Raff Apps wins on fixed service resources, full Docker Compose import, long-running workers, private services, and $0 public application egress. Netlify wins on its $0 plan, global CDN, unlimited deploy previews, Edge Functions, framework-aware delivery, and mature frontend collaboration workflow. Choose Netlify when global frontend delivery and edge-native workflows are requirements; choose Raff when the application is a portable service stack with explicit compute and transfer boundaries. Raff Apps starts at $3/month, while Netlify starts at $0 and Pro now ranges from $20 for 3,000 credits to $126 for 20,000 credits.
Raff Apps is a Netlify alternative for teams whose production workload looks more like connected application services than a frontend delivery project. Netlify packages deploys, compute, bandwidth, requests, database usage, and AI activity into credits, while Raff Technologies prices application services through published vCPU/RAM tiers with per-second billing and monthly ceilings. Netlify has the stronger built-in global delivery layer; Raff has the more explicit model for workers, private services, persistent volumes and Docker Compose stacks.
Netlify vs Raff: which is right for you?
Choose based on workload shape first, then pricing. Netlify is strongest when the deployment workflow, CDN, edge execution, previews, and frontend tooling are part of the product architecture. Raff is strongest when the application is a set of portable services that should remain understandable as compute, data, storage, and networking components.
| Decision factor | Choose Raff Apps | Choose Netlify |
|---|
| Primary workload | APIs, containers, workers, cron jobs, private services, and multi-service stacks | Static sites, framework frontends, Functions, Edge Functions, and globally cached web applications |
| Entry path | Micro from $3/month with explicit resources | Free at $0 with 300 credits |
| Team plan | No workspace or seat fee | Pro starts at $20/month with 3,000 credits and unlimited members |
| Public transfer | $0 application egress | 20 credits per GB of bandwidth |
| Deployment package | GitHub, buildpacks, Dockerfile, container image, Docker Compose | Git, CLI, API, framework builds, Functions, Edge Functions |
| Data layer | Managed PostgreSQL, MySQL, Valkey, ClickHouse, Kafka, object storage, persistent volumes | Netlify Database, Netlify Blobs, and integrations |
| Global delivery | Add an external CDN when required | Global CDN and worldwide Edge Function execution are built in |
Our product decision at Raff was to put cost boundaries in place before traffic arrives: each service has a published monthly ceiling, public app egress is $0, and the spend cap starts enabled. That matters for small teams running several persistent processes because the bill does not depend on combining deploy, request, bandwidth, function, and team-seat meters after launch.
For the broader architecture decision, review Cloud VM vs App Platform: What Startups Should Know.
Netlify overview
Netlify is a managed web development platform for deploying and serving modern web applications. It connects to source repositories, creates production and preview deployments, serves content through a global CDN, runs Functions and Edge Functions, manages domains and TLS, and provides observability and collaboration features around the deployment lifecycle.
Current Netlify pricing uses credits for new standard-plan accounts:
- Free — $0/month: 300 credits and a hard monthly credit limit.
- Personal — $9/month: 1,000 credits with optional additional credit packs or auto recharge.
- Pro — $20 to $126/month: five monthly credit tiers from 3,000 to 20,000 credits, all with unlimited members.
- Enterprise — custom: adds a 99.99% SLA, enterprise network tier, SSO, SCIM, log drains, organization management, and dedicated support.
The current Pro tiers are 3,000 credits for $20, 5,000 for $33, 10,000 for $63, 15,000 for $95, and 20,000 for $126. Pro tiers with 5,000 credits or more can roll unused monthly credits into the next billing cycle; the base 3,000-credit tier does not roll over.
Netlify converts platform usage into a shared credit balance. Production deploys cost 15 credits each, compute costs 10 credits per GB-hour, bandwidth costs 20 credits per GB, and web requests cost 2 credits per 10,000 requests. Deploy previews and branch deploys do not consume production-deploy credits, although their traffic and compute can still consume the relevant meters.
Netlify's genuine strengths are global frontend delivery, unlimited deploy previews, framework-aware builds, Edge Functions, instant cache behavior, integrated web observability, and a permanent $0 entry plan. Its trade-off is that the same credit balance is consumed by several workload dimensions, so production cost depends on how the application deploys, computes, transfers data, and receives requests.
Raff overview
Raff Apps deploys source code and containers without requiring teams to administer the operating system. It supports GitHub push-to-deploy, Dockerfiles, existing container images, automatic buildpacks, full Docker Compose imports, immutable revisions, one-click rollback, pull-request preview environments, persistent volumes, and scale-to-zero behavior.
Raff Apps supports public web services, private services, background workers, timezone-aware cron jobs, and one-off jobs. Applications can connect to managed PostgreSQL, MySQL, Valkey, ClickHouse, and Kafka, plus object storage, VMs, private networking, Kubernetes, and Functions.
