{"jtbd":{"id":"app-hosting","slug":"app-hosting","name":"Host agent web app / API","shortName":"Host agent web app / API","problemStatement":"Deploy the product API and UI with minimal ops."},"pick":{"id":"railway","slug":"railway","name":"Railway","tagline":"Depot favorite for shipping agent APIs quickly. When bills climb, move steady-state to Fly/Hetzner/DO.","website":"https://railway.app","overall":8.08,"scoreBand":{"low":7.5,"mid":8.1,"high":8.7,"halfWidth":0.6,"basis":"editorial_prior","display":"7.5–8.7 (editorial prior)"},"scoreLayers":{"editorialPrior":8.08,"measuredBenchmark":null,"verifiedOutcomeScore":null,"verifiedOutcomeCount":0,"accountRuntimeState":"unprobed"},"pricingLastVerifiedAt":"2026-10-27","editorialPriorAsOf":"2026-09-14","pricingNotes":"Usage-based PaaS; services/databases; simple git deploys; hobby→pro plans.","scores":{"capabilityFit":8.2,"pricePerformance":7.8,"latencyReliability":8.4,"developerDx":9.4,"privacyPosture":7.2,"lockInRisk":4,"maturity":8.2,"overall":8.08,"kind":"curated_estimate","confidence":"high","asOf":"2026-09-14"}},"runnersUp":[{"id":"render","slug":"render","name":"Render","tagline":"Boring reliable PaaS. Great when Railway feels too hip and AWS feels too heavy.","website":"https://render.com","overall":8.1,"scoreBand":{"low":7.5,"mid":8.1,"high":8.7,"halfWidth":0.6,"basis":"editorial_prior","display":"7.5–8.7 (editorial prior)"},"scoreLayers":{"editorialPrior":8.1,"measuredBenchmark":null,"verifiedOutcomeScore":null,"verifiedOutcomeCount":0,"accountRuntimeState":"unprobed"},"pricingLastVerifiedAt":"2026-10-27","editorialPriorAsOf":"2026-09-14","pricingNotes":"Web services, background workers, Postgres, cron; fixed + usage elements; free tier limited.","scores":{"capabilityFit":8,"pricePerformance":7.5,"latencyReliability":8.8,"developerDx":9,"privacyPosture":7.8,"lockInRisk":4,"maturity":8.8,"overall":8.1,"kind":"curated_estimate","confidence":"high","asOf":"2026-09-14"}},{"id":"fly-io","slug":"fly-io","name":"Fly.io","tagline":"Excellent for globally distributed agent sidecars and Machines-based sandboxes. Prefer Railway/Render if you…","website":"https://fly.io","overall":8.28,"scoreBand":{"low":7.7,"mid":8.3,"high":8.9,"halfWidth":0.6,"basis":"editorial_prior","display":"7.7–8.9 (editorial prior)"},"scoreLayers":{"editorialPrior":8.28,"measuredBenchmark":null,"verifiedOutcomeScore":null,"verifiedOutcomeCount":0,"accountRuntimeState":"unprobed"},"pricingLastVerifiedAt":"2026-10-27","editorialPriorAsOf":"2026-09-14","pricingNotes":"Pay for machines/volumes/bandwidth; Firecracker VMs; scale-to-zero; Machines API for agents.","scores":{"capabilityFit":8.8,"pricePerformance":8.2,"latencyReliability":8,"developerDx":8.8,"privacyPosture":7.8,"lockInRisk":3.5,"maturity":8.5,"overall":8.28,"kind":"curated_estimate","confidence":"high","asOf":"2026-09-14"}},{"id":"vercel","slug":"vercel","name":"Vercel","tagline":"Ship the agent UI and thin API routes here. Put long-running agent workers on Modal/Fly/Railway.","website":"https://vercel.com","overall":8.1,"scoreBand":{"low":7.5,"mid":8.1,"high":8.7,"halfWidth":0.6,"basis":"editorial_prior","display":"7.5–8.7 (editorial