Railway vs Dokku
A detailed comparison to help you choose between Railway and Dokku.
Quick Verdict
3.9/5
Railway
0 reviews
4.2/5
Dokku
0 reviews
Dokku is rated higher (4.2 vs 3.9). Developer platform for deploying any app with databases in seconds — deploys from GitHub with no config. Usage-based pricing means you only pay for what you run. Dokku is an open source PaaS you deploy on any VPS. Heroku-compatible buildpacks, Git push deployments, Let's Encrypt SSL, and Docker support. Run your own Heroku on a $5 Hetzner server.
Railway Deploy in seconds, scale in minutes | Dokku Self-hosted mini Heroku on your own VPS | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Rating | 3.9 (0 reviews) | 4.2 (0 reviews)✓ |
| Pricing model | freemium | free |
| Starting price | Free tier available | Free |
| Best for | Developers and small teams shipping side projects, internal tools and variable-load applications who value deploy speed and managed databases over raw compute pricing. | Developers comfortable with Linux who want Heroku-style deployments at VPS pricing on infrastructure they own and control |
| Specifications (entry plan) | ||
| CPU cores | 1 vCPU | — |
| RAM | 1 GB | — |
| Storage | 1 GB | — |
| Bandwidth | 0 TB/mo | — |
| SLA uptime | 99.9% | — |
| Data-center count | 4 | — |
| €/vCPU/mo | €0.00 | — |
| €/GB RAM/mo | €0.00 | — |
| Features | ||
| IPv6 | ✓ | |
| DDoS protection | ✓ | |
| Automated backups | ✓ | |
| Snapshots | ✓ | |
| Managed option | ||
| Bare metal | ||
| GPU available | ||
| S3-compatible | ||
| Hourly billing | ||
| Free tier | ||
| Data-center locations | ||
| Regions | California, USAVirginia, USAAmsterdam, NetherlandsSingapore | — |
| Tags | ||
| Tags | free tiermanaged optionus datacenterapi access | free tieropen sourceself hostable |
| Visit Railway → | Visit Dokku → | |
Railway
Pros
- + Second-level usage billing with a documented rate card — idle services cost almost nothing
- + Genuinely useful free tier ($0/month, $1 monthly credit) with no credit card required
- + One-click Postgres/MySQL/Redis/Mongo and S3-compatible Buckets at $0.015 per GB-month
- + Four regions including Amsterdam and Singapore, with same-experience deploys everywhere
- + Excellent docs, config-as-code and CLI — the DX is the product
Cons
- - Expensive per unit of steady compute versus a VPS — hot workloads pay a large premium
- - Metered bills can surprise; forecasting requires knowing your average vCPU/RAM draw
- - No root access, no GPU compute, no published DDoS or IPv6 position
- - Availability figures are targets (99.9% Hobby, 99.99% Pro), with real SLAs only at Enterprise
- - Free tier limits (1 vCPU / 0.5 GB RAM, 0.5 GB storage) are evaluation-grade only
Dokku
Pros
- + Free MIT-licensed software — you only pay for the underlying server
- + Heroku-compatible buildpacks and git push workflow make migration from Heroku straightforward
- + Mature project (since 2013) with 353 releases and a large plugin ecosystem
- + Full control over data, costs and where your apps physically run
- + Optional Dokku Pro is a one-time $849 lifetime license, not a subscription
Cons
- - Self-managed: OS updates, security, backups and monitoring are your responsibility
- - Single-host design — no built-in failover, autoscaling or multi-host scheduling
- - Support is community-only (GitHub issues, Slack) unless you buy Dokku Pro
- - Plugin quality and upgrade compatibility vary across the community ecosystem
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