Current Raff Apps tiers are:
| Tier | vCPU | RAM | Ephemeral disk | Monthly ceiling |
|---|
| Micro | 0.25 | 512 MB | 2 GB | $3.00 |
| Starter | 0.5 | 1 GB | 5 GB | $6.99 |
| Standard | 1 | 2 GB | 10 GB | $16.99 |
| Pro | 2 | 4 GB | 20 GB | $27.99 |
| Pro Max | 4 | 8 GB | 40 GB | $61.99 |
| Scale | 8 | 16 GB | 80 GB | $119.99 |
Compute is billed per second against the published monthly ceiling. Public application egress and team seats are priced at $0, and the spend cap is enabled by default.
Raff publishes a 99.9% platform SLA. Raff is geographically narrower than Netlify; its advantage is the explicit service model and a single cloud account for app, database, object storage, VM, private network, Kubernetes, and Functions workloads.
Netlify pricing vs Raff pricing
Netlify and Raff charge for different units. Raff prices continuously running application services by fixed vCPU/RAM tiers. Netlify charges a plan price that includes a shared credit allowance, then consumes those credits across production deploys, compute, bandwidth, web requests, database activity, and AI usage.
The closest useful buying positions are:
| Buying position | Raff Apps | Netlify | Decision signal |
|---|
| Free evaluation | Micro $3 — 0.25 vCPU / 512 MB | Free $0 — 300 credits | Netlify wins when a hard-limited $0 frontend plan is enough |
| Personal production | Starter $6.99 — 0.5 vCPU / 1 GB | Personal $9 — 1,000 credits | Raff publishes resources; Netlify publishes a shared usage allowance |
| Small team | Standard $16.99 — 1 vCPU / 2 GB | Pro $20 — 3,000 credits and unlimited members | Netlify includes team frontend tooling; Raff includes fixed application compute |
| Higher-credit team | Pro $27.99 — 2 vCPU / 4 GB | Pro $126 — 20,000 credits with one-cycle rollover | Different buying models; compare actual deploy, compute, transfer, and request usage |
| 5 TB public bandwidth | $0 app-egress line; compute separate | About $670 in extra Pro credit packs on the base plan, plus the $20 plan, if all monthly credits otherwise go to bandwidth | Bandwidth-heavy workloads can diverge sharply |
Comparison class: these are planning positions, not performance-equivalent instances. Netlify Functions and Raff application services use different execution, scaling, caching, host, and network models, so matching price points does not prove equal throughput or latency.
Bandwidth cost math
Netlify consumes 20 credits per GB of bandwidth. On the base Pro plan, 3,000 monthly credits are included and additional credits can be purchased in 1,500-credit packs for $10. The following examples assume all 3,000 monthly credits are available for bandwidth and ignore deploy, compute, request, database, form, and AI usage:
| Monthly public bandwidth | Raff Apps public egress | Netlify base Pro credit cost |
|---|
| 1 TB | $0 | About $120 extra credits + $20 Pro |
| 5 TB | $0 | About $670 extra credits + $20 Pro |
| 10 TB | $0 | About $1,350 extra credits + $20 Pro |
| 50 TB | $0 | About $6,810 extra credits + $20 Pro |
Higher Pro credit tiers can reduce the effective per-credit price and unused monthly credits can roll for one billing cycle on tiers of 5,000 or more. The table therefore illustrates the base-plan transfer economics, not the lowest possible Netlify price for every traffic pattern.
Automated backups
Netlify Database backup and recovery is more specific than the old comparison implied. Netlify automatically backs up the production database daily at midnight UTC and also takes a backup whenever a production deploy is published for a project with a database.
Retention depends on plan: Free retains scheduled backups for 3 days and the most recently published deploy backup; Personal retains scheduled backups for 7 days and the last 3 deploy backups; Pro and Enterprise retain scheduled backups for 30 days and the last 10 deploy backups. Restoring replaces the production branch with the selected backup, so application teams should account for data created after that backup.
Raff Apps likewise separates application deployment rollback from durable-data recovery. Ephemeral app storage is not a backup; production state should live in managed databases, object storage, or persistent volumes with recovery procedures tested independently from application deploy rollback.
Credit controls and hidden cost drivers
Netlify auto recharge is disabled by default. When enabled, Personal purchases 500 credits for $5 as needed and Pro purchases 1,500 credits for $10 as needed. Purchased credits do not expire. If auto recharge stays disabled, a paid account can instead purchase credit packs manually; Free has a hard limit and no recharge option.
The main cost drivers to model are production deploy frequency, function/database compute GB-hours, web and database bandwidth, web requests, and AI inference. A low-traffic static site can remain inexpensive, while an application with high traffic, frequent server-side execution, or database activity can consume the same shared credit balance quickly.
