I've been a fan of Railway ever since they published their deep dive on building their own data centre, stepping away from Google Cloud. It’s everything I look for in a blog post: clear reasoning, gritty technical detail, honest mistakes, and real learnings. That post made me like and respect them a lot.
They remind me of how I felt about Cloudflare in the early days. There’s something special about small, innovative, dev-focused companies. They speak directly to my heart, before they go mainstream and I inevitably lose interest. I guess I’m just a big old hipster at heart.
On 12th June 2025, just a couple of days ago, Google Cloud had one of those outages. The kind that ripples across the internet and reminds us just how fragile our technological foundations really are.
So I’ll admit I was pleased to see Railway temporarily pause their lowest pricing tiers after a wave of GCP customers rushed in. Not because they struggle, but because it meant I wasn’t alone in my hipster-y affection for Railway.
Moments like this remind me why I'm drawn to companies who take bold risks and forge their own paths. There's something compelling about tech teams who choose control, clarity, and the occasional misstep over convenience. Maybe it's a bit of nostalgia, or perhaps a deep-seated desire for technology that feels human and approachable. Either way, I'm excited to see what Railway does next-and secretly hoping they'll keep their indie spirit alive just a little while longer.