Your hosting options

A mobile app backend · database from a database service · growing traffic · up to about $25/month · start over

Top match App platform

Railway

≈$20/mo Pro

$20 minimum with higher resource limits and unlimited team seats.

Why it fits
Full-stack apps and APIs where you want the app and its database running in minutes.
How deploys work
Connect a repo or image; Railway detects the build, deploys it, and adds databases with one click.
The tradeoff
Pure usage billing means the bill moves with your traffic — predictable only while the app is small.

Option 2 App platform

DigitalOcean App Platform

≈$24/mo Two 1 GiB containers

Horizontal scaling; database and extra transfer on top.

Why it fits
Apps that want git-push deploys inside a provider they can grow with.
How deploys work
Connect the Git repo or a container image; App Platform builds, deploys, and scales it.
The tradeoff
Weaker compute per dollar than a Droplet — the convenience premium is real.

Option 3 App platform

Fly.io Machines

≈$12/mo Two 1 GB Machines

Two machines for availability; databases and egress on top.

Why it fits
Dockerized apps that want low cost, fine control, or multi-region placement.
How deploys work
fly launch builds the image and deploys it; configuration lives in fly.toml and the flyctl CLI.
The tradeoff
You operate more of the stack yourself — especially the database.

Ranked by ease of deploy for your stack, then by monthly cost — never by commissions. Estimates come from hand-checked public prices; the linked provider pages show every number and its caveats.