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EU hosting → Germany

Ruby on Rails Hosting in Germany

German Rails teams often migrated from Heroku-EU after the sunset and want a German-operated PaaS at sane prices. Hostim runs Rails in Docker in Falkenstein. Single-digit ms RTT to Berlin, Munich, Hamburg.

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# docker-compose.yml
services:
  web:
    image: my-rails-app
    environment:
      - RAILS_ENV=production
      - RAILS_LOG_TO_STDOUT=1
  db:
    image: postgres:16
  • 🇪🇺 Hosted in Germany, GDPR by default
  • 🐳 Run Docker apps (Compose supported)
  • 🗄️ Built-in MySQL, Postgres, Redis & volumes
  • 🔐 HTTPS, metrics, and isolation per project
  • 💳 Per-project cost tracking · from €2.5/month

Why Ruby on Rails on EU bare metal for Germany

A Rails app in production is a Puma server, a PostgreSQL database, an Active Storage volume and usually a Sidekiq worker. Hostim runs all four pieces in one project: app container, managed PostgreSQL, persistent volume mounted at storage/, worker container sharing the same image. Migrations run via a release command on each deploy. Falkenstein is the lowest-latency German region for any user inside Germany. The DSGVO checklist (server location, operator, AV-Vertrag) is satisfied without extra steps.

Latency, residency and German regulators

Latency. Typical RTT from Berlin to our Falkenstein region is around 8 ms. Germany has the strictest interpretation of GDPR in the EU and is the largest EU market for paid hosting. Falkenstein is in Saxony, Germany — Hostim runs entirely on bare metal in this region.

Regulator. BfDI (federal data protection commissioner) and BSI (federal cyber security agency).

Local law. BDSG (Bundesdatenschutzgesetz), the German federal data protection act that complements GDPR. Hostim is operated by HOSTIM.DEV UG, a German company, with all data in Falkenstein, Germany — there is no transfer outside the EU for application data.

Local alternatives you may have considered: IONOS Cloud, Strato, OVH-DE, Hetzner Cloud (raw VPS).

How Hostim runs Ruby on Rails

Rails hosting today usually means a Puma server behind a reverse proxy, with PostgreSQL and a volume for Active Storage uploads. The Heroku stack model works fine — but the price does not, especially after the Heroku EU sunset moves teams to dedicated dynos.

Deploy model

Run rails db:migrate as a release command on each deploy. Hostim builds your Rails Docker image, attaches managed PostgreSQL, and mounts a volume for Active Storage. Background jobs (Sidekiq, GoodJob) run as a second app in the same project.

Common pitfalls

Active Storage with local disk silently breaks when the container restarts. The fix on Hostim is a persistent volume mounted at storage/, or you can configure S3-compatible object storage.

Typical env vars

RAILS_ENV, RAILS_MASTER_KEY, DATABASE_URL, REDIS_URL

FAQ

Wie funktioniert Active Storage auf Hostim?

Mounte ein persistentes Volume unter storage/ — Uploads überleben jeden Deploy. Alternativ konfigurierst du S3-kompatiblen Speicher; Hetzner Object Storage ist ebenfalls in Falkenstein verfügbar.

Can I run Sidekiq separately?

Yes. Create a second app in the same project that uses the same Docker image but runs bundle exec sidekiq as the command. It shares the same DATABASE_URL and REDIS_URL automatically.

Is this a Heroku replacement after the EU sunset?

For most Rails workloads, yes. Hostim has Git-based deploy, release commands for migrations, managed PostgreSQL and Redis, custom domains with HTTPS, and runs entirely in Germany. Cost is typically lower than Heroku Performance dynos.

What about Kamal or self-hosted alternatives?

Kamal is great if you want to run on your own VPS with no PaaS layer. Hostim takes the next step up: managed databases, automatic HTTPS, project isolation, and no nginx config to maintain.

Related pages

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