Coolify vs Dokploy
Coolify and Dokploy compared as self-hosted Heroku/Vercel alternatives: licensing, cloud pricing per server, multi-node scaling, preview deployments, templates and enterprise features, with current 2026 plans.
Quick Answer
Coolify is the better default for most solo developers and small teams: fully Apache-2.0, a 280+ one-click service catalog, preview deployments for GitHub, GitLab, Gitea and Bitbucket, and the cheaper managed cloud. Dokploy is the pick if you want Docker Swarm clustering today (Coolify has deprecated Swarm and plans to remove it in v5) or need SSO, SCIM and audit logs through a paid enterprise licence.
Last updated October 18, 2026. Written against Coolify's and Dokploy's October 2026 pricing pages, Coolify's Swarm deprecation notice (removal planned for v5), and Dokploy's current edition comparison and Source Available licence.
| Feature | Coolify | Dokploy |
|---|---|---|
| Licence | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 core + source-available /proprietary |
| Self-Hosted Price | Free, all features, unlimited servers | Free (OSS edition) |
| Managed Cloud Entry Price | $5/month (2 servers included) | Hobby $4.50/month per server |
| Cloud: Extra Server | $3/month per server | $4.50/month per server |
| Minimum Server (Self-Hosted) | 2 CPU cores, 2 GB RAM, 10 GB disk | 2 GB RAM, 30 GB disk |
| Reverse Proxy | Traefik (default) or Caddy | Traefik |
| Multi-Node / Cluster Scaling | Multi-server; Swarm deprecated (removed in v5) | Docker Swarm cluster (registry required) |
| One-Click App Templates | 280+ services | Built-in catalog (Supabase, Cal.com, PocketBase, etc.) |
| PR Preview Deployments | GitHub, GitLab, Gitea, Bitbucket | GitHub-connected apps, default cap 3 |
| SSO / SCIM / Audit Logs | Not offered | Enterprise licence (Cloud or self-hosted) |
| GitHub Stars (Oct 2026) | ~61k | ~37k |
Coolify
Open-source, self-hostable platform for deploying apps, databases and 280+ one-click services to any server you can reach over SSH, with an optional managed control plane (Coolify Cloud).
Pros
- Apache-2.0 across the whole codebase, and the self-hosted edition is free with every feature and unlimited servers, teams and members
- 280+ one-click services, the largest template catalog of any self-hosted PaaS
- Preview deployments work with GitHub (full support via GitHub App), GitLab, Gitea and Bitbucket, with auto-cleanup when the PR closes
- Managed Coolify Cloud is cheap: $5/month covers 2 servers, then $3/month per extra server
- Choice of Traefik (default) or Caddy as the proxy, or no managed proxy at all
- Biggest community of the two (about 61k GitHub stars), so more guides and answered issues
Cons
- Docker Swarm support is deprecated and will be removed in v5; until Coolify's own scaling ships, multi-server means separate servers behind an external load balancer
- Switching proxies takes public routes down until the new proxy starts and resources are redeployed
- No enterprise tier with SSO/SCIM or audit logs is advertised on the pricing page
- On Coolify Cloud, each extra team needs its own subscription
Best For
Indie hackers and small teams running apps on one or a handful of VPSs who want the biggest template catalog and a fully open-source licence.
Dokploy
Self-hostable deployment platform built on Docker, Docker Swarm and Traefik, with native Docker Compose support, a managed cloud option and a licensed enterprise edition.
Pros
- Docker Swarm clustering is a first-class feature: join manager and worker nodes and place apps across servers
- Native Docker Compose support with per-service logs, monitoring and terminals
- Separate build servers and remote deploy servers keep heavy builds off production hosts
- Enterprise edition adds SSO, SCIM, custom roles, audit logs and white-labelling, including air-gapped self-hosted installs
- Several build types out of the box: Docker, Nixpacks, Heroku Buildpacks and Paketo Buildpacks
- Self-hosted (OSS) edition is free
Cons
- Not purely open source: code under /proprietary is source-available and needs a commercial agreement for production use
- Cloud Hobby plan allows 1 user and 1 organization; team features start at the $15/month Startup plan
- Cluster mode requires a Docker registry first, and Dokploy does not clean up storage on worker nodes automatically
- Preview deployments are documented for GitHub-connected applications and capped at 3 per app by default
- Self-hosted install needs 30 GB disk and free ports 80, 443 and 3000
Best For
Teams that want Swarm-based multi-node deployments or a Compose-first workflow now, and companies that need SSO, SCIM and audit logs.
