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Technology · head to head

Amplitude vs Railway

Amplitude logo

Amplitude

Technology

The digital analytics platform to understand your users

From
Free
Rated
-
Railway logo

Railway

Cloud

Ship software instantly

From
Free
Rated
-

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Amplitude metered on event volume, so instrumenting more of a product raises the bill even if the audience does not grow; Railway plan fees are usage credits rather than allowances, so the $5 Hobby and $20 Pro fees are spent on compute and anything beyond is billed on top
  • They diverge on capability: Amplitude covers Event tracking, Railway covers Git integration.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Amplitude and Railway actually diverge.

Attributes where Amplitude and Railway differ
AttributeAmplitudeRailway
Pricing modelUnknownusage-based
PlatformsWeb, Ios, Android, ApiWeb, Api, Docker
CategoryTechnologyCloud
Founded20122021

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Amplitude

  • Event tracking
  • User segmentation
  • Funnel analysis
  • Retention analysis
  • Cohort analysis
  • A/B testing
  • Revenue analytics
  • Predictive analytics

Only in Railway

  • Git integration
  • Zero-config deployment
  • PostgreSQL
  • MySQL
  • Redis
  • Environment variables
  • Custom domains
  • Monitoring

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Amplitude

  • User behavior analysisnot Railway
  • Feature adoption trackingnot Railway
  • Conversion rate optimizationnot Railway
  • Customer journey mappingnot Railway
  • Retention improvementnot Railway

Railway

  • Deploying applications and databases without managing serversnot Amplitude
  • Running preview environments and services straight from a repositorynot Amplitude

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Amplitude

  • Metered on event volume, so instrumenting more of a product raises the bill even if the audience does not grow
  • The free plan covers 2M events a month
  • The Plus plan scales to 70M events, above which pricing is custom
  • Growth and Enterprise pricing is not published

Railway

  • Plan fees are usage credits rather than allowances, so the $5 Hobby and $20 Pro fees are spent on compute and anything beyond is billed on top
  • The free plan carries $1 of monthly credit and caps a service at 1 vCPU and 0.5 GB
  • Compute is metered per second for both memory and CPU, so cost tracks uptime rather than traffic and an idle service still bills
  • Egress is $0.05 per GB on top of compute
  • The Pro fee is per workspace rather than per user or per project

Pricing, plan by plan

Amplitude

Free
  • StarterFree
    • 2 million events per month
  • Plus$49/month
    • $0.049 per MTU
    • Up to 300k MTUs
    • Advanced analytics
  • GrowthFree
    • Causal insights
    • Feature experimentation
    • Real-time streaming
  • EnterpriseFree
    • Cross-product analysis
    • Advanced permissions
    • Dedicated account manager

Railway

Free
  • FreeFree
    • $5 credit/month
    • Community support
    • Unlimited projects
  • Pro$20/month
    • Private repos
    • Priority support
    • Advanced monitoring

Which should you pick?

Choose Amplitude if

  • You need event tracking.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Ios, Android, Api.
  • You also want user segmentation.

Choose Railway if

  • You need git integration.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Api, Docker.
  • You also want zero-config deployment.

Questions people ask

Is Amplitude or Railway better?
Neither clearly leads. Amplitude starts at Free and Railway at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Amplitude or Railway?
Amplitude starts at Free and Railway at Free.
Does Amplitude or Railway run on more platforms?
Amplitude runs on Web, Ios, Android, Api. Railway runs on Web, Api, Docker.
Can I use Amplitude for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Amplitude best used for?
Amplitude is most often used for user behavior analysis, feature adoption tracking, conversion rate optimization, customer journey mapping. Of those, user behavior analysis and feature adoption tracking are not what Railway is typically brought in for.
What can Amplitude do that Railway cannot?
Amplitude covers Event tracking, User segmentation, Funnel analysis, Retention analysis. Railway covers Git integration, Zero-config deployment, PostgreSQL, MySQL.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Amplitude: Does Amplitude have a free plan?

Yes, Amplitude offers a free Starter plan with 2 million events per month and access to the entire platform including analytics, session replay, and experimentation features.

Source
Railway: How much does Railway cost?

Railway's Hobby plan is $5 per month and includes $5 of monthly usage credit. Pro is $20 per month per workspace with $20 of credit included. Enterprise is quoted. Usage beyond the included credit is billed per second.

Source
Amplitude: What is Amplitude's pricing based on?

Amplitude's pricing is based on the number of monthly tracked users (MTUs), data volume, and advanced features selected. The Plus plan starts at $49 per month with a rate of $0.049 per MTU.

Source
Railway: Does Railway have a free tier?

Yes, two. A one-time Free Trial gives $5 of credit valid for 30 days, and an ongoing Free plan includes $1 per month with 1 vCPU and 0.5 GB per service, 1 replica and 3 days of log history.

Source
Amplitude: What analytics features does every Amplitude plan include?

Every plan includes access to the full platform: analytics, session replay, feature experimentation, web experimentation, guides and surveys, activation, and AI tools like AI Feedback and AI Assistant.

Source
Railway: What are Railway's resource limits per plan?

The Free plan allows 1 vCPU and 0.5 GB per service with 1 replica. Hobby raises that to 48 vCPU and 48 GB with 6 replicas. Pro allows 1,000 vCPU and 1 TB per service with 42 replicas and 30 days of log history.

Source
Railway: How does Railway bill usage above the included credit?

Railway charges memory at $0.00000386 per GB per second and CPU at $0.00000772 per vCPU per second, with storage volumes at $0.00000006 per GB per second, plus separate egress and object storage fees.

Source
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