Bandwidth and transfer policy
Raff Apps charges $0 for public application egress. Netlify consumes 20 credits per GB for bandwidth sent to the internet, including web content, assets, image delivery, downloads, function responses, and database bandwidth where applicable.
Netlify's global CDN can reduce origin work and improve delivery latency, so its bandwidth meter should not be evaluated separately from the value of built-in caching and edge delivery. A static or heavily cached international site can benefit from Netlify's architecture even when the billing model is more complex than a flat transfer policy.
For dynamic APIs, downloads, media delivery, package distribution, or other workloads where public transfer is large and difficult to predict, Raff's $0 app-egress line is easier to budget. The key difference is not that one platform has bandwidth and the other does not; it is that Netlify converts bandwidth into shared credits while Raff does not meter public Apps egress separately.
Feature comparison: Netlify vs Raff
| Feature | Raff Apps | Netlify |
|---|
| Primary deployment model | Long-running services and containers | Frontend deployments, Functions, and Edge Functions |
| Git deployment | GitHub | Git providers, CLI, API, and agent workflows |
| Dockerfile / existing image | Yes | Not the primary general-service model |
| Full Docker Compose import | Yes | No native whole-stack Compose import |
| Deploy previews | Pull-request previews | Unlimited deploy previews and branch deploys |
| Global CDN | External CDN can be added | Built in |
| Edge execution | Application/external edge layer | Edge Functions run on worldwide edge locations |
| Always-on worker | Yes | Not a general worker-container product |
| Private service | Yes | Not a general private-service product |
| Cron jobs | Timezone-aware jobs | Scheduled Functions |
| Persistent mounted volume | Yes | Data products rather than a general mounted filesystem |
| Managed PostgreSQL | First-party Raff managed database | Netlify Database |
| Managed MySQL | First-party Raff managed database | No first-party managed MySQL product listed |
| Redis-compatible managed service | Valkey | External integration |
| Object storage | Raff Object Storage | Netlify Blobs |
| Team seats | $0 | Unlimited on Pro |
| Public app bandwidth | $0 | 20 credits per GB |
| Rollback | Immutable revisions and one-click rollback | Production deploy rollback |
Netlify wins on global CDN delivery, Edge Functions, deploy previews, framework-aware frontend workflow, web observability, and a permanent free tier. Raff wins on containers, Docker Compose, long-running workers, private services, explicit vCPU/RAM tiers, mounted persistent volumes, managed MySQL, and $0 public app egress.
Features and reliability: Raff vs Netlify
This comparison includes 0 controlled Raff-versus-Netlify application benchmarks, so it does not declare either platform faster. A credible test would need the same application code, cache behavior, function or service resources, datastore location, request mix, concurrency, and client regions.
Global frontend delivery
Netlify's CDN is distributed across regions worldwide, and Edge Functions run from the worldwide edge location closest to the user. That gives Netlify the stronger default architecture for globally distributed static content, cached frontends, request rewriting, and edge personalization.
Raff Apps currently exposes one public us-east region. A team can place a CDN in front of a Raff service, but that is an additional architectural component. For international frontend delivery with minimal infrastructure assembly, Netlify has a genuine advantage.
Application process model
Raff exposes explicit service resources and persistent process types. A Standard service provides 1 vCPU and 2 GB RAM; workers, private services, cron jobs, and web services can run as distinct components.
Netlify Functions and Edge Functions fit request-driven and frontend-adjacent logic. They remove server-process management but do not represent the same operating model as a continuously available container or background worker.
Deployment and data recovery
Netlify production deploys can be rolled back, and Netlify Database provides scheduled and publish-triggered backups with plan-specific retention. Those are separate recovery layers: rolling back code does not automatically restore application data.
Raff also separates application revisions from durable-data recovery. Production teams should test both code rollback and state restoration, including database exports/restores, object recovery, secrets, DNS, and external callbacks.
Operating trust
Netlify's official company page reports $212 million raised, and Enterprise includes a 99.99% SLA. Raff publishes a 99.9% platform SLA.
These are different trust signals. Netlify has the longer specialized frontend-platform history and larger funding base; Raff provides a smaller cloud with public customer, VM, SLA, and review metrics.
When you should choose Netlify over Raff
Choose Netlify when:
- A permanent $0 plan matters. Netlify Free includes 300 monthly credits; Raff Apps starts at $3/month.
- The project is frontend-first. Framework builds, CDN delivery, previews, cache behavior, and web observability are integrated.
- Worldwide edge execution is required. Edge Functions run from Netlify's worldwide edge locations close to users.
