Key differences, specifications and fit guidance for Coolify and Dokploy, compiled from official documentation and the iThub profiles.
Coolify is an open-source, self-hostable platform for deploying apps, databases and 360+ one-click services to your own servers over SSH.
Dokploy is an open-source, self-hostable deployment platform on Docker and Traefik for apps, databases and Docker Compose stacks, with an optional paid cloud.
Pick Coolify if you want a self-hosted deployment dashboard with no paywalled features, a choice of Traefik or Caddy and more than 360 one-click services; pick Dokploy if you want Docker Swarm clustering, dedicated build servers and an Enterprise plan with SSO, SCIM and audit logs. Both are open source, deploy to servers you connect over SSH and offer a managed cloud control plane billed by connected servers. The deciding factor is how you will scale across servers: Coolify is deprecating Swarm in favour of multi-server deployments, while Dokploy builds on Swarm.
Choose Coolify ifShortlist Coolify when you want every feature without a paid tier, a large one-click service catalog, a choice between Traefik and Caddy, and multi-server deployments behind your own load balancer.
Choose Dokploy ifShortlist Dokploy when you want Docker Swarm clustering, dedicated build servers, log and metric exports to tools such as Grafana or Datadog, or an Enterprise plan with SSO, SCIM and audit logs.
| Aspect | Coolify | Dokploy |
|---|---|---|
| Licence and paid features | The whole project is under the Apache License 2.0, and the self-hosted edition has no feature restrictions; the site states there are no paywalled features. | Code outside a /proprietary directory is Apache 2.0, and that directory uses a separate proprietary licence. SSO/SAML, SCIM and audit logs are listed in the Enterprise plan. |
| Multi-server scaling | Docker Swarm support is deprecated and will be removed in v5. For new infrastructure across servers, the docs recommend multi-server deployments behind an external load balancer. | Scales applications to multiple nodes with Docker Swarm, and remote servers let you deploy away from the server that runs the Dokploy UI. |
| Reverse proxy | Runs a coolify-proxy container on each server that hosts resources. Traefik is the default, Caddy is an alternative, or you can run your own proxy. | Traefik is the reverse proxy and load balancer, and remote servers receive only a Traefik instance from Dokploy. |
| Build and deploy options | Builds from GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket or Gitea with Nixpacks, Railpack, a Dockerfile, Docker Compose or a prebuilt Docker image, with pull request previews and rollbacks. | Deploys Node.js, PHP, Python, Go, Ruby and other apps with native Docker Compose support. Dedicated build servers work for applications but not for Compose deployments. |
| Services and databases | More than 360 one-click services, plus PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, MongoDB, Redis, KeyDB, Dragonfly and ClickHouse databases. | One-click templates for open-source apps such as Plausible and Pocketbase, plus MySQL, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, MariaDB, libsql and Redis databases. |
| Managed cloud pricing | Coolify Cloud costs $5 per month for two connected servers plus $3 per month per additional server. Coolify runs on managed infrastructure while apps run on your servers. | Dokploy Cloud Hobby costs $4.50 per month per server and Startup $15 per month with three servers. The control plane is hosted while code and data stay on your servers. |
| Self-hosted footprint | Needs 2 CPU cores, 2 GB RAM and 10 GB disk. The recommended setup uses one server for Coolify and one or more servers for deployed resources. | A single-server install runs the UI, PostgreSQL, Redis, Traefik and your apps on one machine. A UI used only for remote deployments needs around 250 MB of RAM. |
| Backups, logs and alerts | Backs up data to any S3 compatible storage, sends logs to Axiom, New Relic, Highlight or your own collector, and alerts through Discord, Telegram or email. | Backs up databases to an external storage destination and ships logs and metrics to Grafana, Datadog, New Relic, Splunk, AWS CloudWatch and other tools. |
From the iThub profiles. “Not recorded” means the profile does not confirm it. Confirm prices and editions with each vendor.
