Zeabur Is Shutting Down: Where to Migrate (Railway vs Render vs a VPS with Coolify)

TL;DR

Zeabur is winding down: from December 1, 2026 shared-cluster services are paused and dedicated servers stop renewing, and everything stops by December 31. Back up databases and volumes now and rotate every secret you stored there. Railway (Hobby $5/month including $5 of usage) is the closest like-for-like move, Render suits fixed monthly pricing ($7/month for its smallest paid web service), and a VPS with free self-hosted Coolify is cheapest at scale if you can run a server yourself.

How this article was made: The timeline below comes from Zeabur's official shutdown announcement, and every price comes from the provider's official pricing page or docs, all checked on October 18, 2026. We have not migrated a production workload with each provider, so treat the comparison as research, and confirm current prices before you move.

Zeabur, the deployment platform popular for one-click n8n, OpenClaw and vibe-coded apps, announced on October 17, 2026 that it is winding down. The founder's post cites a second security incident on October 14 (after one in late August) and growth that had "started to run into limits" (Zeabur announcement). If you have anything running there, you have weeks, not months.

When exactly does Zeabur shut down?

Zeabur shuts down in two steps: on December 1, 2026 shared-cluster services are paused and dedicated servers stop renewing, and by December 31, 2026 everything is off. Per the official announcement (checked October 18, 2026):

The key detail: December 31 is the last day of the platform, not the last day of your service. If you are on a shared cluster, your app stops serving traffic on December 1. Zeabur says it is preparing migration guides, including Markdown guides and Skills you can hand to coding agents such as Claude Code and Codex.

What should you do before migrating?

Back up your data, rotate your secrets, and write down every service's expiry date before you pick a new host. A practical order:

1. List what you run. For each service, note whether it is on a shared cluster or a dedicated server, and the server's expiry date (dedicated servers can go dark any day in December).
2. Back up the data, not just the code. Your Git repo is safe; databases and persistent volumes are not. Dump each database (for example pg_dump for Postgres or mysqldump for MySQL) and download volume contents such as n8n workflows, WordPress uploads or SQLite files.
3. Copy environment variables, then rotate them. You need the values to configure the new host. Because Zeabur reported unauthorized access to internal systems and some customer services on October 14, we recommend treating every API key, database password and token you stored there as exposed and generating new ones on the new host rather than reusing them.
4. Move domains you bought through Zeabur. Self-service transfer is open now. If you only pointed DNS at Zeabur, you just update records after the new deployment works.
5. Request your balance refund (and incident compensation if you had losses) through Zeabur Support, as two separate requests.

Railway, Render or a VPS: which is the best Zeabur alternative?

Railway is the closest like-for-like move, Render is the most predictable monthly bill, and a VPS with Coolify is the cheapest per app once you run several services. Here is how they compare, using official pricing checked October 18, 2026:

Sources: Railway pricing, Render pricing, Coolify pricing, Coolify install docs, DigitalOcean Droplet pricing.

How much does Railway cost after Zeabur?

Railway's Hobby plan is $5/month and includes $5 of usage, and you pay only the overage beyond that. Its published rates are about $10 per GB of memory per month and $20 per vCPU per month, billed per second, plus $0.15 per GB-month for volumes and $0.05 per GB of egress (Railway pricing, checked October 18, 2026).

Using those rates, a service that holds 512 MB of memory around the clock uses about $5/month of memory alone, so one small always-on app plus a small database will usually go past the included $5. Hobby allows up to 50 projects, 5 GB volumes and 2 custom domains; Pro ($20/month per workspace, $20 of usage included) raises those limits. Railway's model, building from a repo or template and billing for actual usage, is the closest match to how most people used Zeabur.

Pick Railway if you want the least re-learning and you deployed from GitHub or templates on Zeabur.

How much does Render cost?

Render charges a workspace fee (Hobby is $0, Pro is $25/month) plus fixed monthly prices per instance: $7/month for a web service with 512 MB RAM, $25/month for 1 CPU and 2 GB, and Postgres from $6/month for 256 MB (Render pricing, checked October 18, 2026).

Hobby includes 5 GB of bandwidth (then $0.15/GB), 2 custom domains, 500 build minutes and up to 25 services. Persistent disks cost $0.25/GB per month. Because each instance has a set price, a Render bill is easy to predict, but you pay for the instance size whether or not you use it all.

Pick Render if you prefer a fixed number on the invoice and run a handful of web services with managed Postgres.

