Coolify vs Dokploy: Which Self-Hosted PaaS?
Both put a Heroku-style deploy button on top of Docker on your own VPS, both are free to self-host, and both sell a cheap managed control plane. The differences are the license, the multi-server story, and what happens to your side projects when you stop paying attention to the server.
The short answer
Coolify wins on openness and community: 60,167 GitHub stars and a clean Apache 2.0 license with no carve-out. Dokploy wins on price shape and clustering: $4.50/mo per server on cloud versus Coolify's $5 base for two servers, plus native Docker Swarm. Both leave you as the sysadmin of the box underneath.
All prices read off each vendor's own pricing page on 2026-08-06.Apache 2.0, 60k stars, the default answer to "self-hosted Heroku".
Dimensions where the two are close enough that it should not decide anything.
Traefik and Docker Swarm, per-server pricing, fast-moving.
Coolify vs Dokploy, row by row
A winner is called on every row. Where they are genuinely level, the row says so.
| Dimension | Coolify | Dokploy | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| License | Apache 2.0, no exceptions | Apache 2.0 with a /proprietary directory carve-out | Coolify |
| GitHub stars | 60,167 | 36,367 | Coolify |
| Self-hosted price | Free forever, all features | Free, self-hosted | Tie |
| Cloud price, 1 server | $5/mo base (includes 2 servers) | $4.50/mo | Dokploy |
| Cloud price, 2 servers | $5/mo | $9/mo | Coolify |
| Cloud price, 5 servers | $14/mo ($5 + 3 x $3) | $22.50/mo, or $15/mo Startup with 3 included plus 2 x $4.50 | Tie |
| Do you still need your own VPS? | Yes, on both plans. Cloud only hosts the control panel | Yes, on Hobby and Startup | Tie |
| Reverse proxy | Traefik, automatic Let's Encrypt | Traefik, automatic Let's Encrypt, editable Traefik file | Dokploy |
| Multi-server / clustering | Connect unlimited servers, no Swarm orchestration | Docker Swarm clusters and build servers built in | Dokploy |
| Users on the cheapest paid tier | Unlimited team members | 1 user, 1 organization on Hobby. Unlimited needs Startup at $15/mo | Coolify |
| Backups on the cheapest paid tier | Managed on Cloud, self-managed but automated when self-hosted | 1 backup per database and 1 volume backup per application on Hobby | Coolify |
| Minimum server to run it | A small VPS, roughly 2 GB RAM in practice | Documented minimum 2 GB RAM and 30 GB disk | Tie |
| Who patches the OS | You | You | Tie |
Where Coolify wins
Fully open, no proprietary carve-out
Coolify is Apache 2.0 end to end. Dokploy is Apache 2.0 with an explicit exception: anything under a /proprietary directory falls under a separate closed license. Coolify has nothing equivalent, so what you self-host is the whole product.
Much larger community
60,167 GitHub stars against Dokploy's 36,367, and a correspondingly larger pool of Discord answers, blog posts and one-click service templates. When something breaks at 1am, somebody has usually already hit it.
Cheaper cloud plan for two servers
Coolify Cloud is $5/month for two connected servers, then $3/month per additional server. Dokploy Cloud Hobby is $4.50/month per server with one included, so two servers is $9/month. Coolify is cheaper up to roughly four servers.
Where Dokploy wins
Native Docker Swarm clustering
Dokploy builds multi-server deployment and Swarm clusters into the product, including build servers and registry-based rollbacks. If you plan to run across several machines rather than one big one, this is the more natural fit.
Simple per-server price
$4.50/month per server with no base fee means one server costs $4.50 and you always know the formula. Coolify's $5 base bundles two servers whether or not you have two.
Preview deployments and environments
Per-pull-request preview deployments and multiple environments per project are in the product, with two environments even on the $4.50/mo Hobby tier. That is closer to what Vercel-style workflows expect.
What it actually costs
Hosting three small side projects for a year, on your own hardware where required
- A 2 GB VPS at any provider: about $5/mo
- Coolify self-hosted: $0
- Or Coolify Cloud: $5/mo
- Your time: setup plus monthly patching
- VPS with 2 GB RAM, 30 GB disk: about $5/mo
- Dokploy self-hosted: $0
- Or Dokploy Cloud Hobby: $4.50/mo
- Your time: setup plus monthly patching
- Three Launch pods: $3/mo each
- No panel to install or update
- No OS patching
- SSL, proxy and backups handled
Self-hosting is cheaper in dollars and more expensive in hours. Three apps on one $5 VPS is unbeatable on price if you enjoy running the box. The honest comparison is $60/yr plus roughly a day of your year against $108/yr and none of it.
The third option: skip the panel entirely
Coolify and Dokploy both exist because managing Docker on a VPS by hand is miserable. But you still own that VPS: the kernel updates, the disk filling up, the Docker daemon wedging, the panel itself needing an upgrade. InstaPods removes the layer instead of automating it. Each pod is a real Linux server with root and SSH, provisioned in seconds, from $3/mo flat, with the proxy, SSL and OS updates handled for you.
Honest limitation: you do not own the machine and you cannot bring your own hardware. If the point of self-hosting for you is data sovereignty, running on a home server, or never paying a platform, Coolify self-hosted is the correct answer and InstaPods is not.
Deploy on InstaPods $3/mo flat - $10 credit when you add a cardHow to choose
Frequently asked questions
Is Coolify or Dokploy better?
Coolify if openness and community size matter most: 60,167 stars and a clean Apache 2.0 license with no proprietary carve-out. Dokploy if you want Docker Swarm clustering, preview deployments and a flat $4.50/mo per server price. For a single server running a handful of apps, either is fine and the deciding factor is usually which interface you prefer. Verified 2026-08-06.
Are Coolify and Dokploy free?
Both are free to self-host with no feature restrictions. The paid plans host the control panel for you and you still bring your own servers. Coolify Cloud is $5/month covering two connected servers, then $3/month per extra. Dokploy Cloud Hobby is $4.50/month per server, and Startup is $15/month with three servers and unlimited users.
Do I still need my own VPS with the cloud plans?
Yes, with both. Coolify Cloud and Dokploy Cloud host the management panel on their infrastructure, but your applications deploy onto servers you own and pay for separately at Hetzner, DigitalOcean, Vultr or anywhere else. Neither cloud plan includes compute.
What server do I need to run Dokploy?
Dokploy documents a minimum of 2 GB of RAM and 30 GB of disk, mostly to survive Docker builds without freezing, and it needs ports 80, 443 and 3000 free. Coolify has similar practical requirements. Under 2 GB, builds are the first thing to fail on either one.
Is Dokploy really open source?
Mostly. Its LICENSE.MD grants Apache 2.0 for the codebase but carves out anything under a /proprietary directory, which is licensed separately and closed. That is the standard open-core shape and it is not unusual, but it is a genuine difference from Coolify, which is Apache 2.0 with no exception.
Sources
Every number on this page was read from these pages on 2026-08-06. Vendors change pricing without notice, so check the source before you commit budget.