Railway alternative
A Railway alternative that deploys to servers in your own cloud account.
Keep push to deploy. Ankra builds, scans and deploys your GitHub repository to Kubernetes on servers in your own Hetzner, OVHcloud, UpCloud, DigitalOcean or AWS account, in any EU region your provider offers.
30 vCPU free for life. No credit card. Your provider bills the servers.
- Your account, your region. The app runs on servers in your provider account, in any region it offers, with a control plane hosted in the EU.
- Server price plus a flat fee. Your provider bills the servers, and Ankra charges €7.20 per worker vCPU a month on Startup beyond the first 30. Pricing.
- Previews for every pull request. Each GitHub pull request gets its own preview, with an optional throwaway Postgres.
- Scans gate every build, backups go to your bucket. Semgrep, Checkov and Trivy run before a build can ship.
Railway is a fast way to a live URL. You connect a repository and a service runs on Railway's own infrastructure, billed by usage. Teams start looking for an alternative when a production app needs more control over where it runs. Railway has one EU region, EU West Metal in Amsterdam, and its pricing page lists bring-your-own-cloud as an Enterprise option.
Ankra keeps the path from repository to URL and changes where the app lives. ankra application ship deploys to Kubernetes in your own account, on the provider and in the region you pick. This page covers where Ankra differs, how to move one service across, and, further down, where Railway is still the simpler choice. For Railway and Render together, see Ankra vs Railway and Render.
One command from your checkout
to a live URL in your own account.
Run ankra application ship in a checkout of a GitHub repository. Ankra registers the application, opens the setup pull request, builds the first image inside your own cluster and deploys it, then prints the public URL when the application has one.
After that, push to deploy is on. Every successful build of the tracked branch rolls out to every cluster the application runs on. Each environment has its own switch, so staging can follow every merge while production waits for an explicit deploy.
# pick the cluster the app should run on
ankra cluster select
# register, build, scan, deploy, print the URL
ankra application ship .
# check push to deploy for the application
ankra application auto-deploy get <application-id>Push to deploy
Push to the tracked branch and the new build rolls out with no command to run. A build of any other branch never deploys.
Scans gate every build
Ankra Pipelines run your tests, a rootless build and Semgrep, Checkov and Trivy scans inside your cluster. Only the image the gate approved is published and deployed.
Pull-request previews
Every GitHub pull request gets a throwaway preview on your staging cluster, redeployed on every push and torn down when it closes. A preview can bring its own throwaway Postgres.
Any EU region
Ankra builds Kubernetes on Hetzner, OVHcloud, UpCloud, DigitalOcean, AWS and Proxmox VE, in any region the provider offers, or imports a cluster you already run.
Backups to your own bucket
Stacks install any Helm chart in dependency order, so the database comes up before the app. Backups write volumes and databases to a bucket you own.
AI that asks first
Ankra AI reviews pull requests, analyses failed runs and opens fix pull requests. Every write waits for a person by default.
Move one Railway service to Ankra
Start with a single service, keep it running on Railway while you test, and switch traffic when you are happy.
- 1
Create a free Ankra account
The free tier includes 30 worker vCPUs, controller nodes are never billed, and it needs no credit card.
- 2
Pick where the app runs
Create a cluster in your own provider account, in the region you want, or import one you already run.
- 3
Ship the repository
Run it in a checkout whose origin is the GitHub repository. Ankra analyses the code, opens the setup pull request and deploys the first build. The shipping guide walks through each step.
ankra application ship . - 4
Move your variables
Store each secret the service reads as an environment secret in Ankra. Values are never shown again once saved.
- 5
Bring the database
Run a database operator from the add-on catalogue in a Stack, with backups to your own bucket, then restore your data and point the app at it.
- 6
Turn on previews
An admin sets a staging cluster and switches on PR previews for the GitHub installation. The next pull request gets a preview link in a comment.