Is a VPS with Coolify worth it?

A VPS running Coolify is worth it when you host several apps or databases and are comfortable maintaining a Linux server. Self-hosted Coolify is free with no feature limits; Coolify Cloud, where the Coolify team runs the dashboard for you, is $5/month for 2 connected servers plus $3/month per extra server (Coolify pricing, checked October 18, 2026).

Coolify's docs list a minimum of 2 CPU cores, 2 GB RAM and 10 GB disk, and say you can start on 1 core and 1 GB if cost matters, then upgrade (Coolify install docs). On DigitalOcean that is $18/month for 2 vCPU / 2 GiB or $6/month for 1 vCPU / 1 GiB (DigitalOcean pricing). The same docs describe a maintainer running 16 static sites, about 25 services and three databases on one 2 vCPU / 4 GB server, which shows how far one box can go with optimized workloads.

Two warnings from Coolify's own docs: create the admin account right after installing, because whoever reaches the registration page first becomes admin with root access, and back up /data/coolify/source/.env, which holds the key that encrypts Coolify's database values. You also own OS updates, firewall rules and off-server backups. After two security incidents at Zeabur, be honest about whether you will actually do that maintenance.

Pick a VPS + Coolify if you run many small services and want a flat cost, and you will keep the server patched and backed up.

How do you move a typical app off Zeabur?

Stand up the new deployment first, restore data into it, test it on the provider's temporary URL, and only then switch DNS. For most apps:

1. Create the service on the new host from the same Git repo or Docker image, or from a template if your app is listed (Railway has templates and Coolify has a one-click service catalog; check that yours is there).
2. Create a fresh database and restore your dump into it.
3. Add environment variables, using newly generated secrets.
4. Copy volume data (uploads, n8n data folder, SQLite files) into the new persistent volume.
5. Test every critical path: log in, submit a form, run one workflow, receive one webhook.
6. Point your domain at the new host and keep the Zeabur service until December 1 (or its expiry date) as a fallback.

If you also need to move a domain you registered through Zeabur, start the transfer early; registrar transfers can take several days.

Sources (checked October 18, 2026)

• https://zeabur.com/blogs/zeabur-is-shutting-down
• https://railway.com/pricing
• https://render.com/pricing
• https://coolify.io/pricing
• https://coolify.io/docs/get-started/installation
• https://www.digitalocean.com/pricing/droplets

FAQ

When does Zeabur shut down?

Per Zeabur's official announcement of October 17, 2026: new dedicated server and domain purchases stopped immediately. From December 1, 2026, dedicated servers can no longer be renewed and each one shuts down on its own expiry date, and all running services on shared clusters are paused (you can restart them manually to back up data). By December 31, 2026 all dedicated servers and shared clusters stop operating.

Will my Zeabur data be deleted?

Zeabur says the data deletion date and final export deadline have not been announced yet. It asks users to back up and migrate according to the shutdown timeline rather than wait for a deletion date.

What is the closest alternative to Zeabur?

Railway is the closest in how it works: you connect a repo or template, it builds and runs containers, and it bills per second for CPU, memory and disk. Its Hobby plan costs $5/month and includes $5 of usage (official pricing, checked October 18, 2026). Render is similar but sells fixed-size instances at a monthly price.

Is a VPS with Coolify cheaper than Railway or Render?

Often, once you run several services. Self-hosted Coolify is free; you pay only for the server. Coolify's docs list 2 CPU cores and 2 GB RAM as the minimum, which on DigitalOcean is the $18/month Basic Droplet, and that one server can host many apps and databases. The trade-off is that you handle OS updates, backups and security yourself.

Can I get a refund for my Zeabur balance?

Yes. Zeabur says it is accepting account balance refund requests through Zeabur Support. Compensation for losses from the October 14 security incident is a separate request, also through Zeabur Support; say which one you are asking for.

Key takeaways

• Zeabur is winding down: from December 1, 2026 shared-cluster services are paused and dedicated servers stop renewing, and everything stops by December 31.
• Back up databases and volumes now and rotate every secret you stored there.
• Railway (Hobby $5/month including $5 of usage) is the closest like-for-like move, Render suits fixed monthly pricing ($7/month for its smallest paid web service), and a VPS with free self-hosted Coolify is cheapest at scale if you can run a server yourself.

SourcesZeabur announcement · Railway pricing · Render pricing · Coolify pricing

Last updated2026-10-18

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