Railway
✓ Verified by EU AltsInstant deployment infrastructure for developers — popular across European teams.
Overview
Railway is a London, United Kingdom-based European company building cloud infrastructure and developer tools software since 2020. Despite its EU base, EU Alts has verified that Railway independently owned, with its ultimate ownership based in United States, and hosts customer data with Google Cloud Platform in United States (GCP, multiple regions), so it may still fall under the reach of the US CLOUD Act — worth weighing against AWS, Google Cloud, and Azure on this specific point.
Why European teams pick Railway
Teams in Europe still consider Railway for its cloud infrastructure product and United Kingdom presence, operating since 2020, but unlike a fully EU-owned provider, Railway independently owned, with its ultimate ownership based in United States, and hosts customer data with Google Cloud Platform in United States (GCP, multiple regions) — so it does not fully avoid US CLOUD Act exposure the way some other alternatives to AWS, Google Cloud, and Azure do.
See more EU cloud infrastructure tools or browse other startups from United Kingdom.
About
Railway is a cloud application deployment platform that provides a Heroku-like experience for deploying web apps, APIs, cron jobs, and databases. It supports EU region deployments on Google Cloud (EU-West) for teams requiring EU data residency. Railway connects to GitHub and deploys on push, handles environment variables, scaling, and database provisioning automatically. It is popular among EU indie developers and startups as a simple, low-ops deployment platform while they evaluate fully EU-sovereign alternatives like Coolify (self-hosted) or Scaleway.
Details
- Founded
- 2020
- Headquarters
- London, United Kingdom
- Ownership
- Independently owned (United States)
- Hosting
- Google Cloud Platform, United States (GCP, multiple regions)
- CLOUD Act
- Exposed
Categories
Other EU startups like Railway
- Unchained Engine Switzerland — Open-source headless e-commerce framework for Node.js, self-hostable and Swiss-made.
- Codebahn Sweden — Codebahn is managed Git and CI for European teams.
- Curity Sweden — Swedish identity and API access platform. OAuth and OpenID Connect infrastructure for organisations where security and control are non-negotiable.
- Hanko Germany — Open-source passkey and passwordless authentication from Kiel, Germany. Made and hosted in Europe, with self-hosting available.
- cidaas Germany — German cloud identity and access management (CIAM) platform — made and hosted in Germany, with dedicated German server locations for regulated sectors.
- Ploq The Netherlands — Ploq is EU-built webhook infrastructure: retries, event filtering, and health monitoring, GDPR-compliant end to end. SDKs for Node.js and Java, a WordPress plugin, and a forkable Mac/Windows app for sending and receiving events.
Frequently asked questions
What is Railway?
Railway is a cloud application deployment platform that provides a Heroku-like experience for deploying web apps, APIs, cron jobs, and databases. It supports EU region deployments on Google Cloud (EU-West) for teams requiring EU data residency. Railway connects to GitHub and deploys on push, handles environment variables, scaling, and database provisioning automatically. It is popular among EU indie developers and startups as a simple, low-ops deployment platform while they evaluate fully EU-sovereign alternatives like Coolify (self-hosted) or Scaleway.
What does Railway do?
Railway is instant deployment infrastructure for developers — popular across european teams. It is listed under cloud infrastructure and developer tools on EU Alts because its core functionality serves teams looking for a European cloud infrastructure tool with EU data residency, typically as a switch away from AWS, Google Cloud, and Azure.
Is Railway a good European cloud infrastructure alternative?
Railway is a fit for European businesses evaluating cloud infrastructure options where data residency and GDPR alignment matter — typical buyers include EU-based SaaS teams, public-sector projects, regulated industries (healthcare, finance, legal), and any organisation that needs to demonstrate that customer data does not leave the EU. It also overlaps with developer tools use cases.
Is Railway GDPR compliant?
Railway is headquartered in London, United Kingdom and processes user data under the GDPR by default. However, EU Alts has verified that Railway independently owned, with its ultimate ownership based in United States, and hosts customer data with Google Cloud Platform in United States (GCP, multiple regions), which means — unlike a fully EU-owned provider — it may still be reachable under the US CLOUD Act, similar to AWS, Google Cloud, and Azure in that respect.
How do teams switch from AWS to Railway?
Teams evaluating a move from AWS, Google Cloud, and Azure to Railway should note: Railway independently owned, with its ultimate ownership based in United States, and hosts customer data with Google Cloud Platform in United States (GCP, multiple regions), so this switch narrows but may not fully close the US CLOUD Act gap. Weigh that against the cloud infrastructure workflow fit before treating it as a complete Schrems II fix.
Where is Railway based?
Railway is headquartered in London, United Kingdom. The company was founded in 2020. Its main website is https://railway.app.