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Coolify vs Dokploy: Self-Hosted PaaS Compared

Coolify and Dokploy turn your own VPS into a Heroku- or Vercel-like platform: push to Git, get a deploy with HTTPS, databases and backups. How they compare on features, architecture, multi-server support and maturity — and what you still have to look after yourself.

Platforms like Heroku, Render and Vercel make deploying easy, but charge accordingly. A cheap VPS is far cheaper, but you do all the setup. Self-hosted PaaS tools sit in between: you install them on your own server, and they give you a dashboard to deploy apps from Git, with HTTPS, databases and backups. (VPS vs PaaS)

Coolify and Dokploy are the two most popular.

What both do

  • Install on your own server with a single command
  • Deploy apps from GitHub/GitLab on push, from a Dockerfile, Docker Compose file or auto-detected build (buildpacks/Nixpacks)
  • Automatic HTTPS for your domains
  • One-click databases — Postgres, MySQL, MongoDB, Redis — with scheduled backups to S3-compatible storage
  • Environment variables, logs, and basic monitoring in a web UI
  • Preview deployments for pull requests
  • Multiple servers managed from one dashboard

Both are open source, free to self-host, and offer an optional paid cloud-hosted control panel.

How they differ

Coolify Dokploy
Maturity Older, larger community Newer, growing fast
Reverse proxy Traefik (Caddy optional) Traefik
Multi-server / clustering Manage many servers; experimental Swarm Built on Docker Swarm for multi-node
One-click services Very large catalogue Good, smaller catalogue
UI Feature-rich, many options Cleaner, simpler
Docker Compose support Yes Yes, first-class

Coolify has more features and integrations, and a huge library of one-click services (analytics, CMSs, monitoring tools). The trade-off is a busier interface and more moving parts.

Dokploy feels simpler and more focused, with strong Docker Compose support and multi-node deployments via Docker Swarm.

Both change quickly; check their current docs before deciding.

What you're still responsible for

A self-hosted PaaS automates deploys. It doesn't make you an ops team. You still own:

  • The server itself — OS updates, SSH hardening, firewall. (How to secure a new VPS)
  • The PaaS software — keeping Coolify/Dokploy updated; they run with broad access to your server and Docker, so security updates matter.
  • Backups that actually restore — configure off-server backup storage and test a restore. (Backups for beginners)
  • Capacity — builds, databases and apps share one machine; a heavy build can slow your production app.
  • When it breaks — debugging Traefik, Docker networking or a failed deploy is on you. (Container networking internals)

For a developer comfortable on Linux, that's a fair trade for the savings. For a non-technical founder, it's a lot of new things to learn under pressure.

Which should you choose?

  • Want the most features and one-click apps: Coolify.
  • Want a simpler UI and Docker Compose / Swarm focus: Dokploy.
  • Not sure: install both on a cheap test server and deploy the same app with each. An afternoon will tell you more than any comparison.

Alternatives in the same space

  • CapRover — older, simple, Docker Swarm-based.
  • Kamal — from 37signals; deploys containers to servers from the command line, no dashboard.
  • Dokku — a minimal, Heroku-style git push deploy tool.

(Heroku alternatives)

EasySpawn gives you the self-hosted PaaS experience without running the PaaS: your own server, Git deploys, HTTPS, Postgres and daily backups — with OS patching handled and Claude Code built in. See how it works or join the waitlist.

Related: VPS vs PaaS · Heroku Alternatives · Render vs Railway vs Fly.io · Self-Hosting Next.js Without Vercel

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