tavin vs Railway
Last updated: 2026-05-04
Both Railway and tavin.cloud build from Git repos, run containers, expose domains, and now care about AI-assisted operations. The difference is no longer “which one has agents?” It is how narrow the agent’s authority is, how auditable the deployment handoff feels, and how much platform surface you want.
At a glance
| tavin.cloud | Railway | |
|---|---|---|
| Origin | New (2026) | Mature (since 2020) |
| Build source | GitHub repo + Railpack, Dockerfile, or image | Railpack/build-system defaults; Docker supported |
| Billing | Per-minute CPU + RAM, scale-to-zero path | Base subscription plus metered usage |
| Regions | South America-focused preview; US and South America workloads supported | 4 regions (us-east/west, EU, APAC) |
| Databases | Bring-your-own (managed coming) | First-party Postgres, MySQL, Redis, Mongo |
| Agent control | Scoped MCP tools, PATs, one-time deploy intents, audit logs | Railway Agent, CLI agent, MCP, API |
| Templates / one-clicks | None yet | Large template library |
When to pick Railway
- You want one-click managed databases alongside your services.
- You need mature EU/APAC regions or broad multi-region placement today.
- You want a mature template library and ecosystem.
- You want Railway’s built-in agent experience for diagnosing deployments and opening fixes.
When to pick tavin
- Your workflow is agent-driven but permission-sensitive: you want agents using scoped deploy tools, approval links, status-only handoff tokens, and audit logs.
- You want a repo-first deploy path with Railpack for ordinary apps and Dockerfile or registry image support when you need explicit runtime control.
- You care more about the agent permission boundary than a broad template/database ecosystem.
- You are serving US and South America users, with South America latency as the sharper preview advantage.
Migration notes
A working Railway service moves to tavin by connecting the same GitHub repo and re-declaring environment variables. If the app already uses a Dockerfile, that contract is unchanged; otherwise Railpack handles the source build. Databases are the integration to replan — bring an external one (Neon, Supabase, etc.) until tavin’s managed databases land.
Current agent-context note
Railway now has public agent and MCP surfaces, so tavin should not be positioned as “Railway, but with MCP.” The sharper distinction is agent-safe deployment: explicit credentials, browser approval for one-time public repo deploys, and an audit trail built around every tool call.