Provider Comparison
How each provider differs - compute, databases, regions, pricing.
Full-stack providers
GCP, AWS, and Azure can host your entire app end-to-end - compute, database, DNS, and container registry.
Compute
| GCP | AWS | Azure | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Service | Cloud Run | App Runner | Container Apps |
| Scale to zero | Yes ($0 idle) | Partial (~$2.55/mo idle) | Yes ($0 idle) |
| Cold start | 3-5s | None | 2-5s |
| Registry | Artifact Registry | ECR | ACR |
Databases
All full-stack providers use managed Postgres:
| GCP | AWS | Azure | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Service | Cloud SQL | RDS | Flexible Server |
| Engine | Postgres | Postgres | Postgres |
| Model | Shared instance | Shared instance | Shared instance |
Default regions
| Provider | Default region | Available |
|---|---|---|
| GCP | us-central1 | 30+ regions |
| AWS | us-east-1 | 20+ regions |
| Azure | eastus | 40+ regions |
Use relight regions --compute <name> to see all available regions.
Pricing summary
| Provider | Idle app | Light traffic app | Custom domain |
|---|---|---|---|
| GCP | $0/mo | ~$1-3/mo | Free (via Firebase Hosting) |
| AWS | ~$2.55/mo | ~$3-5/mo | Free |
| Azure | $0/mo | ~$2-4/mo | Free |
Additional providers
Cloudflare and DigitalOcean complement the full-stack providers:
| Provider | Layers | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Cloudflare | DNS, Registry | Free DNS and global edge routing. Great as a CDN and DNS layer in front of any compute provider. |
| DigitalOcean | DB, DNS | Affordable managed Postgres. The simplest and cheapest database option. |
| GitHub | Registry | Free container registry (GHCR). Use existing GitHub credentials instead of a cloud-specific registry. |