Comparison

Dokku vs Railway

On the evidence we track, Railway leads this comparison with a composite score of 81/100. Scores are only directly comparable because these tools share a category; the full breakdown and every source is below.

Machine formatsMarkdownJSONGraphQLAll open, no key required.
Dokku56
Railway81
Score
vioscaleAI score
Dokku56 / 100medium · 55%
Railway81 / 100medium · 61%
Pricing
Free tier
Dokku
Railway
Model
Price level
Dokkufree
Railwaylow
Starting price
Dokku
Railway$5
Transparent
Dokku
Railway
Integrations
Count
Dokku7
Railway8
Security
Disclosure policy
Dokku
Railway
Gdpr
Dokku
Railway
Hipaa
Dokku
Railway
Scorecard
Dokku5.4
Railway
Soc2
Dokku
Railway
Reliability
Sla pct
Dokku
Railway99.99
Status page
Dokku
Railway
Adoption
Dependent repos
Dokku20
Railway
Github stars
Dokku32,124
Railway
Activity
Commits last 30d
Dokku100
Railway
Release
Cadence days
Dokku1
Railway
History
Railway
License
Spdx
DokkuMIT
Railway
Language
Primary
DokkuShell
Railway
Market
Content
Faq
Dokku6 items
Railway6 items

Capabilities

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

Deploy
Git-push auto-deploy
Dokku
Railway
Deploy arbitrary container image
Dokku
Railway
Per-PR preview environments
Dokku
Railway
Build
Build system
DokkuBuildpacks
RailwayDockerfile
Runtime / language breadth
DokkuMultiple languages via Heroku buildpack auto-detection
RailwayMulti-language support via Railpack auto-detection and templates
Scale
Autoscaling
DokkuNone
RailwayHorizontal
Deployment
Geographic reach
DokkuSingle-region
RailwayMulti-region
Hosting
DokkuSelf-hosted only
RailwayCloud + self-hosted
Data
Bundled managed data services
Dokku
Railway
Delivery
Built-in global CDN / edge
Dokku
Railway
Custom domains + automatic TLS
Dokku
Railway
Ops
Env vars & secrets management
Dokku
Railway
Instant rollbacks
Dokku
Railway
Extensibility
CLI + deploy API
Dokku
Railway

What each one is

The product in its own terms, so the numbers below have context.

Dokku

Dokku is a self-hosted deployment platform that enables you to build, deploy, and scale applications using Docker and Heroku-compatible buildpacks. You can push code via Git to your own Dokku server, and it will automatically build and run your application in isolated containers, providing a Heroku-like experience on hardware you control.

Independently observed

Railway

Leader

A cloud deployment service that connects to your code repository, automatically builds and deploys applications, provides integrated databases and monitoring, and handles scaling and traffic management.

Independently observed

Pricing

List pricing as published by each vendor, with the date we read it. Always verify at the source before you buy.

Dokku

Open sourceFree tier

Free open source. Dokku Pro available (pricing not disclosed).

  • Open SourceFree
    • Git push deployment
    • Buildpack/Dockerfile support
    • Docker container management
    • Environment variables
    • Domain/SSL configuration
    • +4 more
as of verify ↗

Railway

Leader
from $5/moHybridFree tier

From $5/month. Hobby plan starts at $5 base cost. Pro team plan at $20/seat plus usage-based billing. Usage-based charges for compute, storage, and network egress ($0.10/GB).

  • TrialFree
  • Hobby$5/month base plus usage
  • Pro$20/seat/month plus usage
as of verify ↗

Platform & deployment

Where each product runs and how it can be hosted. A dash means undocumented, not unsupported.

Platforms
Web
Dokku
Railway
iOS
Dokku
Railway
Android
Dokku
Railway
Linux
Dokku
Railway
CLI
Dokku
Railway
Deployment
Cloud / SaaS
Dokku
Railway
Self-hosted
Dokku
Railway
On-premise
Dokku
Railway

Integrations

What each product connects to. Counts come from the vendor's own integration directory where one exists.

In common (3)
  • Docker
  • GitHub
  • Slack

Dokku

9 total - 6 not shared
  • Heroku Buildpacks
  • nginx
  • Heroku
  • Git
  • Airbrake
  • Tailscale
Independently observed

Railway

Leader
8 total - 5 not shared
  • Discord
  • PostgreSQL
  • MySQL
  • MongoDB
  • Redis
Independently observed
Still deciding?

Dokku or Railway: which one depends on you

A composite score cannot know your constraints. Describe them and both get re-weighted against what you actually need, with the evidence behind every position.

Free to run, no account needed to start. How the evaluation works

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