Self-host Coolify

updated Jul 2026deployed & timed by usprices checked · Aug 2026Install verified on Ubuntu 26.04 · Aug 2026 · how we test

An open-source, self-hostable Heroku/Vercel/Netlify alternative — deploy apps, databases, and services to your own servers from a Git push, with one control panel.

Heroku / yr$300

Self-hosted / yr~$55

You keep$245/yr

Pocket the difference — spin it up on a cheap VPS in minutes.Start free on Kamatera →

Key facts

CategoryPlatform-as-a-Service

LicenseApache-2.0

StackPHP, Laravel

Min RAM2048 MB

Dockeryes

Difficulty

Our recommendation

Pick Coolify when you want a Heroku-style push-to-deploy experience on your own servers — apps, databases, and preview environments from one dashboard — and you're comfortable that it's still a fast-moving project led by a small core. If you only ever run a couple of containers, a plain Compose file plus Nginx Proxy Manager is far less to operate; if you need to spread work across many servers, Dokploy's Swarm model is the closer fit.

Follow the Coolify deploy guide →

What you need

Any VPS with at least 2048 MB of RAM
A domain you control — most self-hosted setups need HTTPS in front of them
Under an hour if you've used Docker before

Install

Run these commands on your server:

# Coolify — official one-line installer (Ubuntu/Debian)
curl -fsSL https://cdn.coollabs.io/coolify/install.sh | bash
# then open http://SERVER_IP:8000 to finish setup

deploy guideDeploy Coolify on a VPS vps picksBest VPS for self-hostingbenchmarked quarterly · re-priced monthly

What you take on

Coolify swaps a managed platform for one you operate yourself — so the platform's own reliability becomes your job too:

non-negotiableIt moves fast. Coolify ships frequently and is driven by a small team — pin a version, read the changelog before upgrading, and keep the install script's rollback handy rather than tracking latest.

non-negotiableBack up Coolify itself, not just your apps. Its own database holds every project, secret, and deploy config — snapshot it off the box, or a lost control node means rebuilding everything by hand.

non-negotiableIt wants a real box. Coolify plus a database and a few apps is comfortable on 2 vCPU / 4 GB, not a 1 GB VPS — and by default the server it runs on is also the server it deploys to, until you attach remote servers.

An alternative to

Heroku →Vercel →

Head-to-head

PaaSAug 2026

Coolify

Dokploy

Mature and broad vs. lean and built for clusters.

Read the verdict →

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