Deploy and Host Evolution API on Railway

Evolution API is a free, open-source WhatsApp automation gateway that connects your WhatsApp number to a REST API. It lets you send and receive WhatsApp messages programmatically with no per-message fees and no Meta Business verification required.

About Hosting Evolution API

Hosting Evolution API on Railway gives you a persistent, always-on WhatsApp API server with a public URL. Once deployed, you connect your WhatsApp number by scanning a QR code through the built-in manager dashboard. The server maintains a live WhatsApp Web session and exposes a REST API that your automation tools — like n8n — can call to send messages, receive replies via webhooks, and manage multiple WhatsApp instances. Railway handles the infrastructure so you never touch server config.

Common Use Cases

Sending automated WhatsApp appointment confirmations and reminders from n8n workflows
Receiving inbound WhatsApp replies and routing them into automation pipelines
Running a WhatsApp-based AI receptionist for clinics, salons, or service businesses

Dependencies for Evolution API Hosting

A WhatsApp number (personal or business) to scan the QR code
An n8n instance or any HTTP client to call the REST API
The n8n-nodes-evolution-api community node if using n8n

Deployment Dependencies

Implementation Details

Set this environment variable before deploying:

AUTHENTICATION_API_KEY=your_secret_key_here

After deploy, open YOUR_RAILWAY_URL/manager → Create Instance → Connect → scan QR with WhatsApp.

Why Deploy Evolution API on Railway?

Railway is a singular platform to deploy your infrastructure stack. Railway will host your infrastructure so you don't have to deal with configuration, while allowing you to vertically and horizontally scale it. By deploying Evolution API on Railway, you are one step closer to supporting a complete full-stack application with minimal burden. Host your servers, databases, AI agents, and more on Railway.