Deploy and Host Nginx Proxy Manager on Railway

Nginx Proxy Manager is an open-source web interface for managing Nginx reverse proxies with automatic TLS certificate provisioning via Let's Encrypt. It lets you expose web services securely over HTTPS — with no manual Nginx config required — through a clean, browser-based admin panel.

About Hosting Nginx Proxy Manager

Hosting Nginx Proxy Manager means running a persistent web server that manages proxy rules, SSL certificates, and access controls on your behalf. This Railway template deploys the official Docker image as a single service with a persistent volume for configuration and certificate storage. On first login, change the default admin credentials immediately. Railway handles the public domain and HTTPS termination at the platform level; Nginx Proxy Manager handles the internal routing and certificate management for any additional services you point it at.

Common Use Cases

Reverse proxy for self-hosted services — expose multiple internal services (Gitea, Nextcloud, Grafana, etc.) through a single public endpoint, each on its own subdomain with automatic HTTPS, without touching raw Nginx config files
Access control for internal tools — define access lists and enable HTTP basic authentication on any proxied host to restrict access to specific users or IP ranges
TCP/UDP stream proxying — proxy non-HTTP traffic such as database connections, game servers, or custom TCP/UDP services to internal hosts using stream hosts, no DNS hostname required

Dependencies for Nginx Proxy Manager Hosting

Nginx Proxy Manager Docker image — used directly by this template
Persistent volume — stores Nginx Proxy Manager configuration, SSL certificates, and logs across redeploys

Deployment Dependencies

Implementation Details

Default credentials — on first login, use [email protected] as the email and changeme as the password. You will be prompted to update both immediately. Do not skip this step.

Host types supported by Nginx Proxy Manager:

Proxy host — proxies HTTP/S traffic to an internal service on a specified hostname/IP and port, accessible via a custom domain or subdomain
Redirection host — permanently redirects traffic from one domain to another
Stream host — proxies raw TCP/UDP traffic on a specific port to an internal host; no DNS hostname required
404 host — returns an HTTP 404 for configured domains, useful for catching unwanted traffic SSL certificates — request a free Let's Encrypt certificate directly from the proxy host creation UI. Provide your email address, agree to the Let's Encrypt Terms of Service, and optionally enable force SSL, HTTP/2, and HSTS. Certificates renew automatically.

Why Deploy Nginx Proxy Manager 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 Nginx Proxy Manager 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.