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How They Work
Render
Render deploys web services, static sites, and databases on their managed platform. You connect a Git repository or push Docker images, configure your service via their dashboard, and Render handles the deployment.
This is useful when you want simple hosting without managing servers. Add databases with Render Postgres or Redis. For queues and background jobs, you'll need external services.
Encore
Encore provisions infrastructure in your cloud account based on your application code. You define databases, Pub/Sub, and other resources as TypeScript or Go objects. When you deploy, Encore creates the corresponding AWS or GCP resources.
This is useful when you want infrastructure ownership, need native cloud services (RDS, SQS, S3), or want built-in observability. Resources run in your own AWS or GCP account.
Infrastructure Ownership
The main difference is where your infrastructure lives. Render manages everything on their platform. Encore provisions resources in an AWS or GCP account you control.
With Encore, you can see your databases in the AWS Console, set up VPC peering, configure IAM policies, and use any AWS/GCP service alongside your Encore resources. Your data stays in accounts you own.
With Render, infrastructure is abstracted away. This is simpler if you don't need direct cloud access, but limits options if you need specific AWS/GCP features or compliance controls.
Learn more about infrastructure ownership →Local Development
Render has no built-in local development solution. You manage local databases and services yourself, typically using Docker or installing services directly on your machine.
Encore runs encore run and automatically provisions local PostgreSQL, Pub/Sub emulation, and cron scheduling. A local dashboard shows distributed tracing and architecture diagrams.
Encore's approach means you start coding immediately without infrastructure setup. No Docker Compose files or database installation required.
Learn more about local development →Automatic Infrastructure
Render requires you to set up infrastructure through their dashboard. Need a database? Create a Render Postgres instance and configure connection strings. Need queues or cron jobs? You'll need external services like Redis or a third-party scheduler.
Encore provisions infrastructure from your code. Declare a database as a TypeScript object, and Encore creates RDS or Cloud SQL when you deploy. Same for Pub/Sub, cron jobs, and object storage.
import { SQLDatabase } from "encore.dev/storage/sqldb";
const db = new SQLDatabase("users", {
migrations: "./migrations",
});
// Encore provisions RDS/Cloud SQL automaticallyDatabases, Pub/Sub, Cron Jobs, Object Storage, and more. See all primitives →
Built-in Observability
Render provides basic logs through their dashboard. For distributed tracing and metrics, you'd integrate Datadog, New Relic, or similar tools yourself.
Encore includes distributed tracing, metrics, and structured logging out of the box. Every request is traced across services automatically. No instrumentation code needed.
This works locally too. Run your app and get full tracing in the local development dashboard.
See observability docs →AI-Assisted Development
With Render, infrastructure configuration lives separately in their dashboard and environment variables. AI agents like Cursor and Claude Code lack context about how these relate to your application code, leading to drift and configs that are hard to review.
Encore defines infrastructure as TypeScript objects alongside your application code. AI agents see everything in one context: your APIs, databases, queues, and how they connect. This makes AI-generated code accurate, reviewable, and safe to deploy.
Built-in guardrails, auto-documentation, and observability ensure your systems stay maintainable, even when AI writes most of the code.
Learn about AI-assisted development →Customer stories
See how teams are shipping faster with Encore.
"Encore is our foundation for all new development. Since adopting it, we've seen a 2-3x increase in development speed."
"Encore is an unfair advantage. At Pave we've moved 2x faster than we did at Monzo."
"We've reduced time spent on DevOps by 95%, and we're now on track to save $60K annually."
Feature Comparison
See how Encore and Render differ across key capabilities.
Frequently asked questions
Common questions about Encore vs Render.
Encore provisions infrastructure in your own AWS or GCP account with built-in observability, automatic IAM, and infrastructure-from-code. Render runs your services on their managed platform, meaning you don't own your infrastructure and need to configure observability separately.
Encore is purpose-built for backend development with built-in databases, Pub/Sub, cron jobs, and distributed tracing out of the box. Render is a general-purpose hosting platform that requires manual setup for queues, background jobs, and observability. For TypeScript or Go backends, Encore provides a significantly better developer experience.
No, Render runs all infrastructure on their own platform, creating vendor lock-in. Encore deploys to your own AWS or GCP account, giving you full ownership, compliance control, and the ability to use native cloud services like RDS, SQS, and S3.
Encore provides automatic local development with databases, Pub/Sub, and distributed tracing included with a single command. Render has no built-in local development solution, requiring you to set up your own local databases and services manually.
Encore provides infrastructure ownership in your cloud account, built-in observability with distributed tracing, automatic IAM policies, type-safe APIs, and auto-generated documentation. Render requires manual configuration for all of these features and locks you into their platform.
Encore is designed specifically for microservices with automatic service discovery, type-safe API calls, distributed tracing across services, and auto-generated architecture diagrams. Render requires manual configuration for service communication, environment variables, and observability setup.