| Attribute | Coolify | Dokploy |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | From $5.00 ↗ | From $4.50 ↗ |
| API | Yes ↗ | Yes |
| Founded | Not recorded | 2024 |
| Headquarters | Not recorded | Remote |
| GitHub stars | 65.7K ↗ | 38.3K ↗ |
| Documentation | Official docs ↗ | Official docs ↗ |
CoolifyCoolify is an open-source and self-hostable alternative to Vercel, Heroku, Netlify and Railway. You connect your own servers over SSH, and Coolify builds each commit and ships it to them. It can deploy websites, databases, web applications and more than 360 one-click services. Builds can use Nixpacks, Railpack, a Dockerfile or Docker Compose, and prebuilt Docker images from a registry also work.
The self-hosted edition is free with no feature restrictions, and its pricing page lists community support. A managed Coolify Cloud option runs the control plane for you while your apps still run on servers you bring: it costs $5 per month as a base price for two servers plus $3 per month for each additional server. The site says there are no paywalled features and no investors.
DokployDokploy is an open-source deployment platform that its documentation positions as an alternative to Heroku, Vercel and Netlify. It is built on Docker and Traefik and is free to self-host. The project README describes native support for Docker Compose, multi-node scaling with Docker Swarm, one-click templates for open-source apps, and automatic Traefik integration for routing and load balancing.
The documentation covers applications, databases, Docker Compose, auto deploy, scheduled jobs, volume backups, watch paths and remote servers. The README also lists log and metric shipping to tools such as Grafana.
Coolify and Dokploy are open-source, self-hosted alternatives to Heroku, Vercel and Netlify that deploy apps and databases to servers you connect over SSH. They differ in scaling and licensing: Dokploy builds multi-node scaling on Docker Swarm and keeps some code under a proprietary licence, while Coolify is deprecating Swarm, keeps every feature free, and lets each server use Traefik or Caddy.
Decide how many servers you will run, whether workloads must span nodes, and who maintains the control plane. List the databases, Compose stacks and one-click services you need, and compare managed cloud cost for your server count with the time needed to patch and back up a self-hosted instance.
Install each platform on a fresh server and connect a second server over SSH. Deploy the same Git-based web app, a Docker Compose stack and a PostgreSQL database with a custom domain and HTTPS. Trigger a deploy from a push, roll back, back up and restore the database, then restart the control plane and check that apps stay online.
Yes, with one difference. Coolify is licensed under the Apache License 2.0 and states that it has no paywalled features. Dokploy is Apache 2.0 for code outside a /proprietary directory, while anything in that directory uses a separate proprietary licence, and its Enterprise plan lists SSO/SAML, SCIM provisioning and audit logs.
Both are free to self-host. Coolify Cloud costs $5 per month for two connected servers plus $3 per month for each additional server. Dokploy Cloud Hobby costs $4.50 per month per server, and Startup costs $15 per month with three servers and $4.50 for each extra one. Dokploy says annual billing saves 20%.
Dokploy does: it scales applications to multiple nodes using Docker Swarm to manage the cluster. Coolify added Swarm as an experimental feature and now marks it deprecated; it will be removed in Coolify v5. For new infrastructure across servers, Coolify recommends multi-server deployments with an external load balancer.
Yes. Coolify deploys apps, databases and services to one or several servers that you connect over SSH. Dokploy remote servers let you deploy apps to other servers without building and running them where the Dokploy UI is installed, and dedicated build servers are available for applications, though not for Docker Compose deployments.
Coolify runs a proxy container on each server that hosts resources; Traefik is the default, Caddy is an alternative, and you can choose to operate your own proxy without Coolify-managed routing. Dokploy uses Traefik as its reverse proxy and load balancer, and installs only a Traefik instance on remote servers.
Coolify says configurations stay on your servers and running resources continue to work and remain manageable if you stop using it. For Dokploy Cloud, the documentation says your code and data never leave your servers and the cloud only manages orchestration. Test how routing and restarts behave without each control plane before relying on it.
Facts on this page come from these official pages, checked on , and from the iThub profiles. Vendors change plans and features: confirm with them before buying.
