Ink vs Railway
How Ink MCP compares to Railway — two bare-metal platforms with different philosophies on who operates infrastructure
Railway is one of the strongest modern PaaS platforms. It runs on bare metal, has usage-based pricing, a clean dashboard, and a real MCP server. If you're comparing human-operated platforms, Railway is a top choice. The difference with Ink is architectural: who the platform is designed for.
Feature comparison
| Ink | Railway | |
|---|---|---|
| Agent integration | Skill (prompt-guided), MCP (Streamable HTTP), CLI | Skill (prompt-guided), MCP (stdio — requires Railway CLI), CLI |
| MCP capabilities | Full read/write: deploy, delete, scale, databases, DNS, logs, metrics | 14 tools: deploy, templates, envs, logs, domains — no destructive ops, no database provisioning, no metrics |
| Infrastructure | Bare metal (self-owned) | Bare metal (Railway Metal, migrated from GCP in June 2025) |
| Build system | Railpack auto-detection | Railpack (Railway built it, successor to Nixpacks) |
| Pricing model | Per-minute compute, no seat fees | Usage-based ($5–$20/mo minimum usage, includes credits), no seat fees on Pro |
| Databases | SQLite via Turso (edge-replicated, managed) | Postgres, MySQL, Redis, MongoDB (containerized templates, user-managed) |
| DNS management | Full programmatic DNS via MCP (A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, TXT, CAA) | Domain purchasing with auto-DNS, CNAME for external domains — no MX/TXT/SRV management |
| WebSockets | Native support | Supported — no sticky sessions across replicas |
| Long-running processes | Yes, persistent containers | Yes, persistent containers |
| Observability via MCP | Build logs, runtime logs, CPU/memory/network metrics | Build and deployment logs only — no metrics via MCP |
| GraphQL API | Yes, with introspection | GraphQL API (same as console) |
Capabilities checklist
| Capability | Ink | Railway |
|---|---|---|
| MCP server | ✅ | ✅ |
| Agent Skill (prompt-guided) | ✅ | ✅ |
| CLI | ✅ | ✅ |
| No CLI required for MCP | ✅ | ❌ |
| Multi-agent collaboration | ✅ | ❌ |
| Deploy via MCP | ✅ | ✅ |
| Delete services via MCP | ✅ | ❌ |
| Provision databases via MCP | ✅ | ❌ |
| DNS management via MCP | ✅ | ❌ |
| Metrics via MCP | ✅ | ❌ |
| Logs via MCP | ✅ | ✅ |
| GraphQL API | ✅ | ✅ |
| Bare metal infrastructure | ✅ | ✅ |
| Auto-detect frameworks (Railpack) | ✅ | ✅ |
| Per-minute billing | ✅ | ✅ |
| Managed databases | 🔜 | ❌ |
| Template marketplace | ❌ | ✅ |
| Visual project canvas | ❌ | ✅ |
Where the gap is real
Agent integration depth
Railway now offers three integration paths — an Agent Skill (use-railway), an MCP server (@railway/mcp-server), and a CLI. The MCP server spawns as a local stdio process requiring railway login authentication and the Railway CLI installed locally.
Ink also offers three paths. The key difference is transport: Ink's MCP server is an HTTP endpoint at https://mcp.ml.ink/ — no CLI needed, works with any MCP client from anywhere. Ink's Skill works in Claude Code and other AgentSkills-compatible clients. The CLI works standalone for scripts and CI/CD.
MCP capability depth
Railway's MCP server exposes 14 tools focused on deployment and configuration. It intentionally excludes destructive operations — no deleting services, no removing databases. It has no tools for database provisioning (databases come via templates), no DNS record management, and no metrics retrieval.
Ink exposes 30+ MCP tools covering the full lifecycle: create, read, update, and delete services and databases. Manage DNS zones and individual records. Read build logs, runtime logs, and CPU/memory/network metrics. Scale resources. The agent can do everything a human would do through a dashboard.
Database management
Railway's databases are containerized templates. You get Postgres, MySQL, Redis, or MongoDB via a pre-configured template, but you're responsible for backups, failover, tuning, and upgrades. Railway's docs call them "pre-configured templates," not managed databases.
Ink's SQLite databases run on Turso with global edge replication, managed infrastructure, and connection credentials returned immediately via MCP.
DNS depth
Railway lets you purchase domains with auto-managed DNS, or point external domains via CNAME. But you can't manage arbitrary DNS records (MX, TXT, SRV) through Railway — for that, they recommend an external registrar.
Ink gives agents full DNS zone management. Delegate your domain's nameservers, then create any record type through MCP: A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, TXT, CAA. Agents can configure email (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) and any other DNS need without leaving the conversation.
What Railway does well
Railway built Railpack — the same build tool Ink uses. Their project canvas gives a visual overview that's genuinely useful for humans. Usage-based pricing with no seat fees on Pro is fair. The migration from GCP to bare metal (completed June 2025) shows serious infrastructure investment. And their template marketplace makes it easy to deploy complex stacks with one click.