prior)"},"scoreLayers":{"editorialPrior":8.1,"measuredBenchmark":null,"verifiedOutcomeScore":null,"verifiedOutcomeCount":0,"accountRuntimeState":"unprobed"},"pricingLastVerifiedAt":"2026-10-27","editorialPriorAsOf":"2026-09-14","pricingNotes":"Frontend/serverless PaaS; Fluid compute; AI SDK integration; usage-based; great Next.js DX.","scores":{"capabilityFit":8.4,"pricePerformance":7,"latencyReliability":9,"developerDx":9.6,"privacyPosture":7.5,"lockInRisk":6,"maturity":9.2,"overall":8.1,"kind":"curated_estimate","confidence":"high","asOf":"2026-09-14"}},{"id":"digitalocean","slug":"digitalocean","name":"DigitalOcean","tagline":"Classic simple cloud. Use for steady VMs and Spaces; pair Paperspace/RunPod for GPUs.","website":"https://www.digitalocean.com","overall":8.15,"scoreBand":{"low":7.6,"mid":8.2,"high":8.8,"halfWidth":0.6,"basis":"editorial_prior","display":"7.6–8.8 (editorial prior)"},"scoreLayers":{"editorialPrior":8.15,"measuredBenchmark":null,"verifiedOutcomeScore":null,"verifiedOutcomeCount":0,"accountRuntimeState":"unprobed"},"pricingLastVerifiedAt":"2026-10-27","editorialPriorAsOf":"2026-09-14","pricingNotes":"Droplets, App Platform, Spaces, Managed DBs, Paperspace GPUs; simple pricing.","scores":{"capabilityFit":7.8,"pricePerformance":8.2,"latencyReliability":8.8,"developerDx":8.5,"privacyPosture":7.5,"lockInRisk":3.5,"maturity":9.2,"overall":8.15,"kind":"curated_estimate","confidence":"high","asOf":"2026-09-14"}}],"scoreBand":{"low":7.5,"mid":8.1,"high":8.7,"halfWidth":0.6,"basis":"editorial_prior","display":"7.5–8.7 (editorial prior)"},"scoreLayers":{"editorialPrior":8.08,"measuredBenchmark":null,"verifiedOutcomeScore":null,"verifiedOutcomeCount":0,"accountRuntimeState":"unprobed"},"whyPickOverHigherScore":{"pickId":"railway","pickName":"Railway","pickScore":8.08,"highestScoredCandidateId":"fly-io","highestScoredCandidateName":"Fly.io","highestScore":8.28,"pickHasLowerCompositeScore":true,"delta":-0.2,"pickLeadsOnDimensions":["latencyReliability (8.4 vs 8)","developerDx (9.4 vs 8.8)"],"explanation":"Railway (8.08) is the editorial pick for Host agent web app / API over higher-composite Fly.io (8.28) because composite scores are provider-wide priors while Railway wins on latencyReliability (8.4 vs 8), developerDx (9.4 vs 8.8): dx + reliability + pricePerf for early/mid stage."},"cheapest":null,"recommendedWorkloadQuote":null,"representativeQuote":null,"estimatedTaskCost":null,"freeAlternatives":[{"id":"vercel-hobby-plan","name":"Vercel Hobby plan","kind":"free_hosting","jtbdIds":["app-hosting"],"whatYouGet":"Hosting for personal projects at $0/month: 1M CDN requests, 100 GB Fast Data Transfer, 4 hours Fluid Active CPU, 360 GB-hrs provisioned memory, 1M function invocations per month.","cost":"free","license":null,"sourceUrl":"https://vercel.com/pricing","notes":"Fetched 2026-10-21. Hobby is described as for 'your web app or personal project'; check Vercel's fair-use terms for commercial use (not re-read here).","providerId":"vercel","limits":{"cdnRequestsPerMonth":1000000,"fastDataTransferGbPerMonth":100,"activeCpuHoursPerMonth":4,"functionInvocationsPerMonth":1000000},"asOf":"2026-10-21","freeType":"free_hosting","substitutable":true}],"referenceDocs":[],"falsification":{"jtbdId":"app-hosting","jtbdName":"Host agent web app / API","currentPickId":"railway","currentPickScore":8.08,"challengerId":"render","challengerScore":8.1,"currentScoreGap":0.02,"minVerifiedOutcomes":10,"requiredOutcomeMargin":0.17,"requiredSuccessRateDelta":0.15,"maxPickPriceIncreasePct":25,"whatWouldChangePick":["Render (render) outperforms Railway (railway) by >= 0.17 outcome points (or >= 15% worked-rate delta) across >= 10 Countersign-verified production outcomes.","A verified price increase > 25% on Railway's representative SKU for app-hosting without a corresponding capability gain.","Live caller rail exhaustion (?exhausted=railway) or sustained >= 30% degraded/failed rate in verified production outcomes."],"frozenHoldoutPolicy":{"holdoutSplit":"20% frozen benchmark holdout tasks + 80% live production outcome receipts","requireCountersignReceipt":true,"requiredEvidenceTiers":["outcome_verified","reference_checked"],"minDistinctContributors":2,"antiGamingRule":"Unverified self-reports and seed/editorial rows never mutate picks or scores."},"triggers":[{"kind":"verified_outcomes_outperformance","challengerId":"render","minVerifiedOutcomes":10,"requiredOutcomeMargin":0.17,"requiredWorkedRateDelta":0.15},{"kind":"verified_price_increase","providerId":"railway","maxPriceIncreasePct":25},{"kind":"live_rail_exhaustion_or_degradation","providerId":"railway","immediateOverrideUrl":"/api/decide?jtbd=app-hosting&exhausted=railway"}],"submissionSpec":{"falsifyEndpoint":"/api/falsify?jtbd=app-hosting","outcomesEndpoint":"POST /api/feedback","correctionsEndpoint":"POST /api/corrections","payloadTemplate":{"agentIdentity":"agent:<your-agent-id>","jtbdId":"app-hosting","providerId":"render","outcome":"worked","detail":"Comparative production evaluation on app-hosting (n>=10 tasks) with Countersign receipt.","confidence":"high","receipt":{"countersign":{"claim_id":"cs-00000000","status":"verified","evidence_tier":"outcome_verified","counts_as_verified":true}}}}},"whatWouldChangePick":["Render (render) outperforms Railway (railway) by >= 0.17 outcome points (or >= 15% worked-rate delta) across >= 10 Countersign-verified production outcomes.","A verified price increase > 25% on Railway's representative SKU for app-hosting without a corresponding capability gain.","Live caller rail exhaustion (?exhausted=railway) or sustained >= 30% degraded/failed rate in verified production outcomes."],"routePlan":{"jtbdId":"app-hosting","primary":{"providerId":"railway","name":"Railway","overall":8.08,"scoreBand":{"low":7.5,"mid":8.1,"high":8.7,"halfWidth":0.6,"basis":"editorial_prior","display":"7.5–8.7 (editorial prior)"},"scoreLayers":{"editorialPrior":8.08,"measuredBenchmark":null,"verifiedOutcomeScore":null,"verifiedOutcomeCount":0,"accountRuntimeState":"unprobed"},"pricingLastVerifiedAt":"2026-10-27","editorialPriorAsOf":"2026-09-14","role":"primary","reason":"Editorial Depot Pick for Host agent web app / API; healthy/eligible under caller constraints."},"fallback":[{"providerId":"render","name":"Render","overall":8.1,"scoreBand":{"low":7.5,"mid":8.1,"high":8.7,"halfWidth":0.6,"basis":"editorial_prior","display":"7.5–8.7 (editorial prior)"},"scoreLayers":{"editorialPrior":8.1,"measuredBenchmark":null,"verifiedOutcomeScore":null,"verifiedOutcomeCount":0,"accountRuntimeState":"unprobed"},"pricingLastVerifiedAt":"2026-10-27","editorialPriorAsOf":"2026-09-14","role":"fallback","reason":"Ranked fallback route for Host agent web app / API."