Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

AppWrite VS Railway

Compare AppWrite VS Railway and see what are their differences

AppWrite logo AppWrite

Appwrite provides web and mobile developers with a set of easy-to-use and integrate REST APIs to manage their core backend needs.

Railway logo Railway

Made for any language, for projects big and small.
  • AppWrite Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-28
  • Railway Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-02

AppWrite features and specs

  • Open Source
    AppWrite is an open-source platform, allowing developers to inspect, modify, and contribute to the code base, ensuring transparency and flexibility.
  • Self-Hosted
    Being self-hosted, AppWrite gives developers complete control over their data and server environment, enhancing security and customization options.
  • Comprehensive Backend
    AppWrite offers a wide range of backend services out-of-the-box, including authentication, database management, storage, and serverless functions, reducing the need for additional third-party services.
  • Multi-Language Support
    AppWrite supports various programming languages, which makes it versatile and developer-friendly, allowing the integration with different tech stacks.
  • Community and Documentation
    AppWrite has an active community and well-documented guides, tutorials, and API references, which are essential for learning and troubleshooting.

Possible disadvantages of AppWrite

  • Resource Intensive
    Being a self-hosted solution, AppWrite may require significant server resources for optimal performance, which can be costly.
  • Initial Setup Complexity
    The initial setup and configuration can be complex and time-consuming, particularly for those less experienced with server management.
  • Limited Third-Party Integrations
    As compared to some other backend-as-a-service (BaaS) platforms, AppWrite has fewer pre-built third-party integrations, which might limit its extensibility.
  • Newer and Evolving
    AppWrite is relatively new and still evolving, which can mean fewer features compared to more mature platforms and the potential for more bugs.
  • Maintenance Responsibility
    Since it is self-hosted, the responsibility for server maintenance, updates, and security falls solely on the user, which can be a drawback for smaller teams or solo developers.

Railway features and specs

  • Ease of Use
    Railway features an intuitive and user-friendly interface, making it accessible for developers of all levels to deploy and manage applications.
  • Integration Flexibility
    Supports a range of integrations with popular tools and platforms, allowing seamless addition to existing workflows.
  • Scalability
    Railway allows for effortless scaling of applications, enabling users to handle increased traffic and workload without significant overhead.
  • Rapid Deployment
    Offers quick and straightforward deployment processes, significantly reducing the time required to go live with applications.
  • Resource Management
    Provides robust resource management capabilities, making it easy to monitor and optimize the usage of resources such as CPU, memory, and networking.

Possible disadvantages of Railway

  • Less Customization
    The platform might offer limited customization options compared to more traditional deployment solutions, restricting the level of control for advanced users.
  • Pricing Structure
    Railway's pricing model may not be the most cost-effective for very large applications or organizations with complex requirements, potentially leading to higher costs.
  • Learning Curve for Advanced Features
    While the basic features are user-friendly, mastering the advanced functionalities of Railway can require a steep learning curve.
  • Limited Community Support
    Compared to more established platforms, Railway has a smaller user community, which can result in less available support and fewer shared resources.
  • Vendor Lock-in
    Relying heavily on Railway's platform could lead to vendor lock-in, making it challenging to migrate to other services or platforms in the future.

AppWrite videos

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Railway videos

The Railway Review to the IET

More videos:

  • Review - The Railway Review To The Electrostars
  • Review - The Railway Review To The Class 455

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to AppWrite and Railway)
Developer Tools
51 51%
49% 49
Backend As A Service
100 100%
0% 0
Cloud Computing
0 0%
100% 100
Realtime Backend / API
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare AppWrite and Railway

AppWrite Reviews

  1. Appwrite is awesome, free and open-source!

    I've use it instead of Firebase on a 15$ DigitalOcean droplet and saved around ~$150 a month. Managing my own infra does take some extra time, but definitely worth it. The APIs and SDK are also surprisingly much easier to consume than Firebase. Waiting for the cloud version.

    🏁 Competitors: Firebase
    👍 Pros:    Easy to use|Cost effective|Open-source|Great user experience|Super simple|Self hosted
    👎 Cons:    Self hosted

10 Top Firebase Alternatives to Ignite Your Development in 2024
Appwrite’s self-hosted nature gives you complete control over your data and infrastructure, great for those who are security-conscious. It also offers a comprehensive set of features, including user authentication, database management, storage, cloud functions, and more. It’s like having your very own Firebase, but on your terms.
Source: genezio.com
Top 7 Firebase Alternatives for App Development in 2024
Appwrite is an open-source backend-as-a-service platform that provides a comprehensive set of tools and APIs to help developers build modern applications. It focuses on simplicity and developer experience.
Source: signoz.io
Best Serverless Backend Tools of 2023: Pros & Cons, Features & Code Examples
Appwrite is a self-hosted BaaS platform giving you all the tools you need to build all sorts of application.
Source: www.rowy.io
2023 Firebase Alternatives: Top 10 Open-Source & Free
Appwrite permits the development to benefit from its open-source version without paying anything. However, its official website also declares that it will share the pricing details for Appwrite Cloud soon.
12 Best Open-source Database Backend Server and Google Firebase Alternatives
Appwrite is a self-hosted backend server for building web, mobile and desktop apps. It supports multiple applications natively without hacks or workarounds.It features a dashboard for apps, database, user, functions and storage management, real-time analytics per project, live connections monitor, background tasks and webhooks.Appwrite also is suitable for creating Geo-data...
Source: medevel.com

