Comparison

Dokku vs Railway

On the evidence we track, Railway leads this comparison with a composite score of 75/100. Scores are only directly comparable because these tools share a category; the full breakdown and every source is below.

Machine formatsJSONMarkdownGraphQLor send Accept: application/json
Attribute comparison across 2 tools
Attribute68Dokku75RailwayLeader
Vioscale score68 / 100low · 21%75 / 100medium · 62%
Commits last 30d100-
Github stars32,087-
Options{"hybrid":true,"self_hosted":true}{"cloud":true}
LongAn open source Platform as a Service that runs on a single server, supporting Git-push deployment of Heroku-compatible applications via buildpacks or Dockerfiles, with automatic container lifecycle management.Railway is a cloud platform for deploying, scaling, and managing applications with automatic infrastructure management, built-in databases, and global deployment capabilities. It offers integrated monitoring, collaboration features, and pay-per-second usage pricing.
Capabilities{"hosting":"self","regions":"single","runtimes":"Multiple languages via buildpacks and buildpack detection","cli_and_api":true,"env_secrets":true,"git_push_deploy":true,"container_deploy":true,"custom_domains_tls":true}{"hosting":"cloud","regions":"multi","rollbacks":true,"autoscaling":"horizontal","cli_and_api":true,"env_secrets":true,"build_system":"dockerfile","git_push_deploy":true,"preview_deploys":true,"container_deploy":true,"managed_databases":true,"custom_domains_tls":true}
Count33
List[{"name":"GitHub Actions"},{"name":"GitLab CI"},{"name":"Woodpecker CI"}][{"name":"GitHub"},{"name":"Slack"},{"name":"Discord"}]
PrimaryShell-
SpdxMIT-
Support{"cli":true,"linux":true}{"cli":true,"web":true}
Pricing{"type":"open_source","plans":[{"free":true,"name":"Open Source","features":["Git push deployment","Buildpack/Dockerfile support","Docker container management","Environment variables","Domain/SSL configuration","Process management","Cron tasks","Persistent storage","Plugin extensibility"],"description":"Full Dokku platform"}],"summary":"Free open source. Dokku Pro available (pricing not disclosed).","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://dokku.com","retrievedAt":"2026-08-03T22:43:50.078Z"}{"type":"usage","plans":[{"free":true,"name":"Free","summary":"Free to start; $1/month after 30-day trial with $5 credits","features":["Up to 1 vCPU per service","Up to 0.5 GB RAM per service","0.5 GB volume storage","Community support","No credit card required","Deploy a new project"],"description":"Free with 30-day trial including $5 credits; $1/month after trial","contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"projects":"5 during trial, then 1","volume_storage":"0.5 GB","RAM_per_service":"0.5 GB","vCPU_per_service":"1"}},{"free":false,"name":"Hobby","summary":"$5/month minimum plus per-second usage charges","features":["Up to 48 vCPU per service","Up to 48 GB RAM per service","Up to 5 replicas at 8 vCPU/8 GB each","Up to 5 GB volume storage","99.9% availability SLA","7-day log history","Global regions","Community support","2 custom domains"],"components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":5,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}],"description":"$5/month minimum with $5 monthly usage credits included","contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"projects":"50","replicas":"5","volume_storage":"5 GB","RAM_per_service":"48 GB","vCPU_per_service":"48"}},{"free":false,"name":"Pro","summary":"$20/month minimum plus per-second usage charges","features":["Up to 1,000 vCPU per service","Up to 1 TB RAM per service","Up to 42 replicas at 24 vCPU/24 GB each","Up to 1 TB volume storage","Unlimited workspace seats","99.99% availability SLA","30-day log history","Railway Support (priority)","Concurrent global regions","20 custom domains"],"components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":20,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}],"description":"$20/month minimum with $20 monthly usage credits included","contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"projects":"100","replicas":"42","volume_storage":"1 TB","RAM_per_service":"1 TB","vCPU_per_service":"1000"}},{"free":false,"name":"Enterprise","summary":"Custom pricing for enterprise operations at scale","features":["Up to 2,400 vCPU per service","Up to 2.4 TB RAM per service","Up to 50 replicas at 48 vCPU/48 GB each","99.999% availability SLA","90-day log history","18-month audit log retention","Single Sign-On (SAML)","Role-Based Access Control","HIPAA BAAs","Dedicated VMs","Bring your own cloud option","Support SLOs"],"description":"Custom pricing for large-scale, compliance-focused deployments","contactSales":true,"includedLimits":{"replicas":"50","RAM_per_service":"2.4 TB","vCPU_per_service":"2400","log_retention_days":"90"}}],"summary":"From $5/month (Hobby). Free tier available. Usage-based pricing with per-second metering on top of monthly minimum spend.","currency":"USD","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://railway.app","retrievedAt":"2026-08-01T15:21:57.553Z","freeTrialDays":30,"startingPrice":{"amount":5,"period":"month","currency":"USD"},"billingPeriods":["month"]}
Free tierYesYes
Modelcommercialcommercial
Price levelfreelow
Starting gbp-5
TransparentYesYes
Cadence days1-
Sla pct-99.99
Status page-Yes
Disclosure policy-Yes
Gdpr-Yes
Hipaa-Yes
Soc2-Yes

Capabilities

Feature-by-feature on the axes that matter for paas & hosting. “-” means undocumented, not absent.

Capability comparison for PaaS & Hosting
CapabilityDokkuRailway
Deploy
Git-push auto-deploy
Deploy arbitrary container image
Per-PR preview environments-
Build
Build system-Dockerfile
Runtime / language breadthMultiple languages via buildpacks and buildpack detection-
Scale
Autoscaling-Horizontal
Deployment
Geographic reachSingle-regionMulti-region
HostingSelf-hosted onlyCloud only
Data
Bundled managed data services-
Delivery
Built-in global CDN / edge--
Custom domains + automatic TLS
Ops
Env vars & secrets management
Instant rollbacks-
Extensibility
CLI + deploy API

Comparison generated from independently-sourced facts. Every value links to its source and retrieval date. See the method.

Dokku vs Railway: an evidence-based comparison · Vioscale