> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.gateways.app/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Compare Gateways

> How Gateways compares to popular deployment and PaaS platforms.

Gateways is not another hosted runtime. It is a **cloud operations console for infrastructure you own**: AWS, Azure, GCP, resources, environments, connections, activity, and APIs in one visual workspace.

Many PaaS and edge platforms are excellent when you want to deploy into **their** managed infrastructure. Gateways is built for teams that need the speed of a modern product UI while keeping workloads, networking, data, and billing inside **their own cloud accounts**.

| Decision area               | Gateways                                                                              | Hosted PaaS / edge platforms                                    |
| --------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Infrastructure boundary** | Your AWS, Azure, or GCP accounts                                                      | Vendor-managed runtime                                          |
| **Operating model**         | Visual architecture, resource graph, environments, APIs                               | App/service deploy workflow                                     |
| **Control surface**         | Native cloud resources, connections, DNS, databases, servers, functions               | Platform abstractions and add-ons                               |
| **Best fit**                | Teams with compliance, existing cloud spend, multi-cloud, or platform ownership needs | Teams optimizing for fastest app deploy on one managed platform |

## Feature Comparison

Use this matrix to understand the practical difference: hosted PaaS tools optimize the application deployment path, while Gateways focuses on operating the cloud estate behind and around those applications.

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    <thead>
      <tr>
        <th style={{ textAlign: 'left' }}>Capability</th>
        <th style={{ textAlign: 'center' }}>Gateways</th>
        <th style={{ textAlign: 'center' }}>Vercel</th>
        <th style={{ textAlign: 'center' }}>Netlify</th>
        <th style={{ textAlign: 'center' }}>Render</th>
        <th style={{ textAlign: 'center' }}>Fly.io</th>
        <th style={{ textAlign: 'center' }}>Heroku</th>
        <th style={{ textAlign: 'center' }}>Railway</th>
      </tr>
    </thead>

    <tbody>
      <tr>
        <td>Own cloud</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>✅</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>❌</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>❌</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>❌</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>❌</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>❌</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>❌</td>
      </tr>

      <tr>
        <td>Cloud control</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>✅</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>❌</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>❌</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>⚠️</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>⚠️</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>❌</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>❌</td>
      </tr>

      <tr>
        <td>Provider access</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>✅</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>❌</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>❌</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>❌</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>❌</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>❌</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>❌</td>
      </tr>

      <tr>
        <td>SSH access</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>✅</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>❌</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>❌</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>❌</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>✅</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>❌</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>⚠️</td>
      </tr>

      <tr>
        <td>Cloud IDE</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>✅</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>❌</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>❌</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>❌</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>❌</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>❌</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>❌</td>
      </tr>

      <tr>
        <td>Works if platform down</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>✅</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>❌</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>❌</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>❌</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>❌</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>❌</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>❌</td>
      </tr>

      <tr>
        <td>Avoids vendor lock-in</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>✅</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>❌</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>❌</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>❌</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>⚠️</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>❌</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>❌</td>
      </tr>

      <tr>
        <td>Visual infra</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>✅</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>❌</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>❌</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>❌</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>❌</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>❌</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>❌</td>
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      <tr>
        <td>Multi-cloud</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>✅</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>❌</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>❌</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>❌</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>⚠️</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>❌</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>❌</td>
      </tr>

      <tr>
        <td>Projects/envs</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>✅</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>✅</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>✅</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>✅</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>✅</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>✅</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>✅</td>
      </tr>

      <tr>
        <td>Cloud billing</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>✅</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>❌</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>❌</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>❌</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>❌</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>❌</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>❌</td>
      </tr>

      <tr>
        <td>Manage DNS</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>✅</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>⚠️</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>⚠️</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>❌</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>❌</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>❌</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>❌</td>
      </tr>

      <tr>
        <td>Git deploys</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>✅</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>✅</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>✅</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>✅</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>✅</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>✅</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>✅</td>
      </tr>

      <tr>
        <td>Managed runtime</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>✅</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>✅</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>✅</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>✅</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>✅</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>✅</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>✅</td>
      </tr>

      <tr>
        <td>Activity log</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>✅</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>❌</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>❌</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>⚠️</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>⚠️</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>⚠️</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>❌</td>
      </tr>

      <tr>
        <td>Infra API</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>✅</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>❌</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>❌</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>⚠️</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>⚠️</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>❌</td>
        <td style={{ textAlign: 'center', whiteSpace: 'nowrap' }}>⚠️</td>
      </tr>
    </tbody>
  </table>
</div>

**Legend**

* ✅ Core capability
* ⚠️ Available in a narrower or platform-specific form
* ❌ Not the product’s main model

## When Gateways Is The Better Fit

* **Your cloud accounts are the source of truth.** Gateways keeps compute, data, networking, DNS, and billing inside the AWS, Azure, or GCP accounts your organization already governs.
* **You keep an escape hatch.** If Gateways is unavailable, your resources still live in your cloud account, so your team can inspect, SSH into, or operate them directly through the cloud provider.
* **You need clarity before the next deployment.** Teams can see projects, environments, resources, and connections on one canvas instead of piecing together architecture from tickets, Terraform, spreadsheets, and provider consoles.
* **You want platform speed without platform lock-in.** Developers get a guided console and CLI workflow, while operators keep control of real cloud resources and provider-level policies.
* **You care about more than “did it deploy?”** Gateways connects resource state, activity, access, workspace membership, and APIs so delivery and operations share the same system of record.

## Compare By Platform

* **[Gateways vs Vercel](/platform/compare-to-vercel)** — frontend cloud and edge workflows vs owned cloud infrastructure.
* **[Gateways vs Netlify](/platform/compare-to-netlify)** — composable web platform workflows vs owned cloud infrastructure.
* **[Gateways vs Render](/platform/compare-to-render)** — managed PaaS services vs multi-cloud resource operations.
* **[Gateways vs Fly.io](/platform/compare-to-fly-io)** — global app runtime vs hyperscaler resource control.
* **[Gateways vs Heroku](/platform/compare-to-heroku)** — classic dyno PaaS vs modern cloud architecture console.
* **[Gateways vs Railway](/platform/compare-to-railway)** — fast developer deploys vs team-owned cloud environments.

[← Console overview](/gateways/overview)