},{"providerId":"fly-io","name":"Fly.io","overall":8.28,"scoreBand":{"low":7.7,"mid":8.3,"high":8.9,"halfWidth":0.6,"basis":"editorial_prior","display":"7.7–8.9 (editorial prior)"},"scoreLayers":{"editorialPrior":8.28,"measuredBenchmark":null,"verifiedOutcomeScore":null,"verifiedOutcomeCount":0,"accountRuntimeState":"unprobed"},"pricingLastVerifiedAt":"2026-10-27","editorialPriorAsOf":"2026-09-14","role":"fallback","reason":"Ranked fallback route for Host agent web app / API."},{"providerId":"vercel","name":"Vercel","overall":8.1,"scoreBand":{"low":7.5,"mid":8.1,"high":8.7,"halfWidth":0.6,"basis":"editorial_prior","display":"7.5–8.7 (editorial prior)"},"scoreLayers":{"editorialPrior":8.1,"measuredBenchmark":null,"verifiedOutcomeScore":null,"verifiedOutcomeCount":0,"accountRuntimeState":"unprobed"},"pricingLastVerifiedAt":"2026-10-27","editorialPriorAsOf":"2026-09-14","role":"fallback","reason":"Ranked fallback route for Host agent web app / API."},{"providerId":"digitalocean","name":"DigitalOcean","overall":8.15,"scoreBand":{"low":7.6,"mid":8.2,"high":8.8,"halfWidth":0.6,"basis":"editorial_prior","display":"7.6–8.8 (editorial prior)"},"scoreLayers":{"editorialPrior":8.15,"measuredBenchmark":null,"verifiedOutcomeScore":null,"verifiedOutcomeCount":0,"accountRuntimeState":"unprobed"},"pricingLastVerifiedAt":"2026-10-27","editorialPriorAsOf":"2026-09-14","role":"fallback","reason":"Ranked fallback route for Host agent web app / API."}],"disqualified":[],"expectedRegret":{"scoreDeltaVsUnconstrainedPick":0,"unconstrainedPickId":"railway","activePrimaryId":"railway","summary":"0.00 score regret: unconstrained editorial pick satisfies all caller constraints."},"evidenceAgeDays":{"editorialScoreAgeDays":43,"pricingVerifiedAgeDays":0,"editorialPriorAsOf":"2026-09-14","pricingLastVerifiedAt":"2026-10-27"},"confidenceBand":{"low":7.5,"mid":8.1,"high":8.7,"halfWidth":0.6,"basis":"editorial_prior","display":"7.5–8.7 (editorial prior)"},"constraintsApplied":false,"constraintBundle":{"task":null,"jtbd":"app-hosting","quotaExhausted":[],"degraded":[],"healthy":[],"budgetUsd":null,"maxLatencyMs":null,"region":null,"privacy":null,"exit":[],"existing":[]}},"pricingLastVerifiedAt":"2026-10-27","editorialPriorAsOf":"2026-09-14","tie":true,"scoreGap":-0.02,"decidingFactor":"developerDx (9.4 vs 9)","tieNote":"Scores are within 0.10 on a curated_estimate 0-10 scale (8.08 vs 8.1); treat as a statistical tie and decide on decidingFactor or whenNotTopPick.","rationale":"dx + reliability + pricePerf for early/mid stage.","whenNotTopPick":"Next.js UI-heavy — Vercel; global edge Machines — Fly; enterprise AWS — EC2/ECS.","skipTopPick":false,"skipReason":null,"matchedConstraints":[],"pricingSummary":"Usage-based PaaS; services/databases; simple git deploys; hobby→pro plans.","cite":"Depot Pick for app-hosting: railway (asOf 2026-09-14). 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Does not blend input and output or borrow a chat rate for a non-chat job."},{"step":3,"title":"Open provider detail","href":"/api/providers/railway","why":"Scores, pricingNotes, strengths/weaknesses, communitySignals (claims only)."