Galaxy Metal represents a complete rebuild of our platform—from the codebase to the infrastructure. This isn’t an incremental update; it’s an entirely new foundation designed to deliver superior performance, enhanced security, and the flexibility to meet the most demanding enterprise requirements.
This guide addresses the key questions our customers have about the migration, covering everything from datacenter locations and network connectivity to compliance certifications and data residency options.
Ready to learn more? Schedule a call with our team to discuss how Galaxy Metal can work for you.
What is Galaxy Metal?
Galaxy Metal is our next-generation hosting platform built from the ground up to address the evolving needs of modern applications. We took everything we’ve learned over more than 10 years of running Galaxy—serving thousands of applications at scale—and applied it to create a fundamentally better platform.
The platform combines:
- Enterprise bare metal servers – Direct hardware access without virtualization overhead, delivering consistent and predictable performance
- Kubernetes orchestration – Industry-standard container orchestration for automated scaling, self-healing, and rolling deployments
- Enterprise-grade proxy – A robust, high-performance proxy with advanced traffic management, rate limiting, and security features
- Dedicated infrastructure – No shared resources with other tenants, eliminating noisy neighbor issues
Key Benefits
Performance: Significantly improved build queues, build times, and deployment speed. Direct hardware access means no virtualization overhead, resulting in faster and more consistent application performance.
Reliability: Zero-downtime deployments with rolling updates. Kubernetes-native health checks and automatic recovery ensure your applications stay online.
Security: Enterprise-grade security with network policies, role-based access control, and comprehensive audit logging. All infrastructure runs on dedicated, stable hardware—no spot instances.
Flexibility: Cloud-agnostic architecture allows deployment on your preferred infrastructure provider and region. We’re open to customizing anything to meet your specific needs—talk to our team to discuss your requirements.
Infrastructure Details
Datacenter Locations
Galaxy Metal operates in the same regions you’re familiar with from our AWS infrastructure:
- us-east-1
- eu-west-1
- ap-southeast-2
Our infrastructure runs on a mix of AWS and OVH (primarily OVH), but we have the flexibility to deploy on any cloud provider based on your requirements.
Important: For customers currently running in specific AWS regions, we maintain your regional placement. If your current application runs in Ireland, it will continue to be served from European infrastructure after migration.
Network Connectivity
MongoDB Atlas & Cloud Services: Galaxy Metal maintains low-latency connectivity to major cloud providers. For customers with MongoDB Atlas on AWS, we ensure your Galaxy applications are deployed in locations with optimal connectivity to your Atlas cluster region.
VPC & Private Networking: For customers with existing VPC configurations or specific AWS dependencies, we offer several options including dedicated private clusters. Custom plan customers will not be automatically migrated—we will work with you individually to plan a migration that meets your requirements. Get in touch to discuss your setup.
New Application URLs
After the launch of Galaxy Metal, new applications will use a new URL structure:
Free Tier (Sandbox)
<auto-generated-appName>.sandbox.galaxycloud.app
Free applications are hosted exclusively in the US region on a completely isolated cluster. This isolation ensures that free tier apps don’t affect paid plans and don’t share resources with production workloads.
Paid Plans
<appName>.us.galaxycloud.app
<appName>.eu.galaxycloud.app
<appName>.ap.galaxycloud.app
Paid plans include the option to configure root domains and custom domains for your applications.
Note: Existing applications being migrated to Galaxy Metal will retain their current URLs. This new URL structure applies only to applications created after the Galaxy Metal launch.
Cloud Strategy & Data Sovereignty
Cloud-Agnostic Architecture
One of the most significant advantages of Galaxy Metal is our cloud-agnostic architecture. Unlike traditional PaaS providers that are tied to a single hyperscaler, Galaxy Metal can be deployed on virtually any cloud provider based on your requirements.
US Cloud Act & Data Residency Concerns
We recognize that many European customers are increasingly concerned about the US Cloud Act and data sovereignty. Galaxy Metal addresses these concerns:
European Infrastructure: Our European region runs primarily on OVHcloud, a French company headquartered in Roubaix, France. OVHcloud is subject to EU jurisdiction and operates under GDPR requirements.
Flexible Deployment: For customers requiring specific arrangements, we can deploy on your preferred cloud provider or region. We’re open to customizing infrastructure placement to meet your compliance and data residency requirements. Let’s discuss your data residency needs.
Sub-Processors: A full list of sub-processors is available upon request.
Compliance & Certifications
Current Status
Galaxy is committed to meeting enterprise compliance requirements:
GDPR: Galaxy Metal is fully GDPR compliant. Our EU infrastructure is hosted within the European Union, and we maintain appropriate Data Processing Agreements (DPAs) with all customers.
Coming in 2026
Galaxy Metal will bring many new features and certifications:
- SOC 2 Type II certification
- ISO 27001 certification
- Private Networking – Secure communication between your services
- PR Previews – Automatic preview deployments for pull requests
- A/B Traffic Splitting – Advanced traffic management for canary deployments and testing
- Okta Integration – Enterprise SSO and identity management
- Rebuilt Accounts System – A complete overhaul of our accounts infrastructure for improved speed and reliability, addressing long-standing customer pain points
And much more to come.
