One-click deploy Paperclip on Railway
Railway is the fastest way to get Paperclip running. With a one-click deploy template, you go from zero to a live instance in under 10 minutes — no VPS provisioning, no terminal, no nginx configuration. Here's exactly how it works.
Deploy on Railway →Why Railway for Paperclip
Railway abstracts away all the server infrastructure. You don't manage a VPS, you don't configure nginx, you don't run pm2. Railway handles deployments, restarts, and scaling automatically. The trade-off is less control and costs that scale with usage — but for getting started or running a low-traffic Paperclip instance, it's the simplest option.
Prerequisites
You need a Railway account (free to create, credit card required for paid plans) and a GitHub account if you want to deploy from your own fork. That's it — no server knowledge required.
Step 1: Create a Railway account
Go to railway.app and sign up. The free Hobby tier gives you $5/mo of credits. For a persistent Paperclip instance, you'll likely need to add a payment method to stay on the Hobby plan ($5/mo base) or above.
Step 2: Deploy with one click
From the Paperclip repository, click the 'Deploy on Railway' button. Railway will prompt you to connect your GitHub account and fork the repository. It then automatically provisions infrastructure, builds the project, and deploys it.
Step 3: Set environment variables
Once deployed, go to your project's Variables tab in the Railway dashboard and set the required Paperclip environment variables. Railway injects these into your deployment automatically — no .env file management needed.
Step 4: Set a custom domain
Railway provides a free .railway.app subdomain automatically. To use your own domain, go to Settings → Domains, add your domain, and update your DNS records with the CNAME record Railway provides.
Pricing reality
Railway bills by usage (CPU + RAM + bandwidth). A lightweight Paperclip instance typically uses around $3–8/mo on the Hobby plan. The Hobby plan has a $5/mo base cost. Watch for costs if your instance gets heavy traffic or runs background jobs continuously.
Ready to deploy?
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This is an independent guide. Paperclip Hosting is not affiliated with the official Paperclip project. Guide steps are based on real deployments and are subject to change as the software evolves.