Have you considered chain link or hog wire?

Hog wire is very popular in Texas!

could you use galvanized pipes/plumbing?

Thanks for the suggestions. I also thought the same about Virgil’s chain link suggestion;-). But the hog wire actually looks decent in that photo.
We’re leaning towards Tigerwood for the main decking, and we’ll let the salt air and sun weather it - no staining. My husband mentioned using rigid copper tubing and let it patina. I think that would look amazing, but I’m not sure just how ‘rigid’ cooper tubing is.

Have you actually priced copper pipe that is large enough to do this? There’s a reason the crack addicts steal all the copper out of homes under construction. If you do the uprights and the handrail out of copper, with all the fittings for something of that size, you’d be looking at $200 a foot with zero labor to put it together and install it. Soldering isn’t hard, but it leaves silver trainings that will discolor differently.

Your choices are expensive for a reason. It requires a lot of expert labor to have something ”simple and clean” look good. Rustic is easier. It relies on “hand made” mistakes for “charm”. I used rebar and plain pressure treated for the garden trellises, but that would be kind of trailer looking for a nice new deck.

Powder coated steel railings are a good choice for the coast.

Hey! Hog wire is serious stuff!

For the hog, I’m sure it is. Maybe he isn’t bothered by the rust.

Oh gosh! I’m thinking copper tubing only between the uprights. But again, I’m just not sure how strong it is. And the cost seems doable.
Included here is a pic of a ‘hog wire’ fence. It’s gorgeous, but custom manufactured and must have been spendy.
I’ll check into the powder coated steel.
Thank you.

When I do cable rails I have all the runs made up at a local rigging shop but then I'm in San Diego. If you have boats in your area you might have a rigging shop. The cost is quite a bit less then the pre- made systems offered by cable rail companies.

Yay, you’re right Virgil it is!
We love our fence!

Wood lattice might be a budget friendly choice worthy of consideration for most of your railing, perhaps putting something more expensive along that portion of the railing where y'all most often sit -- a wider portion of the deck? -- or across from your patio doors.

You might see if you can find some of that old style mid century metal front porch railing (that had matching metal posts) that people keep ripping off their porch to replace with wood. Get it sand blasted and painted.

Another idea might be to use wood posts and top and bottom rail but drill holes in those horizontal rails for painted pipes.

Great ideas! Thank you! Thank you!
Beautiful work, ‘Wood’s Shop’

One thing about the cable: I’m concerned our dogs would poke their heads though it and injure themselves. Tubing or piping might be safer?

I am on the East coast and have SS cable rails. I think it was $1500 for 50 linear feet or so - installed. Not particularly expensive. They are 8 years old - oceanfront. Doing fine but had to replace one. The ends are easy to find and price out on Amazon, as is the cable.

It is a DIY if you want. I think we have about $500 in parts.

The copper pipes that you have pictured are climbable and may not work in some jurisdictions. The cable rails are climbable also but harder to climb.

Good luck.

The copper doesn’t seem practical. Not strong enough - was just a thought. We don’t even need railing according to code. The ONLY reason for railing is to contain the mutts. Ahh... what We do for our pets.
Below is wrought iron from Home Depot. I like these choices, but I’m concerned about the toll the elements would take.

Do you have a pic of your house and porch?

We used livestock fence panels for our deck. We lived in a rural area out West so no difficulty finding ranching/livestock supplies. It was tricky finding panels that had the same size holes across the whole panel. The hog panels that Virgil mentioned have very small openings at the bottom and graduate to pretty darn big holes at the top.

DIY by DH and friend. He bought online aluminum U-channel to make a frame for each panel and attach to the post. Then used aluminum-colored spray paint to help protect the galvanized panels and match the aluminum trim and silver-painted steel posts. The holes in the panel are right around 4", and our dogs were big enough not to fit through those holes. It was hard, tedious work as it was a second-story deck, but it sure looked wonderful when done. We used Timbertech composite for decking and for the railing.

This is showing off the underrail LED lighting against the snow. Pretty cool!

Edited to add: we also considered glass and cable to preserve the view but the costs were prohibitive. These panels virtually disappear during the day.

"Hey! Hog wire is serious stuff!"

They don't call chicken wire "chicken wire" for nothin'.

Railing? Strength without rust? Some wheel chairs alternatives are made from plumbing pipes.

https://www.alimed.com/bariatric-shower-commode.html?pid=66181&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIot72pr6u5AIVh5-fCh0SRAk3EAQYASABEgIXW_D_BwE

MtnFever,
That looks nice! Do you have any daytime pics?
We’re still debating about decking material. But leaning heavily towards letting Tigerwood weather on it’s own. I do like the looks of Timbertech, but of course, I only like their highest priced decking!

I'm not sure if the below picture, showing the stairs, will come out as Houzz doesn't seem to be able to process it for some reason. Shows a lot of the railings.

This pic shows a closer view of the panels, and you can see the rivets that hold the panel in their frame.

We went with Timbertech because we didn't want maintenance. However, we had some heavy teak patio furniture and someone dragged a chair that scratched it, so there're drawbacks to everything.

HTH

Everyone is making suggestions but no one has asked what the style of your house is because that too will influence what will work.

Well...more ideas...4x4 welded wire mesh or 6x6 welded wire mesh could also work...

Or how about milled 2x2 vertical pickets?

CPA has a good point about the influence of the style of the house...

Our contractor is finishing up with the exterior siding. Sounds like the deck is next. I’d say the house looks modern/contemporary. The interior will reflect some of that with a hint of ‘coastal’ or ‘farmhouse’.
I appreciate all the suggestions for deck fencing. I’ll pass along all your ideas to the contractor.
Off topic, but any thoughts on exterior color/colors for this house? Part is batten-Board and some shingles. All Hardy.

Also...
How high off the ground is your deck? That would greatly influence my choice.
ETA: Just saw your photo. I don't think you need to worry about height...

If you like the rusty look, you might consider remesh panels. Ungalvanized if you like rust, galvanized for a clean look. We have a garden fence similar to some shown upthread, with wooden posts and top and bottom rail.

Also, what size are your dogs? Our small dog can squeeze through 4x4 openings, so we need 2x4 or 2x2 to keep her contained. Our Great Pyrenees needs a gate to get through even cattle or hog panels.

Very Nice Pic I like so much thank you.