Best offer on record: Free plan ($0/mo, $1/mo usage credit, permanent). 5 verified findings, checked 2026-10-22.
Offers
Free plan ($0/mo, $1/mo usage credit, permanent) high confidence
Permanent $0/month plan with $1 of non-rollover usage credits each billing cycle. Limits: max 1 vCPU / 0.5 GB per service, 1 replica, 3-day log history, 1 project, 3 services, 1 member per project, 500 MB max volume, 0 custom domains, 1 concurrent build. Metered rates beyond the $1: CPU ~$20/vCPU-month, memory ~$10/GB-month, egress $0.05/GB, volumes ~$0.15/GB-month; stopped services cost nothing. Restored Aug 27, 2025 after the free plan was deleted years earlier (blog: 'enough to run a small app for free in perpetuity').
Eligibility
Open to everyone (students and startups alike), no .edu, no CC required for the free tier, no stated region limits. No application.
How to claim
Sign up at railway.com (click 'Login'); new accounts land in the Trial, then automatically revert to the Free plan when the $5 trial credit expires (30 days). Nothing else to claim; no form.
Expiry
Perpetual. The $1/mo credit resets each billing cycle and does not roll over.
Gotchas
$1/mo is tiny (roughly 36 vCPU-hours or ~$1 of egress); usage beyond it is billed per-second on a metered basis even on the free plan, so a busy app or data-heavy app can incur charges — set a billing limit in dashboard. 0 custom domains and 1 member/project; only 3 services. Egress ($0.05/GB) and volumes are not covered by a free allowance on this plan.
Free trial: $5 one-time credit, 30 days, no credit card high confidence
One-time $5 credit valid 30 days, no credit card required. Trial limits: up to 2 vCPU / 1 GB per service (shared vCPUs), 2 replicas, 7-day logs, 2 projects, 5 services, 3 members/project, 500 MB volume, 1 custom domain, 3 concurrent builds. Two trial flavors: Full Trial (verified GitHub account) and Limited Trial (unverified) — Limited restricts outbound network access to a limited port set; verification is automated (GitHub account age/activity) and Railway does not respond to verification requests (can retry at railway.com/verify). After 30 days or $5 spent, the account reverts to the $1/mo Free plan.
Eligibility
Open to everyone, no .edu or startup proof, no CC required. Unverified GitHub accounts get the Limited Trial with network restrictions instead of full features.
How to claim
Click 'Login' at railway.com to start the trial (no CC). Alternative entry: no account needed — run `ssh railway.new` to get a free anonymous Linux VM (2 vCPU / 2 GB, 60-minute build window, 24-hour claim window, max 3 boxes per IP per day; unclaimed boxes and their files are deleted; claim link moves the box into your account).
Expiry
30 days or $5, whichever comes first. If you upgrade while a balance remains, it carries over to the paid plan but may not be applied to the first billing cycle (applied as a discount to subsequent charges after a successful payment).
Gotchas
Limited Trial (unverified) = restricted outbound networking/ports; code deploys work but egress to arbitrary hosts may be blocked. Railway deletes stateful volumes tied to Trial accounts 30 days after the credit expires, so persistent data requires upgrading in time. Anonymous ssh railway.new boxes are region-capped under high demand and unclaimed work is destroyed.
Startup program: $5,000 credits (LAUNCHED Apr 2024, now CLOSED) medium confidence
Railway's official Startup Program (announced in the Apr 26, 2024 changelog and Apr 18, 2024 LinkedIn post) offered up to $5,000 in Railway credits. Original criteria: $2M–$25M in outside funding, founded in 2020 or later, new to Railway or under $100 lifetime platform spend; decisions promised 'within a few days'. No longer active as of late 2026: the program's dedicated page is gone (startup.railway.app returned 404 per a status-code audit on 2026-08-05; railway.com/startups also 404s today), staff told station users in Nov 2025 that 'railway does not have any startup programs' (only Free/Hobby/Pro), and a third-party tracker (noizz, checked 2026-09-23) lists Railway as having no startup program.
Eligibility
At launch (2024): VC/angel-funded startups with $2M–$25M outside funding, founded 2020+, <$100 lifetime Railway spend. Bootstrapped startups were explicitly excluded in v1 ('likely to expand down the line' — that expansion never materialized).
How to claim
Was application-based (apply via the program link, review in days). The application path no longer exists; do not rely on it.
Expiry
Sunset: program page 404 as of Aug 2026; staff denials on Railway's own support station Nov 2025 and Dec 2025. Exact end date between 2024-04 and 2025-11 (unknown).
