Which is cheaper, Encore or Val Town?

Val Town is 4.9x cheaper than Encore. Encore starts at $0/mo, Val Town starts at $0/mo.

Does Encore have a free tier?

Yes, Encore offers a free tier with devEnvironments: 2, tracingEventsPerMonth: 1000000, logRetentionDays: 7, concurrentBuilds: 1.

Encore has significant switching cost. Val Town has moderate switching cost. Val Town is easier to switch away from.

Hosting

Encore

Backend development platform with type-safe infrastructure, automatic cloud provisioning, and distributed tracing

Switching Cost: significant

Val Town

← More affordable

Cloud scripting platform for serverless functions, cron jobs, and HTTP endpoints with browser IDE

Switching Cost: moderate

You're paying a premium for Encore — expect around a 4.9x higher bill compared to Val Town.

You'll notice different pricing structures: hybrid for Encore versus flat-rate for Val Town.

Price-conscious teams should choose Val Town — the cost advantage is hard to ignore, especially for growing workloads.

Price-conscious teams should choose Val Town — the cost advantage is hard to ignore, especially for growing workloads.

Price Difference

4.9x

Val Town is cheaper by $39/mo

Pricing Model

Different

Tools charge using different pricing philosophies

Switching Costs

Val Town

Lower switching costs for easier migration