OpenClaw on Railway

PaaS with one-click deploy — cheapest way to test in the cloud

Railway offers the cheapest path to run OpenClaw in the cloud: a free trial ($5 credit), then Hobby plan at $5/month. One-click deploy from railway.com/deploy/openclaw, web-based setup wizard, state persisted to Railway Volume, and auto reverse proxying with auth. No SSH, no manual server config—deploy and configure from the browser.

Best for: development, testing, and trying OpenClaw before committing to a VPS or managed host. Not ideal for production—Railway is a PaaS with resource limits and no guarantee of long-running processes. Browser automation and heavy skills may be constrained.

Pricing

  • Free trial — $5 credit to start
  • Hobby — $5/month
  • Usage-based — Beyond base plan, pay for usage

Setup

  1. Go to railway.com/deploy/openclaw
  2. Sign in with GitHub
  3. Deploy — Railway provisions and starts OpenClaw
  4. Use the web setup wizard to configure channels and models
  5. State is stored in a Railway Volume (one-click backup exports)

No terminal required. Good for quickly validating OpenClaw before moving to a VPS or managed host.

When to Use Railway

  • You want to try OpenClaw in the cloud with minimal effort
  • You're in development or testing—not production
  • You prefer PaaS over VPS—no server management
  • Budget-conscious—$5/mo vs $24+ for some VPS

Choose a VPS for production, 24/7 uptime, or full control. Choose managed hosting if you want zero ops and WhatsApp/Telegram live quickly.

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