},{"step":4,"title":"Cite methodology","href":"/api/methodology","why":"Required when publishing a Depot Pick citation."},{"step":5,"title":"Grab badge SVG","href":"/api/badge?type=depot-pick&jtbd=app-hosting","why":"Embed in README / agent passport."},{"step":6,"title":"Post production insight","method":"POST","href":"/api/insights","why":"Unverified until curated; never auto-mutates official scores."}],"honesty":["Do not invent scores or benches.","Insights are claims until curated/reviewed; they never silently mutate official scores.","lockInRisk higher = more lock-in (worse).","normalizedUsdPerMillionTokens is set only for a single sourced token row. Otherwise null, with a machine-readable reason. Do not coerce GPU, minute, or per-1k search units.","Runners-up are not Depot Picks.","Depot overall is editorial_weighted, not Arena Elo and not an Artificial Analysis index."],"asOf":"2026-09-14","depth":{"whenNotToUse":{"text":"Next.js UI-heavy — Vercel; global edge Machines — Fly; enterprise AWS — EC2/ECS.","source":"editorial `whenNotTopPick` (data/jtbds.json)"},"whenNotToUseReason":null,"runnerUp":{"providerId":"render","name":"Render","overallForJob":8.1,"pickOverallForJob":8.08,"beatsPickOn":["latencyReliability","privacyPosture","maturity"],"source":"first resolvable entry of the job's editorially ranked `runnersUpIds`; scores are stored job-weighted scores"},"runnerUpReason":null,"lockIn":{"pickLockInRisk":4,"runnerUpLockInRisk":4,"scale":"0–10 stored curated estimate; higher = more lock-in (worse)","pickExitSignals":[],"runnerUpExitSignals":[],"pickNotes":[],"selfHostFallback":[],"migration":null,"migrationReason":"no_stored_migration_data","derivedFrom":"stored lockInRisk scores, provider tags (oss, self-host, openai-compat, open-models), free rows that list this job, and verbatim provider notes. No migration guide was invented."}},"citation":{"text":"Agent Provider Depot (v0.12.148), Depot Pick for app-hosting: railway, scores as of 2026-09-14, retrieved 2026-10-27. https://getagentdepot.com/jtbds/app-hosting","markdown":"[Agent Provider Depot](https://getagentdepot.com/jtbds/app-hosting) (v0.12.148) — Depot Pick for `app-hosting`: **railway** (scores as of 2026-09-14, retrieved 2026-10-27)","fields":{"publisher":"Agent Provider Depot","version":"0.12.148","role":"depot_pick","jtbdId":"app-hosting","providerId":"railway","scoreAsOf":"2026-09-14","retrievedOn":"2026-10-27","page":"https://getagentdepot.com/jtbds/app-hosting","api":"https://getagentdepot.com/api/decide?jtbd=app-hosting"},"howToCite":"Cite Depot as an editorial, dated recommendation, not a benchmark: name the job, the Depot Pick (or runner-up), the score asOf date and the day you retrieved it, and link the job page. Format: “Agent Provider Depot (v{version}), Depot Pick for {jobId}: {providerId}, scores as of {scoreAsOf}, retrieved {retrievedOn}. {baseUrl}/jtbds/{jobId}”. Quote prices only with their own sourceUrl and asOf. If the pick's score is stale (freshness.pick.score.stale), say so."