Deploy and Host self hosted Hoppscotch GraphQL (Self-Hosted GraphQL Client and API Explorer) on Railway

This template runs Hoppscotch as a shared GraphQL client on your Railway project.

About Hosting Hoppscotch GraphQL open-source software on Railway (self hosted Hoppscotch as a GraphQL client template)

Hoppscotch is MIT licensed, and this template runs the official hoppscotch/hoppscotch 2026.9.0 image with Postgres 18.6 beside it.

Railway handles the setup work. You still decide who signs in and which APIs the proxy or desktop app can reach.

Why Deploy Hoppscotch GraphQL, the Apollo Studio Explorer alternative on Railway (Railway Free Trial)

Apollo Studio Explorer runs in Apollo's cloud and ties your schema exploration to their account.

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 Hoppscotch GraphQL 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.

Railway vs Other Hosting Providers and VPS for Hoppscotch GraphQL self hosting

Hoppscotch GraphQL runs as two services, the app and Postgres, and the table compares that with the same stack elsewhere.

Provider	What You Get with Railway	What You Get with the Other Provider
DigitalOcean	One-click deploy with Postgres beside Hoppscotch and HTTPS on a Railway domain.	A Droplet you run yourself, so you install Docker, set up Postgres and TLS, and run migrations by hand.
AWS	The stack in one project with private networking already wired.	Full networking and scaling control, with more setup for a small team.
Hetzner	A managed deploy with restarts handled for you.	Low VPS pricing, but you own uptime, the restart policy and every upgrade.

Pick based on how much server work your team wants to own.

Common Use Cases for hosted Hoppscotch GraphQL

Exploring a new GraphQL schema: Connect to an unfamiliar endpoint and let introspection load the schema, then browse the Schema and Docs panels. Autocomplete in the query editor shows you the fields before you write anything.
Shared query collections for a team: Save working queries into a team workspace so everyone runs the same known-good operations. The collection becomes a living reference for the API.
Testing auth headers per environment: Store the endpoint and Authorization bearer token as environment variables, one set for staging and one for production. You switch stages from a dropdown instead of editing headers by hand.
Debugging subscriptions: Open a subscription over WebSocket and watch events arrive live while you trigger the backend change that should fire them.
Onboarding frontend developers to a backend API: Give a new developer the team workspace with the endpoint, environments and example queries already set up. They can try real data flows on day one.

Dependencies for Hoppscotch GraphQL Docker hosted on Railway

Hoppscotch GraphQL runs as two services: the Hoppscotch app and a private Postgres 18.6 database. No Redis or message queue is needed.

Deployment Dependencies for Managed Hoppscotch GraphQL Service (API Client)

The Hoppscotch service listens on port 80 for the public domain, with Caddy serving the web app at /, the admin dashboard at /admin and the backend at /backend.

Implementation Details for Hoppscotch GraphQL (Using Hoppscotch official docker image)

Set DATA_ENCRYPTION_KEY to a generated 32-character value and never change it after first boot, since it encrypts stored secrets.

How does Hoppscotch GraphQL compare against other GraphQL clients for teams

Hoppscotch vs Apollo Studio Explorer (Apollo Studio Explorer Alternative)

Hosting model: Apollo Studio Explorer runs in Apollo's cloud as part of GraphOS. Hoppscotch runs on your server, so endpoints, tokens and saved queries stay in your network.
Where Apollo wins: If your schema is already published to GraphOS, its Explorer offers schema history and operation metrics that Hoppscotch doesn't match.
Private APIs: Apollo's cloud can't reach internal endpoints. Hoppscotch can, using the browser extension, desktop app or your own proxy.

Hoppscotch vs GraphiQL (GraphiQL Alternative for Teams)

Scope: GraphiQL is the reference in-browser IDE that servers embed, and it handles the one server it sits on well. Hoppscotch covers GraphQL alongside REST and WebSocket.
Saved work: GraphiQL has no team collections, so queries often end up in files or chat. Hoppscotch saves them into shared collections with per-stage environments.
Where GraphiQL wins: It ships with the server you already run and needs no extra service, which makes it the simplest choice for a single API.

