n8n on Railway
Railway publishes its own guide for deploying n8n.
Open-source workflow automation tool deployed from an official Docker image, storing workflows, credentials and execution history that must survive redeploys.
What n8n needs.
Every host claims to run n8n, so the claim on its own decides nothing. These are the things n8n actually requires from the platform underneath it, and what Railway publishes about each. Railway documents 4 of the 4.
Persistent storage
Supported
Unless it is pointed at an external database, n8n keeps workflows, credentials and execution history on local disk. Without a volume, everything you built disappears on the next deploy.
Sources (1) →Sources ↓
- Volumes | Railway Docs ↗
“Volumes are a feature that enables persistent data for services on Railway. [...] When mounting a volume to a service, a volume is made available to the service on the specified mount path.”
Read 2026-09-05 · official docs
Persistent processes
Supported
Webhook triggers have to be reachable between runs, and a workflow can execute for minutes. Both need a process that stays up rather than one that starts per invocation.
Sources (1) →Sources ↓
- Services — Railway Docs ↗
“Persistent services: Services that are always running. Examples include web applications, backend APIs, message queues, database services, etc.”
Read 2026-09-05 · official docs
Docker deployment
Supported
Every provider guide for n8n starts from the official Docker image. A platform that cannot run a container cannot run n8n.
Sources (1) →Sources ↓
- Railway Dockerfiles ↗
“Use a Dockerfile to instruct Railway how to build a service.”
Read 2026-09-05 · official docs
Max request duration
15 minutes while data keeps transferring; closed after 5 minutes with no data transferred. Websocket connections are exempt and can stay open indefinitely.
A workflow calling several slow APIs in sequence is a single HTTP request as far as the platform is concerned, so the request ceiling is what cuts it off mid-run.
Sources (1) →Sources ↓
- Specs & Limits — Railway Docs ↗
“HTTP requests can run for up to 15 minutes if data keeps transferring (for example, keep-alive heartbeats), and are otherwise closed after 5 minutes with no data transferred. [...] Websocket connections are exempt from these duration and inactivity limits, and can stay open indefinitely, even while idle.”
Read 2026-09-05 · official docs
What Railway documents.
Railway publishes its own guide for deploying n8n.
The steps below cover deploying n8n on Railway from the official Docker image, with persistent storage and webhook configuration.
Sources (1) →Sources ↓
- Self-host n8n — Railway Docs ↗
“The steps below cover deploying n8n on Railway from the official Docker image, with persistent storage and webhook configuration.”
Read 2026-09-05 · official docs
What it costs to run there.
- Entry paid plan
- $5 / month (Hobby)
- Pricing model
- Plan fee that includes an equivalent usage credit
- When you exceed a cap
- Billed automatically: on the Hobby plan ($5/month, includes $5 of resource usage) usage above the included amount is charged as a delta on top of the subscription — no throttling or suspension is documented
- Regions
- 4 regions: California, Virginia, Amsterdam, Singapore
Sources (3) →Sources ↓
- Railway plans ↗
“Hobby Plan: For indie hackers and developers to build and deploy personal projects — $5/month”
Read 2026-09-05 · official docs
- Pricing Plans | Railway Docs ↗
“If your total resource usage exceeds $5 in any given billing period, you will be charged the delta”
Read 2026-09-05 · official docs
- Railway regions ↗
“US West Metal — California, USA; US East Metal — Virginia, USA; EU West Metal — Amsterdam, Netherlands; Southeast Asia Metal — Singapore”
Read 2026-09-05 · official docs
Whether it suits you.
Teams that want a plan fee which doubles as usage credit, and deploy services straight from a Dockerfile without managing servers. The $5 Hobby fee comes back as $5 of resource usage.
Consider something else if…
You need to run in a region outside California, Virginia, Amsterdam or Singapore.
Visit Railway documentation