Pricing model
- Render: The Hobby plan does not have a monthly fee, so you only pay for usage.
- Fly.io: Usage-based, no compute plan tiers
- When you exceed a cap
- Render: Pipeline minutes: overage is auto-purchased, but with no payment method or once the monthly spend limit is hit, Render stops all pipeline tasks including service builds for the rest of the month (platform-wide, all plans)
- Fly.io: No plan cap to exceed — Fly bills per second for provisioned resources. The only documented enforcement is unspecified automated scaling limits, which surface as an error message (platform-wide, all plans)
- Memory (entry plan)
- Render: 512 MB RAM (with 0.5 CPU) on the `0.5c-512mb` instance type, the cheapest paid web service compute plan (legacy name: Starter)
- Fly.io: 256MB on shared-cpu-1x, the smallest Machine size ($2.02/month at the Amsterdam-region rate shown in the pricing table)
- Scheduled jobs
- Render: Supported
- Fly.io: Limited
- Edge network
- Render: Supported
- Fly.io: Limited
- Regions
- Render: Oregon, USA; Ohio, USA; Virginia, USA; Frankfurt, Germany; Singapore
- Fly.io: 18 regions
At a glance.
| Criterion | Render | Fly.io |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | ||
| Pricing model | The Hobby plan does not have a monthly fee, so you only pay for usage. | Usage-based, no compute plan tiers |
| When you exceed a cap | Pipeline minutes: overage is auto-purchased, but with no payment method or once the monthly spend limit is hit, Render stops all pipeline tasks including service builds for the rest of the month (platform-wide, all plans) | No plan cap to exceed — Fly bills per second for provisioned resources. The only documented enforcement is unspecified automated scaling limits, which surface as an error message (platform-wide, all plans) |
| Limits | ||
| Memory (entry plan) | 512 MB RAM (with 0.5 CPU) on the `0.5c-512mb` instance type, the cheapest paid web service compute plan (legacy name: Starter) | 256MB on shared-cpu-1x, the smallest Machine size ($2.02/month at the Amsterdam-region rate shown in the pricing table) |
| Execution | ||
| Managed connection pooling | Supported | Supported |
| Deployment | ||
| Docker deployment | Supported | Supported |
| Scheduled jobs | Supported | Limited |
| Infrastructure | ||
| Persistent storage | Supported | Supported |
| Managed databases | Supported | Supported |
| Edge network | Supported | Limited |
| Scales to zero | Supported | Supported |
| Autoscaling | Limited | Limited |
| Regions | Oregon, USA; Ohio, USA; Virginia, USA; Frankfurt, Germany; Singapore | 18 regions |
Where they differ.
Pricing model
- Render
- The Hobby plan does not have a monthly fee, so you only pay for usage.
- Fly.io
- Usage-based, no compute plan tiers
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Platform Features by Plan – Render Docs ↗
“The Hobby plan does not have a monthly fee, so you only pay for usage.”
Read 2026-09-05 · official docs
- Fly.io pricing ↗
“Plans get complicated, so we just charge based on usage. Billing is based on the resources provisioned for your apps, pro-rated for the time they are provisioned.”
Read 2026-09-05 · official docs
When you exceed a cap
- Render
- Pipeline minutes: overage is auto-purchased, but with no payment method or once the monthly spend limit is hit, Render stops all pipeline tasks including service builds for the rest of the month (platform-wide, all plans)
- Fly.io
- No plan cap to exceed — Fly bills per second for provisioned resources. The only documented enforcement is unspecified automated scaling limits, which surface as an error message (platform-wide, all plans)
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Build Pipeline – Render Docs ↗
“If you run out of pipeline minutes during a given month, you automatically purchase a supplementary amount of minutes for your current tier, unless you've reached your monthly spend limit, or you haven't added a payment method. In the above cases, Render stops running pipeline tasks (including service builds!) for the remainder of the current month.”
Read 2026-09-05 · official docs
- Fly.io Resource Pricing · Fly Docs ↗
“Organizations may be subject to automated scaling limits to prevent abuse or to help with capacity planning. Email the address in the error message if you run into such a limit and it's getting in your way.”
Read 2026-09-05 · official pricing
Memory (entry plan)
512 MB RAM (with 0.5 CPU) on the `0.5c-512mb` instance type, the cheapest paid web service compute plan (legacy name: Starter)
256MB on shared-cpu-1x, the smallest Machine size ($2.02/month at the Amsterdam-region rate shown in the pricing table)
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Compute Plans – Render Docs ↗
“0.5 | 512 MB | `0.5c-512mb` | Starter”
Read 2026-09-05 · official docs
- Fly.io Resource Pricing · Fly Docs ↗
“shared-cpu-1x | 1 shared | 256MB | $0.00000078 | $0.0028 | $2.02”
Read 2026-09-05 · official pricing
Scheduled jobs
- Render
- Supported
- Fly.io
- Limited
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Cron Jobs – Render Docs ↗
“You can create cron jobs on Render that run periodically on a schedule you define.”
Read 2026-09-05 · official docs
- fly machine run · Fly Docs ↗
“Use the --schedule flag to set the Machine's config.schedule property, which starts the Machine on a fuzzy hourly, daily, weekly, or monthly cycle.”
Read 2026-09-05 · official docs
Edge network
- Render
- Supported
- Fly.io
- Limited
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Static Sites – Render Docs ↗
“Render serves your site over a blazing-fast, reliable, and secure global CDN. We cache your content on network edges around the world, ensuring the fastest possible load times for your users.”
Read 2026-09-05 · official docs
- The Fly.io Architecture — Fly Docs ↗
“We broadcast and accept traffic from ranges of IP addresses (both IPv4 and IPv6) in all our datacenters. When we receive a connection on one of those IPs, we match it back to an active customer application, and then proxy the TCP connection to the closest available microVM.”
Read 2026-09-05 · official docs
Regions
- Render
- Oregon, USA; Ohio, USA; Virginia, USA; Frankfurt, Germany; Singapore
- Fly.io
- 18 regions
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Regions ↗
“Oregon, USA / Ohio, USA / Virginia, USA / Frankfurt, Germany / Singapore”
Read 2026-09-05 · official docs
- Fly.io regions ↗
“You can host your apps in any of the following regions — including ams (Amsterdam, Netherlands), nrt (Tokyo, Japan) and syd (Sydney, Australia).”
Read 2026-09-05 · official docs
Which should you choose?
Choose Render if…
Workloads that need real background workers and persistent processes alongside web services, deployed from a repository or a Dockerfile. Managed Postgres and static sites run on the same platform.
Editorial · Palash Bagchi · approved
Choose Fly.io if…
Workloads that ship as Docker images and need placement in particular regions. Billing is purely usage-based with no plan tiers, which suits spiky or region-pinned traffic better than a flat monthly fee.
Editorial · Palash Bagchi · approved
Consider something else if…
- Render: Free web services spin down after 15 minutes without traffic, which makes the free tier unsuitable for anything that must answer immediately.
- Fly.io: You want a predictable flat bill rather than charges that track the resources provisioned for each app.
Documented by only one.
These criteria are published by one provider and not the other. An absence here means we have not found a source, not that the feature is missing.