Head-to-head
Render vs Fly.io
Two hosts, side by side. Pricing, features, and the trade-offs that actually matter.
Fly.io from Free
Run small full-stack apps in dozens of regions for genuinely low cost — when it works.
HQ US · founded 2017
Quick verdict
Cheapest: Fly.io wins on entry price (Free vs Free).
More features: Fly.io ships more first-party platform features out of the box.
Region: Render is HQ'd in US; Fly.io in US.
Cheapest plans, side by side
| Render | Fly.io | |
|---|---|---|
| Entry plan | Free Web | Free (3× shared-cpu-1x) |
| Price | Free | Free |
| CPU | 0.1 vCPU | 1 vCPU |
| RAM | 0.5 GB | 0.25 GB |
| Disk | — GB | 3 GB |
| Bandwidth | 100 GB | 160 GB |
Feature parity
| Render | Fly.io | |
|---|---|---|
| Managed Postgres | ✓ | ✓ |
| Managed Redis | ✓ | ✓ |
| Object storage | × | ✓ |
| One-click apps | ✓ | × |
| Private network | ✓ | ✓ |
| IPv6 | × | ✓ |
| DDoS protection | ✓ | ✓ |
| Snapshots | × | ✓ |
| Public API | ✓ | ✓ |
| Terraform | × | ✓ |
Render pros
- +Predictable per-service pricing instead of mystery usage bills
- +Free tier for static sites and Postgres (with caveats)
- +Supports cron jobs, background workers, private services
Render cons
- −Free Postgres expires after 90 days unless upgraded
- −Cold starts on the free web service tier are very real
- −Free tier has been progressively trimmed since 2023; check current limits before betting on it
Fly.io pros
- +35+ regions, deploy multi-region with one command
- +Run any Docker image — no platform-specific buildpacks
- +Generous always-free tier (3 small machines)
Fly.io cons
- −Reliability has been bumpy across 2023–2025; status page tells the story
- −Support is community-first — paid support tiers exist but are light
- −Some primitives (volumes, secrets) have rough edges that bite production apps