Railway Reviews

5 Free Heroku Alternatives with Free Plan for Developers
There is a pay as you go model available if you want to scale your apps. Just sign up for the trial account (free tier) and then deploy your small apps. It is perfect for that and the best part is that it is now offering a Heroku importer. Migrating from Heroku to Railway will not be a problem. It can effectively pull the variables that you are using in your app so the whole...

Social recommendations and mentions

Railway might be a bit more popular than AppWrite. We know about 236 links to it since March 2021 and only 174 links to AppWrite. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

AppWrite mentions (174)

  • Build a React File Sharing App with Granular Access Controls (ReBAC)
    Appwrite is a backend-as-a-service platform that provides authentication, storage, and database. Appwrite is used for authentication and storage. - Source: dev.to / about 1 month ago
  • Flutter vs Native: Why Flutter Wins for TV App Development
    Flutter plays well with modern backend solutions like Firebase, Supabase, AWS Amplify, Appwrite, and PocketBase. This gives you a variety of options to choose from whether you are an indie developer, startup, established company, agency, or enterprise. - Source: dev.to / 8 months ago
  • 5 Tools Every Developer Must Use in 2024
    Appwrite also allows you to manage your application's backend services through a simple and intuitive dashboard, making it easy to monitor and control your resources. - Source: dev.to / 10 months ago
  • 100+ FREE Resources Every Web Developer Must Try
    . Netlify : Deploy your web projects with ease. . Render : Host web applications and static sites effortlessly. . GitHub Pages: Host your static websites directly from your GitHub repository. . Firebase Hosting: Scale your web apps effortlessly with Firebase. . Vercel: Deploy websites and applications with automatic deployments. . Cyclic.sh: Host your static sites with zero configuration. . Appwrite:... - Source: dev.to / 11 months ago
  • Why Appwrite Is Your Ideal BaaS in 2024 I'm
    Appwrite is a comprehensive Backend as a Service (BaaS) platform designed to help developers build and scale applications quickly and efficiently. Whether you're a solo indie hacker or part of a growing startup, Appwrite provides the essential features you need—database management, authentication, storage, and cloud functions—all in one unified platform. - Source: dev.to / 11 months ago
View more

Railway mentions (236)

  • Launch HN: Infra.new (YC W23) – DevOps Copilot with Guardrails Built In
    Congrats on the launch. Here are my two cents, as I am very familiar with this space[1][2] The problem of trying to position your product as "an easy way to deploy on over GCP" or "an easier way to do K8s" is that your product is always limited by the potential of what the underlying platform directly offers. You are not required to, but will be seduced to build 1:1 mapping to the concepts of the underlying... - Source: Hacker News / 29 days ago
  • 5 Must-Watch Tutorials to Build Your SaaS App in 2025
    You’ll start by configuring a Python project with Django to manage views, routes, and static files. The video also shows how to style the front end using Flowbite and TailwindCSS. The tutorial then walks you through preparing Django for a production environment and deploying it to Railway’s cloud platform via Docker containers. - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
  • Django on a Budget: The Best Affordable Hosting Options for Your App
    If your wallet’s on life support, these platforms give you solid performance without the hefty price tag: Render – Free static hosting + affordable backend plans. A smooth Heroku alternative. Fly.io – Deploy globally with a generous free tier. Great for performance. Railway – Think of it as DIY Heroku with smooth GitHub integration. Great for side projects and testing, but if you need serious power, check out... - Source: dev.to / 4 months ago
  • My 2025 Tech Stack: Tools & Tech I'm Using This Year
    Railway. My go-to platform for backend/database hosting. - Source: dev.to / 5 months ago
  • Ask HN: Why does nearly every Ruby on rails tutorial/book ask to use Heroku?
    Heroku is the OG of affordable rails hosting. If the tutorial is older than 3-4 years ago then it was published when Heroku was free, which it no longer is. There are lots of other affordable, but probably not free, options now; https://railway.app/. - Source: Hacker News / 8 months ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing AppWrite and Railway, you can also consider the following products

Supabase - An open source Firebase alternative

Render - Render is a unified platform to build and run all your apps and websites with free SSL, a global CDN, private networks and auto deploys from Git.

Firebase - Firebase is a cloud service designed to power real-time, collaborative applications for mobile and web.

Fly.io - Edge computing is the new frontier.

PocketBase.io - Open Source backend with realtime database, authentication, file storage and admin dashboard, all compiled in 1 portable executable.

Heroku - Agile deployment platform for Ruby, Node.js, Clojure, Java, Python, and Scala. Setup takes only minutes and deploys are instant through git. Leave tedious server maintenance to Heroku and focus on your code.