Beam
vs
Render
What's good about each
- Pay-per-millisecond billing, only while code is running
- Sub-second cold starts from memory snapshots
- No egress or bandwidth fees on any plan
- Runs in your own AWS, GCP or Azure account
- Postgres with point-in-time recovery, read replicas and high availability
- Unlimited seats on paid plans, no per-seat billing
- Free plans for web services, Postgres and Key Value
- Full-stack preview environments for each pull request
- SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001 and HIPAA-compliant workspaces
Price comparison
Closest matching configuration on each side, monthly list price in USD.
| Service | Beam | Render | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small VM | -- Not listed | $25.00 /mo 1 vCPU, 2 GB RAM (1c-2g) | |
| Medium VM | $289.08 /mo 4 vCPU, 8 GB RAM, 50 GB disk · Billed per second while running | $175.00 /mo 4 vCPU, 8 GB RAM (4c-8g) | 39% cheaper on Render |
| Large VM | -- Not listed | $300.00 /mo 8 vCPU, 16 GB RAM (8c-16g) | |
| Block storage | $2.10 /mo 100 GB beyond free allowance · First 1 TB included | $25.00 /mo 100 GB | 92% cheaper on Beam |
| PostgreSQL | -- Not listed | $90.00 /mo 2 vCPU, 4 GB RAM, 50 GB storage (2c-4g) | |
| Redis | -- Not listed | $32.00 /mo 1 GB RAM (1g) | |
| Load balancer | -- Not listed | Included in plan | |
| Egress allowance | Free and unlimited | 5 GB (Hobby), 25 GB (Pro), 1 TB (Scale) | |
| Egress | -- Not listed | $150.00 /TB $0.15 / GB |
Heads up: Figures take each provider's closest plan to a common setup, and vary by region and usage. Hover a service for the reference configuration. Verify before provisioning. More on how we price.
GPUs
Beam offers 10 GPU models. We don't currently list GPU prices for Render.
Services
Managed services each provider offers.
Compliance
Frameworks each provider states on its own site, each linked to its source.
Heads up: Each entry links to the provider's own statement. An attestation can cover one tier, one region or the platform alone rather than every service. Verify the scope before you rely on it. A dash means we found nothing to link to, not that the provider lacks it.
Company details
| Fact | Beam | Render |
|---|---|---|
| Founded | 2021 | 2018 |
| Headquarters | USA | USA |
| Locations | -- | 5 |
| Example customers | Coke, Ogilvy, Magellan AI, Raven, EdgeImpulse, Frase | OpenAI, ReadMe, Plane, Hodinkee, Every |
| Website | www.beam.cloud | render.com |
Alternatives to consider
Compare Beam and Render against other cloud providers.
Our data for Beam was last updated on Oct. 21, 2026, and for Render on Sept. 18, 2026.