# Dokku vs Railway

**Leader by vioscaleAI score:** Railway

| Attribute | Dokku | Railway |
|---|---|---|
| **vioscaleAI score** | 58.9 (54% (medium)) | 80.4 (60% (medium)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | 100 | - |
| adoption.dependent_repos | 20 | - |
| adoption.github_stars | 32,157 | - |
| content.faq | `[{"answer":"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. It is indexed under PaaS & Hosting.","source":"https://dokku.com","question":"What is Dokku?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Dokku is open source, so it can be self-hosted and used at no licence cost. It is released under the MIT licence. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://dokku.com","question":"Is Dokku free to use?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Dokku supports Linux and a command-line interface. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.","source":"https://dokku.com","question":"What platforms does Dokku support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. Dokku can be deployed on-premise and self-hosted, so it does not have to run on the vendor's infrastructure.","source":"https://dokku.com","question":"Can Dokku be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed 7 integrations for Dokku, including Docker, Heroku Buildpacks, nginx, Git, Slack, Airbrake and Tailscale. This is what we could verify from public sources, so the vendor may support others we have not indexed.","source":"https://dokku.com","question":"What does Dokku integrate with?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. Dokku is published under the MIT licence, a permissive licence that generally allows commercial use and modification. Licence terms can change between releases, so verify against the repository for the version you intend to use.","source":"https://github.com/dokku/dokku","question":"Is Dokku open source?","confidence":0.95}]` | `[{"answer":"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. It is indexed under PaaS & Hosting.","source":"https://railway.com/changelog/2023-06-02-plans-and-pricing-changes","question":"What is Railway?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Railway offers a free tier, so you can start without paying. Paid plans start at $5 per month. Prices are published openly on the vendor's own pricing page. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://railway.com/changelog/2023-06-02-plans-and-pricing-changes","question":"Is Railway free?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Railway supports the web, iOS, Android and a command-line interface. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.","source":"https://railway.com/changelog/2023-06-02-plans-and-pricing-changes","question":"What platforms does Railway support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. Railway can be deployed cloud / SaaS and self-hosted, so it does not have to run on the vendor's infrastructure.","source":"https://railway.com/changelog/2023-06-02-plans-and-pricing-changes","question":"Can Railway be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed 8 integrations for Railway, including GitHub, Docker, Slack, Discord, PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB and Redis. This is what we could verify from public sources, so the vendor may support others we have not indexed.","source":"https://railway.com/changelog/2023-06-02-plans-and-pricing-changes","question":"What does Railway integrate with?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have independently confirmed SOC 2, HIPAA and GDPR for Railway. Certifications we do not list are ones we have not been able to verify from public sources, which is not the same as Railway not holding them. Always confirm compliance directly before you rely on it.","source":"https://railway.app/security","question":"What security certifications does Railway have?","confidence":0.6}]` |
| deployment.options | `{"self_hosted":true}` | `{"cloud":true,"self_hosted":true}` |
| description.long | 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. | 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. |
| features.capabilities | `{"hosting":"self","regions":"single","edge_cdn":false,"runtimes":"Multiple languages via Heroku buildpack auto-detection","rollbacks":false,"autoscaling":"none","cli_and_api":true,"env_secrets":true,"build_system":"buildpacks","git_push_deploy":true,"preview_deploys":false,"container_deploy":true,"managed_databases":true,"custom_domains_tls":true}` | `{"hosting":"both","regions":"multi","edge_cdn":true,"runtimes":"Multi-language support via Railpack auto-detection and templates","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}` |
