Deploy and Host HeyForm on Railway

HeyForm is an open-source form builder: conversational, one-question-at-a-time forms with logic jumps, file uploads, custom branding and built-in analytics. It covers what Typeform covers, with the submissions stored in your own database.

About Hosting HeyForm

Three services — HeyForm itself, MongoDB for forms and submissions, and Redis for sessions and queues — with volumes on both data stores. Application secrets are generated per deployment, and the public URL is wired into the app automatically so share links and embeds work immediately.

Common Use Cases

Surveys and lead capture on your own domain: Conversational forms with the responses in a database you control, rather than a SaaS export.
Forms with real logic: Branching, conditional questions and calculated fields, without paying per response.
Regulated data collection: Submissions that must not leave your infrastructure — HR intake, patient screening, internal reporting.

Dependencies for HeyForm Hosting

Deployment Dependencies

HeyForm community edition — the application
MongoDB 7 on a Railway volume — forms, submissions, accounts
Redis 7.2 on a Railway volume — sessions and background jobs
Optionally SMTP credentials for email verification and notifications, and an S3 bucket for file-upload questions

Implementation Details

MongoDB starts with --ipv6 --bind_ip ::,0.0.0.0. The dual bind is what makes it reachable from the app over Railway's IPv6-only private network while remaining usable through a TCP proxy from your laptop.

SESSION_KEY and FORM_ENCRYPTION_KEY are generated per deployment. The second one encrypts submission payloads — losing it means losing the ability to read existing responses, so treat it as data, not configuration.

APP_HOMEPAGE_URL is built from the public domain and is what HeyForm puts into share links and embed snippets. If you attach a custom domain, update it too.

The first account you register becomes the owner. Registration stays open unless you configure SMTP and turn on verification, so create your account promptly after the deployment goes green.

File-upload questions need external object storage — HeyForm expects S3-compatible credentials, and without them uploads are disabled while the rest of the form works.

Why Deploy HeyForm 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 HeyForm 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.

Resources: three services totalling roughly 500–700 MB at idle — the Node app and MongoDB dominate. On the order of $10–15 a month, with MongoDB growing as submissions accumulate.