Deploy Laravel Website on Railway for FREE in 10 Minutes

In this tutorial, we'll create a simple Laravel application, add products using migrations and seeders, display them on a welcome page, push the project to GitHub, and deploy it completely free using Railway.

By the end of this guide, you'll have a live Laravel website connected to a MySQL database and accessible from anywhere in the world.

Step 1: Create a New Laravel Project

Create a fresh Laravel application:

composer create-project laravel/laravel laravel-railway-demo

Move into the project directory:

cd laravel-railway-demo

Run the application:

php artisan serve

Step 2: Create Product Migration

Create a Product model, migration, and seeder:

php artisan make:model Product -ms

Update the migration file:

public function up(): void
{
    Schema::create('products', function (Blueprint $table) {
        $table->id();
        $table->string('name');
        $table->text('description');
        $table->decimal('price', 8, 2);
        $table->timestamps();
    });
}

Run the migration later to create the products table.

Step 3: Create Product Seeder

Open the ProductSeeder and insert sample products:

public function run(): void
{
    \App\Models\Product::create([
        'name' => 'Product 1',
        'description' => 'This is a greate product',
        'price' => 19.99
    ]);

    \App\Models\Product::create([
        'name' => 'Cake',
        'description' => 'This is a cafe product',
        'price' => 10.99
    ]);
}

These products will be inserted into the database automatically when the seeder runs.

Step 4: Create Application Routes

Next, let's create routes to display products and manage migrations directly from the browser.

Update your routes/web.php file:

use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Artisan;
use App\Models\Product;

Route::get('/', function () {
    $products = Product::all();

    return view('welcome', compact('products'));
});

Route::get('/migrate-seed', function () {
    Artisan::call('migrate:fresh', ['--seed' => true]);

    return 'Migration and seeding completed successfully.';
});

Route::get('/migrate', function () {
    Artisan::call('migrate');

    return 'Migration and seeding completed successfully.';
});

Route::get('/clear', function () {
    Artisan::call('config:cache');
    Artisan::call('cache:clear');
    Artisan::call('view:clear');
    Artisan::call('route:clear');

    return 'Caches cleared and config cached successfully.';
});

These routes are useful when deploying to Railway and quickly running migrations or clearing caches.

Note: For production applications, secure these routes or remove them after deployment.

Step 5: Create the Welcome Page

Update the welcome.blade.php file:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
<title>Laravel Products</title>

<style>
body {
font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
background-color: #f8f9fa;
color: #333;
margin: 0;
padding: 40px;
display: flex;
justify-content: center;
}

.container {
background-color: #fff;
max-width: 600px;
width: 100%;
padding: 30px;
border-radius: 10px;
box-shadow: 0 4px 6px rgba(0,0,0,0.1);
}

h1 {
margin-top: 0;
color: #f53003;
text-align: center;
}

.product {
border: 1px solid #eee;
border-radius: 8px;
padding: 15px;
margin-bottom: 15px;
background-color: #fafafa;
}

.product h3 {
margin: 0 0 10px 0;
color: #222;
}

.product p {
margin: 0 0 10px 0;
color: #666;
line-height: 1.5;
}

.price {
font-weight: bold;
color: #28a745;
font-size: 1.1em;
}

.no-data {
text-align: center;
color: #888;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>

<div class="container">
<h1>Our Products</h1>

@if(isset($products) && $products->count() > 0)

    @foreach($products as $product)
        <div class="product">
            <h3>{{ $product->name }}</h3>
            <p>{{ $product->description }}</p>
            <div class="price">
                ${{ number_format($product->price, 2) }}
            </div>
        </div>
    @endforeach

@else

    <div class="no-data">
        <p>No products found. Please run the migration and seeder.</p>
    </div>

@endif

</div>

</body>
</html>

Once migrations and seeders are executed, this page will display the products stored in the database.

Step 6: Push the Project to GitHub

Initialize Git:

git init
git add .
git commit -m "Laravel Railway Deployment Tutorial"

Create a repository on GitHub and push the code:

git remote add origin YOUR_GITHUB_REPOSITORY_URL
git branch -M main
git push -u origin main

Your project is now available on GitHub.

Step 7: Deploy on Railway

Go to Railway and create a new project.

Select:

Deploy from GitHub Repo

Choose the repository you just created.

Railway will automatically build and deploy the Laravel application.

Step 8: Add Laravel Environment Variables

Open the Railway dashboard and navigate to:

Variables

Add your Laravel environment variables:

APP_NAME=Laravel
APP_ENV=production
APP_DEBUG=false
APP_URL=https://your-app.up.railway.app

Generate an APP_KEY locally:

php artisan key:generate --show

Copy the generated key and add it to Railway.

Step 9: Create a MySQL Database

Inside Railway:

Click New Service
Select MySQL
Railway will automatically generate database credentials

You will see variables such as:

MYSQLHOST
MYSQLPORT
MYSQLDATABASE
MYSQLUSER
MYSQLPASSWORD

Step 10: Connect MySQL to Laravel

Add these values to your Laravel variables:

DB_CONNECTION=mysql
DB_HOST=${{MYSQLHOST}}
DB_PORT=${{MYSQLPORT}}
DB_DATABASE=${{MYSQLDATABASE}}
DB_USERNAME=${{MYSQLUSER}}
DB_PASSWORD=${{MYSQLPASSWORD}}

Save the changes and allow Railway to redeploy the application.

Step 11: Run Migrations and Seeders

Visit:

https://your-domain.up.railway.app/migrate-seed

This route will:

Create database tables
Run all seeders
Insert sample products

Step 12: Clear Cache

Visit:

https://your-domain.up.railway.app/clear

This will clear and rebuild Laravel caches.

Step 13: View the Live Website

Open your Railway domain.

You should now see:

Product 1
Cake

Displayed on your Laravel welcome page directly from the MySQL database.

Final Result

Congratulations! You have successfully:

Created a Laravel application
Built migrations and seeders
Displayed database data on a Blade page
Pushed code to GitHub
Connected GitHub to Railway
Created a MySQL database
Configured environment variables
Ran migrations and seeders
Deployed a live Laravel website for free

You now have a production-ready Laravel deployment workflow that you can use for portfolios, business websites, SaaS applications, blogs, hotel booking systems, and many other projects.

Deploy Laravel Website on Railway for FREE in 10 Minutes

Deploy Laravel Website on Railway for FREE in 10 Minutes

Step 1: Create a New Laravel Project

Step 2: Create Product Migration

Step 3: Create Product Seeder

Step 4: Create Application Routes

Step 5: Create the Welcome Page

Step 6: Push the Project to GitHub

Step 7: Deploy on Railway

Step 8: Add Laravel Environment Variables

Step 9: Create a MySQL Database

Step 10: Connect MySQL to Laravel

Step 11: Run Migrations and Seeders

Step 12: Clear Cache

Step 13: View the Live Website

Final Result

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