| integrations.count | 35 | 7 |
| integrations.list | `[{"name":"Docker"},{"name":"Heroku Buildpacks"},{"name":"nginx"},{"name":"Heroku","native":true},{"name":"Git","native":true},{"name":"GitHub","native":false,"category":"version_control"},{"name":"Slack","native":false,"category":"communications"},{"name":"Airbrake","native":false,"category":"monitoring"},{"name":"Tailscale","native":false,"category":"networking"},{"name":"PostgreSQL"},{"name":"MySQL"},{"name":"Redis"},{"name":"RabbitMQ"},{"name":"CouchDB"},{"name":"Elasticsearch"},{"name":"RethinkDB"},{"name":"MongoDB"},{"name":"MariaDB"},{"name":"Clickhouse"},{"name":"Varnish"}]` | `[{"name":"GitHub"},{"name":"Docker"},{"name":"Slack"},{"name":"Discord"},{"name":"PostgreSQL"},{"name":"MySQL"},{"name":"MongoDB"},{"name":"Redis"},{"name":"Email","native":true,"category":"notifications","direction":"outbound"},{"name":"ChatGPT","native":true,"category":"ai","direction":"bidirectional"},{"name":"Grok","native":true,"category":"ai","direction":"bidirectional"}]` |
| language.primary | Go | - |
| license.spdx | MIT | - |
| market.availability | `{"primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` | `{"primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` |
| platform.support | `{"cli":true}` | `{"cli":true,"ios":true,"web":true,"android":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":"subscription","plans":[{"free":true,"name":"Free","summary":"$5 trial credit, then $1/month","features":["30-day free trial with $5 credits","Up to 1 vCPU / 0.5 GB RAM per service","Community support"],"components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":1,"period":"month","currency":"USD"},{"kind":"one_time","amount":5,"currency":"USD"}],"description":"For getting started with small apps","contactSales":false},{"free":false,"name":"Hobby","summary":"$5/month included credits","features":["Up to 48 vCPU / 48 GB RAM per service","Up to 5 replicas at 8 vCPU / 8 GB RAM","Single developer workspace","99.9% Availability Target","Global regions","Preview environments","GitHub repo deployment","Docker Image deployment","Custom Dockerfile support","Service variables and secrets management","One-click rollbacks","Deploy any open-source database","Built-in database and volume backups","Free Railway domains","Build/Deploy logs","Vertical autoscaling"],"components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":5,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}],"description":"For hobbyist developers building side projects","contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"max_replicas":"5","monthly_credits":"$5","ram_per_service":"48 GB","vcpu_per_service":"48"}},{"free":false,"name":"Pro","summary":"$20/month included credits","features":["Up to 1,000 vCPU / 1 TB RAM per service","Up to 42 replicas at 24 vCPU / 24 GB RAM","Railway Support","99.99% Availability Target","Concurrent global regions"],"components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":20,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}],"description":"For professional developers and teams shipping production applications","contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"max_replicas":"42","monthly_credits":"$20","ram_per_service":"1 TB","vcpu_per_service":"1000"}},{"free":false,"name":"Enterprise","features":["18-Month Audit Log Retention","Role-Based Access Control","HIPAA Business Associate Agreements","99.999% Availability Target","Isolated Linux VMs for agents, builds, and untrusted code","Enterprise Support with SLOs","Custom dedicated infrastructure","Cloud regions","Services with up to 48 vCPU / 48 GB RAM per replica"],"description":"For teams shipping at scale with compliance and support needs","contactSales":true}],"addOns":[{"name":"Sandbox Usage","components":[{"per":{"qty":1,"unit":"GB"},"kind":"metered","amount":50,"period":"month","currency":"USD"},{"per":{"qty":1,"unit":"vCPU"},"kind":"metered","amount":50,"period":"month","currency":"USD"},{"per":{"qty":1,"unit":"GB"},"kind":"metered","amount":0.05,"currency":"USD"}]}],"summary":"Free tier + Hobby ($5/month) + Pro ($20/month) + Enterprise (custom). Sandbox infrastructure metered at $50/GB RAM, $50/vCPU, $0.05/GB egress.","currency":"USD","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://railway.com/pricing","retrievedAt":"2026-09-23T14:34:20.648Z","freeTrialDays":30,"startingPrice":{"amount":5,"period":"month","currency":"USD"},"billingPeriods":["month"]}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | yes |
