A comprehensive comparison of deployment architectures for full-stack TypeScript applications. Covers two structural patterns (monolithic full-stack frameworks vs. independently deployed services) and two execution models (serverless vs. long-running servers). Serverless platforms like Cloudflare Workers and Vercel excel at stateless request-response workloads but impose strict limits on memory, CPU time, persistent connections, and state. Long-running servers support stateful backends, WebSockets, background jobs, and heavy compute without artificial ceilings. Railway is presented as a managed platform offering long-running containers with usage-based billing, removing traditional ops overhead. The guide also covers pairing Railway with Cloudflare to combine global edge performance with stateful regional backends.
Table of contents
Table of ContentsSummaryModern Full-Stack ArchitecturesDeployment Paradigms: Serverless vs. Long-Running ServersDeploying full-stack apps on Railway without the trade-offs of long-running serversGetting the best of both worlds: Using Railway and Cloudflare togetherConclusionSort: