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Hetzner vs Railway
Railway provides app deployment with built-in CI/CD, while Hetzner offers raw infrastructure.
Short answer: Pick Hetzner if you want low-cost dedicated and cloud servers in Europe; pick Railway if you want all-in-one cloud deployment and scaling. Hetzner is paid; Railway has a free plan.
HetznerLow-cost dedicated servers and cloud VPS from Germany
RailwayDeploy apps, databases and servicesWhich to pick
Pick Hetzner if you want…
- Low-cost dedicated and cloud servers in Europe
Pick Railway if you want…
- All-in-one cloud deployment and scaling
- App platform as a service
- A free plan to start with
Side by side
- What it is
- Hetzner:Hetzner offers low-cost dedicated servers, cloud VPS, web hosting and storage from data centres in Germany and Finland.
- Railway:Railway is a full-stack cloud platform that lets developers deploy apps, databases and services with automatic scaling, monitoring and networking.
- Best for
- Hetzner:Low-cost dedicated and cloud servers in Europe
- Railway:All-in-one cloud deployment and scaling
- Who it’s for
- Hetzner:Developers and businesses that need affordable European-based server infrastructure.
- Railway:Developers and teams who want to ship web apps and services without managing infrastructure.
- Pricing
- Hetzner:Paid
- Railway:Freemium
- Free plan or trial
- Hetzner:—
- Railway:Free plan (Free) · Free trial
- Plans
- Hetzner:—
- Railway:Free Free · Hobby Free
- Works with
- Hetzner:—
- Railway:GitHub, Docker, Railway CLI
Hetzner features
- Dedicated Servers. Root servers with high performance and excellent network connectivity.
- GPU Servers. Multi-GPU servers (e.g., GEX430) with up to four NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 GPUs for AI workloads.
- Cloud VPS. Flexible cloud servers with high-end hardware starting at €5.99 per month.
- Managed Servers. Fully managed servers where Hetzner handles technical maintenance.
- Web Hosting. Simple, cheap hosting for personal or business websites starting at €1.60 per month.
- Storage Solutions. Storage Share and Storage Boxes for file sharing and remote access.
- Server Auction. Bid on hardware specifications and snap up discounted dedicated servers.
- Custom Solutions. Tailored hardware setups on demand for specific business needs.
Railway features
- One-click Deploy. Connect a repo and Railway auto-configures, builds and deploys the app instantly.
- Visual Project Canvas. See and edit the entire stack, networking and resources on a visual canvas.
- Instant Networking. Private connections, public endpoints, SSL and load balancing are provisioned automatically.
- Auto Scaling & Replicas. Scale CPU, RAM or add replicas with load balancing, globally.
- Built-in Observability. Logs, metrics, traces and alerts are available in a single dashboard.
- Preview Environments. Every pull request gets an isolated preview environment with one-click rollbacks.
Hetzner vs Railway FAQ
What is the difference between Hetzner and Railway?+
Railway provides app deployment with built-in CI/CD, while Hetzner offers raw infrastructure.
Should I use Hetzner or Railway?+
Pick Hetzner if you want low-cost dedicated and cloud servers in Europe. Pick Railway if you want all-in-one cloud deployment and scaling, app platform as a service or a free plan to start with.
Is Hetzner or Railway free?+
Hetzner is paid. Railway has a free plan and paid plans.
On DevHunt
Based on each tool's website and DevHunt data. Details may change; check the official sites.