We want to be ready for our customers who require enterprise-grade features, as well as for the customers who have been growing with us over the years and are now operating at enterprise scale. Galaxy Metal is our foundation to support you at every stage of your growth.
Growing and need more? Talk to us about your roadmap and let’s plan together.
Enterprise Customization
We believe enterprise features shouldn’t come with enterprise pricing gimmicks. Galaxy Metal offers:
- Custom proxy configurations – Tailored to your specific traffic management needs
- Dedicated private clusters – Complete isolation for your workloads
- Regional flexibility – Deploy where you need to be
- Compliance support – Documentation and configurations for your auditors
No enterprise fees. Just fair, transparent pricing based on your actual needs. Let’s talk about what you need.
Migration Information
Migration Timeline
The migration to Galaxy Metal will be gradual and automatic for most customers:
- Free tier apps: By February 15th, 2024
- Essentials tier apps: By February 28th, 2024
- Professional tier apps: By February 28th, 2025
- Custom plans & Enterprise: Individual migration planning—we will contact you directly to discuss your specific needs
What to Expect During Migration
- Zero downtime: Your applications will continue running without interruption
- No action required: For standard plans, the migration is fully automatic
- Environment preserved: All environment variables, settings, and configurations are maintained
- Improved performance: Faster builds, improved build queues, and quicker deployments
Special Cases
If your applications require special handling due to technical or compliance requirements, please contact our support team. Cases that may require individual planning include:
- Applications with VPC peering or private networking requirements
- Custom plans with specific cloud provider or region requirements
- Enterprise customers with compliance documentation requirements
- Applications requiring specific sub-processor arrangements
Have a special case? Reach out and let’s figure it out together.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Will my application experience any downtime during migration?
A: No. The migration uses a blue-green deployment strategy. Your application is fully deployed and tested on Galaxy Metal before traffic is switched. The transition is seamless.
Q: Will my app still run on AWS after migration?
A: Galaxy Metal runs on a mix of infrastructure providers, primarily OVH but also AWS. For enterprise customers requiring a specific cloud provider, we can accommodate your needs. Contact us to discuss your requirements.
Q: How will this affect my MongoDB Atlas connectivity?
A: Galaxy Metal maintains excellent connectivity to MongoDB Atlas across all major regions. If you’re using Atlas in the same region as your Galaxy deployment (e.g., both in EU), latency will remain low. For customers with strict latency requirements, we can ensure optimal regional placement.
Q: Can I choose my cloud provider?
A: Yes. We’re cloud-agnostic and can deploy on various providers based on your requirements. Contact our team to discuss your specific needs.
Q: Is Galaxy GDPR compliant?
A: Yes. Our EU infrastructure is hosted within the European Union. We maintain appropriate Data Processing Agreements (DPAs) and can provide these upon request.
Q: When will Galaxy have SOC 2 and ISO 27001 certification?
A: Both SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 certifications are planned for 2026 as part of the Galaxy Metal evolution. We’ll share more details during our upcoming launch week.
Q: Can I deploy on a European-only provider to avoid US Cloud Act concerns?
A: Yes. Our default EU infrastructure runs on OVHcloud, a French company subject to EU jurisdiction. For customers requiring additional assurances, let’s discuss your options.
Q: What if I have specific compliance or customization requirements?
A: Contact us directly. We’re open to customizing anything—from proxy configurations to dedicated private clusters. And there’s no enterprise fee; just fair pricing based on your actual needs.
Q: Why are builds faster on Galaxy Metal?
A: Galaxy Metal is a complete rebuild of our platform. We’ve optimized everything from the build queues to the deployment pipeline. Combined with dedicated bare metal servers and direct hardware access, builds and deployments are significantly faster.
Q: What happens to my custom domain and SSL certificates?
A: Your custom domains and SSL certificates will continue to work. Paid plans include the option to configure root domains and custom domains.
Q: What about free tier apps?
A: Free tier apps will be hosted in the US region on a completely isolated cluster. This isolation ensures free apps don’t affect paid plans and don’t share resources with production workloads. Free apps will receive auto-generated URLs in the format: <appName>.sandbox.galaxycloud.app
Ready to Get Started?
We’re here to ensure your migration to Galaxy Metal is smooth and meets your specific requirements. Whether you have questions, need a custom setup, or want to explore enterprise options—we’d love to hear from you.
For migration questions, support, and custom solutions:
- Email: [email protected]
- In-app chat: Available within your Galaxy dashboard
Documentation:
Galaxy Metal represents our commitment to providing the best possible hosting platform for your applications. Built on 10+ years of experience and designed for the next decade of growth—yours and ours.
We’re excited to bring these improvements to all our customers and look forward to supporting your success.
Questions? Ideas? Just want to chat? We’re here.