},"freshness":{"pick":{"score":{"asOf":"2026-09-14","ageDays":43,"stale":true,"staleAfterDays":30,"reason":null},"lastReviewed":{"asOf":"2026-09-14","ageDays":43,"stale":true,"staleAfterDays":30,"reason":null},"sourceCheck":{"checkedAt":"2026-10-27","sourceUrls":1,"sourcesReachable":1,"pricingRows":0,"pricingRowsReconfirmed":0,"note":"A source re-check confirms the page is reachable and, for pricing rows, that the stored amount and SKU name appear on it. It does not re-derive or change the score.","reason":null}},"scoreAsOf":"2026-09-14","editorialPriorAsOf":"2026-09-14","pricingLastVerifiedAt":"2026-10-27","pickLastReviewed":"2026-09-14","runnersUpScoreAsOf":["2026-09-14","2026-09-14","2026-09-14","2026-09-14"],"contractAsOf":"2026-10-03","pricingShape":"prose_notes_only","normalizedUsdPerMillionTokens":null,"normalizationStatus":"unavailable","normalizationReason":"no_sourced_price"},"pricingContract":{"normalizedUsdPerMillionTokens":null,"normalizationStatus":"unavailable","normalizationReason":"no_sourced_price","shape":"prose_notes_only","filterable":false,"priceSortEligible":false,"priceSortKeyUsdPerMillionInputTokens":null,"rows":[],"notesExcerpt":"Usage-based PaaS; services/databases; simple git deploys; hobby→pro plans.","notesCheck":{"status":"no_known_contradiction","pairs":[],"review":null,"note":null},"lastReviewed":"2026-09-14","scoreAsOf":"2026-09-14","website":"https://railway.app","doNotParse":"Do not parse pricingNotes. Use rows only. normalizedUsdPerMillionTokens is a single number only when this provider has exactly one sourced token row. Input/output, context tiers, and non-token units stay null at this level.","gap":"No sourced price row for this provider. pricingNotes stay prose. See research/gaps.md."},"links":{"jtbd":"/jtbds/app-hosting","jtbdApi":"/api/jtbds/app-hosting","leaderboard":"/api/leaderboards?jtbd=app-hosting","methodology":"/api/methodology","badge":"/api/badge?type=depot-pick&jtbd=app-hosting","decide":"/api/decide?jtbd=app-hosting","humanPage":"/jtbds/app-hosting","alternatives":"/api/alternatives?provider=railway","canonical":"/api/canonical","quote":"/api/quote?jtbd=app-hosting","falsify":"/api/falsify?jtbd=app-hosting"},"constraintBundle":{"task":null,"jtbd":"app-hosting","quotaExhausted":[],"degraded":[],"healthy":[],"budgetUsd":null,"maxLatencyMs":null,"region":null,"privacy":null,"exit":[],"existing":[]},"stackContext":{"host":null,"framework":null,"repo":null,"lang":null,"existing":[],"volume":null,"sender":null,"detectedFromTask":[]},"keep":null,"contextAdvice":null,"communityFeedback":{"pickOnThisJob":{"failed":0,"degraded":0,"worked":0,"insights":0,"withVerifiedReceipt":0,"failureModes":{},"latestAt":null,"note":"Agent-reported claims (unverified unless a receipt is verified by Depot's re-check). They never change scores or picks."},"outcomes":{"job":{"n":0,"worked":0,"degraded":0,"failed":0,"failureModes":{},"verifiedReports":0,"contributors":0,"excluded":{"seed_editorial":0,"test":0,"notFeedback":0},"reason":"no_submitted_outcome_reports_yet"},"pick":{"providerId":"railway","n":0,"worked":0,"degraded":0,"failed":0,"failureModes":{},"evidenceTiers":{"agent_claim":0,"self_declared":0,"reference_checked":0,"outcome_verified":0},"reason":"no_submitted_outcome_reports_yet"},"scoresMutated":false,"more":"/api/outcomes?jtbd=app-hosting"},"report":"POST /api/feedback {agentIdentity, outcome: failed|degraded|worked, detail, providerId, jtbdId, failureModeId?, receipt?}"}}