- Every branch needs a review environment. Deploy previews and branch deploys do not consume production-deploy credits.
- The team wants unlimited Pro members. Netlify Pro starts at $20/month and no longer uses per-seat pricing for team members.
- Built-in Postgres branching and deploy-linked backups fit the workflow. Netlify Database backs up daily and on production publish, with Pro retention up to 30 days.
- Enterprise frontend controls are required. Netlify Enterprise adds a 99.99% SLA, enterprise network tier, SSO, SCIM, log drains, and dedicated support.
When you should choose Raff over Netlify
Choose Raff Apps when:
- The application is container-first. Raff accepts Dockerfiles, existing images, buildpacks, and full Docker Compose stacks.
- Long-running processes are required. Web services, private services, workers, cron jobs, and one-off jobs map directly to persistent service types.
- Compute should be explicit. Raff Standard is $16.99 for 1 vCPU / 2 GB and Raff Pro is $27.99 for 2 vCPU / 4 GB.
- Public egress is substantial. Raff app egress is $0, while Netlify consumes 20 credits for every GB of metered bandwidth.
- Managed MySQL is required. Raff provides managed MySQL alongside PostgreSQL, Valkey, ClickHouse, and Kafka.
- Mounted persistent storage is required. Raff Apps supports persistent volumes for state that must survive deployments and restarts.
- Docker Compose portability matters. A multi-service development stack can be imported instead of translated into several frontend-platform primitives.
For applications that need long-running services or workers, compare Raff Apps with the full Netlify frontend and edge delivery workflow.
Migrating from Netlify to Raff
- Inventory the Netlify project. Record the framework, build command, publish directory, Functions, Edge Functions, Scheduled Functions, redirects, headers, forms, Blobs, Database, environment contexts, domains, analytics, and deploy-preview behavior.
- Choose the Raff deployment package. Use a buildpack for a conventional app, a Dockerfile for reproducible builds, an existing image for a prebuilt artifact, or Docker Compose for a multi-service stack. Gotcha: Netlify project configuration does not map one-to-one to a container definition.
- Map execution units. Convert HTTP Functions into web-service routes, background work into workers, schedules into cron jobs, and internal APIs into private services where appropriate. Gotcha: Edge Functions can rely on edge-specific runtime behavior that must be recreated in application middleware or another edge layer.
- Move persistent state. Export Netlify Database through PostgreSQL-compatible tooling, copy Netlify Blobs data to Raff Object Storage where appropriate, recreate secrets, and replace any platform-specific form or identity dependencies before cutover.
- Rebuild delivery behavior and test. Recreate redirects, headers, caching, image delivery, custom domains, preview rules, and an external CDN when global edge delivery remains necessary. Test database restore, object access, webhooks, OAuth callbacks, and client latency.
- Cut over with rollback. Lower DNS TTL to 300 seconds, perform the final data sync, switch DNS and external callbacks, monitor production, and keep the Netlify project available until the rollback window closes.
Stateless frontend assets and portable application code are usually the easiest parts to move. Edge behavior, platform-specific Functions, redirects, Blobs, database branches, forms, identity dependencies, and global cache behavior create most migration risk.
Use the App Platform Migration Checklist to prepare application configuration, data migration, external CDN behavior, DNS, and rollback.
About Netlify
Netlify is operated by Netlify, Inc., a web development platform company founded in 2014 and headquartered in San Francisco. It provides Git and API deployments, a global CDN, deploy previews, Functions, Edge Functions, Netlify Database, Netlify Blobs, observability, security controls, and enterprise web-delivery capabilities. Netlify reports $212 million raised.
Conclusion: Netlify or Raff?
The Netlify-versus-Raff decision resolves across four measured axes: delivery model, application process model, pricing model, and data portability.
- Delivery model: Netlify includes global CDN and edge execution; Raff Apps exposes
us-east application compute and can use an external CDN when required.
- Application model: Netlify centers frontend deploys, Functions, and Edge Functions; Raff centers containers, workers, private services, cron jobs, and Docker Compose stacks.
- Pricing model: Netlify starts at $0 and Pro ranges from $20/3,000 credits to $126/20,000 credits; Raff Apps starts at $3 with explicit service-resource ceilings.
- Data portability: Netlify provides Database and Blobs within its frontend workflow; Raff connects Apps to managed databases, object storage, persistent volumes, VMs, Kubernetes, and Functions.
Choose Netlify when global frontend delivery, previews, edge execution, and its credit-based web workflow remove more operating work than the usage model adds. Choose Raff when the production system is a portable service stack and explicit compute, process, storage, and transfer boundaries are more important than a built-in global edge network.
Raff publishes a 99.9% platform SLA. For adjacent decisions, review Render Alternative 2026, Vercel Alternative 2026, and Railway comparison.
