# Dokku vs Railway

**Leader by Vioscale score:** Railway

| Attribute | Dokku | Railway |
|---|---|---|
| **Vioscale score** | 67.8 (21% (low)) | 75.2 (62% (medium)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | 100 | - |
| adoption.github_stars | 32,087 | - |
| deployment.options | `{"hybrid":true,"self_hosted":true}` | `{"cloud":true}` |
| description.long | An 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. |
| features.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}` |
| integrations.count | 3 | 3 |
| integrations.list | `[{"name":"GitHub Actions"},{"name":"GitLab CI"},{"name":"Woodpecker CI"}]` | `[{"name":"GitHub"},{"name":"Slack"},{"name":"Discord"}]` |
| language.primary | Shell | - |
| license.spdx | MIT | - |
| platform.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"]}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | yes |
| pricing.model | commercial | commercial |
| pricing.price_level | free | low |
| pricing.starting_gbp | - | 5 |
| pricing.transparent | yes | yes |
| release.cadence_days | 1 | - |
| reliability.sla_pct | - | 99.99 |
| reliability.status_page | - | yes |
| security.disclosure_policy | - | yes |
| security.gdpr | - | yes |
| security.hipaa | - | yes |
| security.soc2 | - | yes |

## Capabilities (PaaS & Hosting)

| Capability | Dokku | Railway |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Deploy** |  |  |
| Git-push auto-deploy | ✓ | ✓ |
| Deploy arbitrary container image | ✓ | ✓ |
| Per-PR preview environments | - | ✓ |
| **Build** |  |  |
| Build system | - | Dockerfile |
| Runtime / language breadth | Multiple languages via buildpacks and buildpack detection | - |
| **Scale** |  |  |
| Autoscaling | - | Horizontal |
| **Deployment** |  |  |
| Geographic reach | Single-region | Multi-region |
| Hosting | Self-hosted only | Cloud 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 | ✓ | ✓ |

*Source: Vioscale. Generated 2026-08-07T00:02:18.684Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*