| pricing.model | open_source | freemium |
| pricing.price_level | free | low |
| pricing.starting_price | - | `{"amount":5,"currency":"USD"}` |
| pricing.transparent | yes | yes |
| release.cadence_days | 2 | - |
| release.history | `[{"url":"https://github.com/dokku/dokku/releases/tag/v0.38.31","date":"2026-09-27T01:46:26Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.38.31"},{"url":"https://github.com/dokku/dokku/releases/tag/v0.38.30","date":"2026-09-23T22:37:25Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.38.30"},{"url":"https://github.com/dokku/dokku/releases/tag/v0.38.29","date":"2026-09-23T01:55:49Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.38.29"},{"url":"https://github.com/dokku/dokku/releases/tag/v0.38.28","date":"2026-09-17T23:26:42Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.38.28"},{"url":"https://github.com/dokku/dokku/releases/tag/v0.38.27","date":"2026-08-12T09:28:41Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.38.27"},{"url":"https://github.com/dokku/dokku/releases/tag/v0.38.26","date":"2026-08-09T06:27:30Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.38.26"},{"url":"https://github.com/dokku/dokku/releases/tag/v0.38.25","date":"2026-07-22T07:42:22Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.38.25"},{"url":"https://github.com/dokku/dokku/releases/tag/v0.38.24","date":"2026-07-18T04:28:27Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.38.24"},{"url":"https://github.com/dokku/dokku/releases/tag/v0.38.23","date":"2026-07-18T01:37:20Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.38.23"},{"url":"https://github.com/dokku/dokku/releases/tag/v0.38.22","date":"2026-07-08T22:53:02Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.38.22"},{"url":"https://github.com/dokku/dokku/releases/tag/v0.38.21","date":"2026-07-07T00:21:50Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.38.21"},{"url":"https://github.com/dokku/dokku/releases/tag/v0.38.20","date":"2026-06-28T07:17:12Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.38.20"},{"url":"https://github.com/dokku/dokku/releases/tag/v0.38.19","date":"2026-07-07T00:23:10Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.38.19"},{"url":"https://github.com/dokku/dokku/releases/tag/v0.38.18","date":"2026-07-07T00:22:24Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.38.18"},{"url":"https://github.com/dokku/dokku/releases/tag/v0.38.17","date":"2026-06-03T08:34:30Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.38.17"},{"url":"https://github.com/dokku/dokku/releases/tag/v0.38.16","date":"2026-06-01T02:22:41Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.38.16"},{"url":"https://github.com/dokku/dokku/releases/tag/v0.38.15","date":"2026-05-31T09:19:37Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.38.15"},{"url":"https://github.com/dokku/dokku/releases/tag/v0.38.14","date":"2026-05-31T02:18:36Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.38.14"},{"url":"https://github.com/dokku/dokku/releases/tag/v0.38.13","date":"2026-05-30T11:43:16Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.38.13"},{"url":"https://github.com/dokku/dokku/releases/tag/v0.38.12","date":"2026-05-30T04:15:28Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.38.12"}]` | - |
| reliability.sla_pct | - | 99.99 |
| reliability.status_page | - | yes |
| security.certifications | - | `[{"name":"SOC 2","status":"active"},{"name":"HIPAA","status":"active"}]` |
| security.disclosure_policy | - | yes |
| security.gdpr | - | yes |
| security.hipaa | - | yes |
| security.scorecard | 5.4 | - |
| security.soc2 | - | yes |
| security.vulnerabilities | `{"count":0,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=github.com%2Fdokku%2Fdokku%2Fplugins%2Fcommon&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":null}` | - |

## Capabilities (PaaS & Hosting)

| Capability | Dokku | Railway |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Deploy** |  |  |
| Git-push auto-deploy | ✓ | ✓ |
| Deploy arbitrary container image | ✓ | ✓ |
| Per-PR preview environments | ✗ | ✓ |
| **Build** |  |  |
| Build system | Buildpacks | Dockerfile |
| Runtime / language breadth | Multiple languages via Heroku buildpack auto-detection | Multi-language support via Railpack auto-detection and templates |
| **Scale** |  |  |
| Autoscaling | None | Horizontal |
| **Deployment** |  |  |
| Geographic reach | Single-region | Multi-region |
| Hosting | Self-hosted only | Cloud + self-hosted |
| **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 | ✓ | ✓ |

*Source: vioscaleAI. Generated 2026-10-16T02:36:01.005Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*