Railway and Ankra side by side
Railway details checked on 13 October 2026 against Railway's documentation and pricing page.
| Railway | Ankra | |
|---|---|---|
| Where your app runs | On Railway's own infrastructure. Bring-your-own-cloud is listed for Enterprise | On Kubernetes in your cloud account or on servers you own |
| Regions in the EU | One, EU West Metal in Amsterdam | Any region your provider offers. Control plane hosted in the EU |
| Deploying | Push to deploy with automatic builds | Push to a GitHub branch, built rootless in your cluster and gated by scans |
| Previews | PR environments created when a pull request opens | A preview per GitHub pull request on your staging cluster, with an optional Postgres |
| Databases | Postgres, MySQL, Redis and MongoDB templates | Any Helm chart in a Stack, backed up to your bucket. Managed services in closed beta |
| How you pay | Usage pricing that includes the compute, about $20 per vCPU-month and $10 per GB-month | Ankra fee per worker vCPU with the first 30 free. Your provider bills the servers |
Where Railway is simpler
Railway keeps its promise of a short path to a running service. These are the places where it asks less of you than Ankra does.
A live URL with no cloud account
Railway runs your service on its own infrastructure, so there is no provider account, server or cluster to set up. With Ankra you bring a cloud account or a cluster.
One-click databases
Railway maintains Postgres, MySQL, Redis and MongoDB templates. Ankra's managed services, including PostgreSQL, are in closed beta. Until then you run a database operator in a Stack.
Fewer files to own
Ankra opens a setup pull request that adds a Dockerfile when you have none, Kubernetes manifests and a pipeline definition, so there are more files in your repository to own.
Code hosted anywhere
Ankra Applications and pull-request previews work with GitHub repositories today. Code elsewhere can still deploy through your own CI and a GitOps repository.
When Railway is the simpler choice
Ankra is not the right switch for every service. Stay on Railway when one of these is true.
- You want a live service today with no cloud account, cluster or servers anywhere in the picture.
- One-click managed databases matter more to you than where the servers are.
- You would rather not keep a Dockerfile, manifests or a pipeline definition in your repository.
- Your code lives outside GitHub and you want pull-request previews. Ankra previews are GitHub only today.
What your production app depends on
Railway publishes detailed incident reports. On 11 February 2026 an abuse enforcement change stopped under 3% of workloads, including some production databases. On 19 May 2026 a Google Cloud project suspension caused a platform-wide disruption of about eight hours. Every platform has incidents, and Railway's reports are open about them.
The question for a production app is what it depends on. With Ankra the app runs on servers in your own provider account, so you choose the provider, the region and how much redundancy to buy. Ankra's control plane is hosted in the EU, and Enterprise customers can run Ankra self-hosted or air-gapped at custom pricing.
Guides and comparisons
Questions teams actually ask
What is a Railway alternative that runs in my own cloud?+
Ankra deploys your GitHub repository to Kubernetes in your own account on Hetzner, OVHcloud, UpCloud, DigitalOcean, AWS or Proxmox VE, with push to deploy, scan-gated builds and pull-request previews. Railway runs your app on its own infrastructure.
Can I pick my EU region?+
Yes. Ankra deploys into any region your provider offers, and its control plane is hosted in the EU. Railway has one EU region, EU West Metal in Amsterdam.
How do I pay for Ankra compared with Railway's usage billing?+
Your cloud provider bills the servers directly. Ankra adds a flat fee per worker vCPU: the first 30 are free on every plan, and on Startup each one beyond that costs €7.20 a month. Railway's usage pricing includes the compute.
Does Ankra have one-click databases?+
Not yet. Ankra's managed services, including PostgreSQL, are in closed beta and enabled per organisation on request. Until then you run a database operator in a Stack, with backups to a bucket you own.
Is there a free tier?+
Yes. Every plan includes 30 worker vCPUs free, controller nodes are never billed, and the free tier needs no credit card. Your cloud provider bills the servers separately.
Ship your first app on servers you choose
30 worker vCPUs included, controller nodes never billed, and no credit card for the free tier. One command takes your repository to a live URL.
Ankra is an independent platform and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Railway. Railway details were checked on 13 October 2026 against Railway's public documentation, pricing page and incident reports, and product scope and pricing can change.