Licensing: fully open versus open core
Coolify's repository is Apache-2.0, and its pricing page describes the self-hosted edition as free forever with full access to all features and no limitations. There is no paid feature tier inside the self-hosted product; the only paid product is Coolify Cloud, where Coolify runs the control plane for you. Dokploy is open core. Its LICENSE file puts everything under Apache-2.0 except content under a /proprietary directory, which falls under a separate Dokploy Source Available licence. That licence allows copying and modifying the proprietary code for development and testing, but production use requires a commercial agreement with Dokploy, and redistribution or resale is forbidden. Dokploy's own edition table lists the self-hosted OSS edition as free, with the same core deployment experience as its paid editions, but without custom roles, SSO, SCIM, application authentication, audit logs or white-labelling. For most self-hosters this distinction never bites: deploying apps, databases and Compose stacks is in the free part of both. It matters if you plan to fork the platform, build a hosting business on top of it, or need enterprise identity features. Coolify gives you everything but no enterprise path; Dokploy gives you an enterprise path but on commercial terms.
Managed cloud pricing as you add servers
Both products let you bring your own servers and pay only for the managed control plane, and both offer a 20% discount for annual billing. The pricing curves differ. Coolify Cloud is $5 per month including two connected servers, then $3 per month for each additional server, with unlimited deployments and team members. Dokploy Cloud's Hobby plan is $4.50 per month per server, but it is limited to one user, one organization and two environments. The Startup plan starts at $15 per month with up to three servers, unlimited users, basic Admin/Developer roles and 2FA, and extra servers cost $4.50 per month each. Worked through: at five servers, Coolify Cloud costs $14 per month and Dokploy Startup $24. At ten servers it is $29 versus $46.50. A solo developer on one server pays $4.50 on Dokploy Hobby and $5 on Coolify Cloud, so Dokploy is marginally cheaper only at the very bottom. Remember the server bills themselves come from Hetzner, DigitalOcean or whoever you use, and they dwarf either control-plane fee. Self-hosting the control plane removes the fee entirely but costs you a server: Coolify asks for 2 cores, 2 GB RAM and 10 GB disk; Dokploy asks for 2 GB RAM and 30 GB disk.
Scaling past one server: where each one breaks
This is the clearest technical split. Dokploy's cluster feature is built on Docker Swarm: you join manager and worker nodes to the Dokploy manager, and Traefik routes traffic to the servers running each app. The cluster section stays locked until you configure a Docker registry, because other nodes must pull your built images from it. Dokploy's docs also warn that it does not clean up storage on worker nodes automatically, so you need scheduled cleanup or to register nodes as remote servers. Coolify's documentation now labels Docker Swarm as deprecated and experimental. Existing Swarm deployments keep working on v4, but the docs say not to create new ones, and Swarm will be removed in Coolify v5 in favour of native Docker Compose replicas and Coolify's own scaling solution. Until that ships, Coolify's advice for infrastructure that must span servers is multi-server deployments behind an external load balancer. In practice, Coolify handles many servers well when each server runs its own set of apps. If you need one service replicated across nodes with the platform handling placement, Dokploy is the one that does it today. Both also support separating builds from production: Dokploy documents dedicated build servers, which helps keep a small production VPS responsive during Next.js or Rust builds.
Developer workflow: templates, previews and proxies
Coolify's one-click catalog lists 280+ services, which covers most self-hosted staples: analytics, CMSs, databases, queues and AI tools. Dokploy has a built-in template catalog too, with examples like Supabase, Cal.com and PocketBase, but it does not publish a count of the same size, and its centre of gravity is your own Docker Compose files, which it supports natively with per-service logs, terminals and monitoring. Preview deployments are broader in Coolify. Its docs cover GitHub with full support through a GitHub App (PR status updates and comments), plus GitLab, Gitea and Bitbucket, and manual previews for Docker image apps built by external CI. Previews are deleted when the PR closes or merges. Dokploy's preview deployments are documented for GitHub-integrated applications, generate free traefik.me domains by default or use your wildcard domain, can be filtered by PR label, and are capped at three per application by default. Both warn against enabling previews on public repositories, since contributors could run code on your server. For routing, Dokploy is Traefik-only, with detailed Traefik configuration per application. Coolify defaults to Traefik but supports Caddy or no managed proxy; its docs note Caddy is less documented and that switching proxies causes downtime until resources are redeployed.
Verdict
Choose Coolify if you deploy to one or a few servers, want the largest one-click catalog, need preview deployments outside GitHub, or care about a licence that is Apache-2.0 end to end. It is also the cheaper managed option at $5/month for two servers plus $3 per extra server. Choose Dokploy if you need apps spread across a Docker Swarm cluster today, live in Docker Compose files, or need SSO, SCIM, custom roles and audit logs, which Dokploy sells as an enterprise licence and Coolify does not offer. If you are starting on a single VPS and none of those apply, start with Coolify; moving later is mostly a matter of redeploying containers, since both run your workloads as plain Docker.