Gotchas
Treat the $5K offer as historical only. Remaining adjacent third-party channel: JoinSecret marketplace lists '$240 credit on the Hobby plan for 1 year' for 'selected startups' via a unique affiliate promo path (third-party, last checked 2026-10-01; promo credits apply only to new signups via that path) — low-confidence, not a first-party program. A 2026-10-10 station question asking for startup credits has no staff answer yet.
Education / student program: NONE exists (students use the general trial) medium confidence
Railway has never run a .edu student program or education license. Staff statements on Railway's support station: 2023/2024 — 'Railway does not currently run any programs like that'; Dec 29, 2025 — 'Railway doesn't have a program where we distribute credits for students' (instead pointed to template kickback/bounty earnings, which are revenue-share, not grants). The 'Student ID validation' feature request was closed by staff Mar 28, 2025: 'we have retooled our Trial to be general access. We may consider adding a free plan back in the future' (the free plan did return Aug 27, 2025). Third-party student-deal sites (studentoffers.co, student-perks) merely re-market the general $5/30-day trial as a 'student offer' — Railway lists it as 'Open to All'.
Eligibility
n/a — no student verification, .edu email, or GitHub Student Pack integration exists. The only free path for students is the open-to-all trial ($5/30 days) + Free plan ($1/mo).
How to claim
Nothing to claim. Students get the same trial as anyone: sign up at railway.com (no CC required) or `ssh railway.new` without an account.
Expiry
No education program to expire; general trial/free terms as above.
Gotchas
Do not believe aggregator pages implying a dedicated student perk or .edu discount — none is published by Railway. Limited-Trial network restrictions apply to unverified student accounts just like anyone else. Note the Railway station (forum) now redirects to status.railway.com, so staff quotes above are preserved only in search caches of the retired forum.
JoinSecret affiliate channel: $240 Hobby-plan credit for 1 year (third-party, selected startups) low confidence
Third-party aggregator (Superscout, last checked 2026-10-01; Drifting Desk) reports Railway running a $240 usage-credit offer on the Hobby plan for 1 year, distributed via the JoinSecret perk marketplace: 'Promo credits apply only to new signups via unique promotion path', restricted to 'selected startups'. Not published on railway.com; it is an affiliate/referral channel, not a first-party program, and no amount/criteria are confirmed on Railway's own pages.
Eligibility
Self-described 'selected startups' per the JoinSecret channel; effectively requires new signups through the affiliate path; unconfirmed by Railway first-party.
How to claim
Via the JoinSecret marketplace link only (per the aggregator's 'Get it' row); not via railway.com.
Expiry
As last checked 2026-10-01; affiliate terms 'change without notice'.
Gotchas
Low-confidence third-party data; verify on the channel before relying on it; affiliate promos usually require fresh accounts and apply credits only to new signups.
2025–2026 changes to verify against: (1) Original launch-era free plan ("Unlimited Compute," ~2020, and later the 500-hour free tier) was deleted due to negative margins — Railway was "losing $16 per $1 of revenue" — and the starter/free tiers were gone by 2023 (only $5 Hobby minimum). (2) The free plan was formally brought back Aug 27, 2025 (blog "Bring Back the Free Plan"): new users get $5 for the first 30 days, then $1 of non-rollover credits per month in perpetuity. (3) The $5,000 Startup Program launched Apr 2024 (criteria: $2M–$25M funding, founded 2020+, <$100 lifetime spend) appears CLOSED: dedicated URLs 404 as of Aug 5, 2026 (startup.railway.app, per a status-code audit in sourcey/startup-credits#230; railway.com/startups 404s today), staff told users on the station in Nov 2025 and Dec 2025 that no startup program exists, and noizz (checked 2026-09-23) lists Railway as "no startup program". Exact sunset date unknown, between 2024-04 and 2025-11. (4) No education/.edu program ever existed; the student-ID-validation request was closed Mar 28, 2025 as moot (trial retooled to general access), and staff reaffirmed in Dec 2025 that no student credit program exists. (5) No OSS program either (staff, Dec 29, 2025). (6) The 2023–2025 "Limited Trial" restriction (unverified accounts couldn't deploy code) was relaxed with the March 2025 trial retool to general access; code deploys now work on both Full and Limited trials, but Limited trials keep restricted outbound networking/ports. (7) The Railway support station (forum) has been shut down — station.railway.com now 302-redirects to status.railway.com. (8) Company stability signal: Railway raised a $100M Series B in Jan 2026 (100k paid users, 25k businesses), so no imminent sunset of the free tier is indicated. (9) Third-party channel: a $240 Hobby-credit-for-1-year JoinSecret affiliate offer for "selected startups" was last seen 2026-10-01 — unconfirmed first-party.