Hoppscotch vs Altair (Altair GraphQL Client Alternative)

Open source footprint: Altair is an open source GraphQL client available as a desktop and browser app. Hoppscotch is also MIT licensed, and adds a self-hosted web app your team opens from one URL.
Where Altair wins: For one developer who wants a focused, lightweight desktop client, Altair is easier to reason about. Hoppscotch is heavier because it is a full API development platform.
Team workspaces: Altair is mainly a per-user tool. Hoppscotch provides shared workspaces, roles and a central admin dashboard.

Hoppscotch vs Postman GraphQL (Postman GraphQL Alternative for Self-Hosting)

Hosting and data: Postman is closed source SaaS that stores collections in Postman's cloud. Hoppscotch keeps your collections in your own database.
Where Postman wins: Postman has a mature ecosystem and polished team features. If your team already accepts the cloud model, switching needs a clear reason.
Cost of team plans: Postman's team tiers are paid. Hoppscotch Community Edition is free to self host, and it imports Postman collections so existing GraphQL requests move across easily.

How to use Hoppscotch GraphQL (the OSS API development platform)?

Finish the /admin onboarding right after deploy and set a sign-in method (GitHub, Google, Microsoft or email via SMTP), then save.
Sign in on /admin first; the first account becomes instance admin.
Open the GraphQL tab, enter your endpoint URL and click Connect to load the schema.
Browse the Schema and Docs panels; the query editor autocompletes from the same schema.
Write a query, add variables, and set an Authorization header such as Bearer your-token.
Run it, then save it to a team collection.
Create staging and production environments that hold the endpoint and token.
If the API is private or blocks CORS, switch the interceptor to the browser extension or desktop app.

query GetUser($id: ID!) {
  user(id: $id) {
    id
    name
  }
}

{
  "id": "42"
}

How to self host Hoppscotch GraphQL on other VPS Services (Hoppscotch self hosting guide)

Hoppscotch publishes a Community Edition self-hosting guide that suits a small VPS if you already run Docker and Postgres.

Clone the Repository

git clone https://github.com/hoppscotch/hoppscotch.git
cd hoppscotch
cp .env.example .env

Install Dependencies

You need Docker and an empty Postgres database for Hoppscotch to migrate.

psql "postgresql://user:password@db-host:5432/hoppscotch" -c "select 1"

Configure Environment Variables

Set the database URL, a 32-character encryption key and the public URLs.

DATABASE_URL=postgresql://user:password@db-host:5432/hoppscotch
DATA_ENCRYPTION_KEY=replace-with-exactly-32-characters
VITE_BASE_URL=https://your-domain
VITE_BACKEND_GQL_URL=https://your-domain/backend/graphql

Start the Hoppscotch GraphQL Application

Run the official image, then apply migrations inside the container. Put HTTPS in front of it, since OAuth callbacks need a real domain.

docker run -d --name hoppscotch --env-file .env -p 80:80 hoppscotch/hoppscotch:2026.9.0
docker exec -it hoppscotch pnpm exec prisma migrate deploy

Railway handles the Postgres service, the HTTPS domain, migrations on each deploy and restarts for you.

Official Pricing of Hoppscotch GraphQL (Hoppscotch pricing)

Hoppscotch is MIT licensed, so the self-hosted Community Edition costs nothing to download, run or use, and there is no license fee for your team.

Hoppscotch GraphQL cloud vs self hosted comparison (Pricing, features, costs, and more)

The cloud version of Hoppscotch has a free plan for individuals, with paid team and Enterprise plans on top.

Monthly cost of self hosting Hoppscotch GraphQL on Railway

On Railway, expect roughly $5 to $10 a month for the Hoppscotch container and its Postgres database at light team use.

System Requirements for Hosting Hoppscotch GraphQL on a VPS

For a small team, 1 vCPU and 1 to 2 GB of RAM is plenty.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Why does Connect fail on my GraphQL endpoint?

Usually the server has introspection turned off, or CORS blocks the browser before the request reaches the API.

Does introspection need to be enabled on the server?

Yes, for the schema and docs panels and for autocomplete.

Can I query a private or internal GraphQL API?

Yes, but not through the default proxy at proxy.hoppscotch.io, which can't reach your private network.

Do subscriptions work with GraphQL in Hoppscotch?

Yes. Run the subscription operation in the GraphQL tab to stream results.

How do I share GraphQL queries with my team?

Save the request into a team workspace collection so teammates see the same queries, variables and headers.

Can I import GraphQL requests from Postman?

Yes. Hoppscotch imports Postman, Insomnia and OpenAPI collections.