# Coolify vs Dokploy: Choosing a Self-Hosted PaaS

> A hands-on comparison of Coolify and Dokploy for self-hosting apps on a VPS, covering architecture, database management, git deploys, and resource use.

URL: https://www.matthewswong.com/en/blog/coolify-vs-dokploy-self-hosted-paas/

- Author: Matthews Wong (https://www.matthewswong.com/en/about/)
- Published: 2026-07-02
- Updated: 2026-10-01
- Category: DevOps

At some point every developer who has manually wired up Docker, Nginx, and a Let's Encrypt renewal cron job on a bare VPS starts wondering if there is a better way. There is: self-hosted PaaS platforms give you a Vercel or Heroku style deploy experience while the containers still run on hardware you own and pay for by the month instead of by the request.

Coolify and Dokploy are the two most popular open source options in this space right now, and they solve the same problem in slightly different ways. This post compares them across the dimensions that actually matter once you start running real workloads: how each one is architected, how it treats your databases, how git-based deploys work under the hood, how much of your VPS they eat just sitting idle, and which one is the better default choice depending on your situation.

## Architecture: How Each Platform Manages Your Server

Both platforms are, at their core, a dashboard application plus an agent that talks to the Docker daemon over SSH or a local socket. Neither one replaces Docker; they orchestrate it for you and generate the Traefik reverse proxy configuration, TLS certificates, and networking so you never hand-write a compose file for routing. The meaningful architectural difference is how each one thinks about scaling beyond a single box.

- Coolify installs as a single control-plane application directly on your primary server, then manages any number of additional remote servers over SSH. It supports everything from a Raspberry Pi to a large cloud instance. It once added Docker Swarm as an experimental option, but its documentation now marks Swarm support as deprecated and due for removal in Coolify v5, so do not plan a cluster around it.
- Dokploy shares the same Docker-plus-Traefik foundation but was built with Docker Swarm clustering as a first-class feature from its earliest releases, so adding a second node to scale an application horizontally is a guided flow rather than an advanced add-on.
- Both platforms provision Let's Encrypt certificates automatically through Traefik and renew them without any manual intervention, so certbot cron jobs become a thing of the past on either one.

> If you are running a single VPS for a handful of side projects, do not let the Swarm-clustering conversation distract you. Both platforms work great on one box, and you can add nodes later if you ever actually need to scale horizontally.

## Feature-by-Feature Comparison

Zooming out from architecture, here is how the two platforms stack up on the practical factors that usually decide which one a team picks.

| Factor | Coolify | Dokploy |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Underlying orchestration | Docker Compose by default; the experimental Docker Swarm support is deprecated and slated for removal in v5 | Docker Swarm native, built into the core from day one |
| License | Fully open source under the Apache 2.0 license, including advanced features | Apache 2.0 core; only code under the repository's /proprietary directories (enterprise features such as SSO and audit logs) uses a separate proprietary licence |
| Maturity | Older project with a much larger community, extensive documentation, and a catalog of more than 280 one-click services | Newer project that grew extremely fast, with a lighter and often faster-feeling dashboard |
| Best fit | Teams that want maximum flexibility, a huge one-click service catalog, and a fully open license | Developers who want the fastest possible onboarding and are comfortable with a leaner, more opinionated tool |

## Database Management: Where They Actually Differ Day to Day

Deploying an application is table stakes for any self-hosted PaaS. Where the day-to-day experience diverges is database management, since that is the part of your stack you can least afford to get wrong. Both platforms let you spin up a managed Postgres, MySQL, MongoDB, or Redis instance from the dashboard instead of hand-writing a compose file, but the depth of the built-in backup and restore tooling is what you actually feel once the app is in production.

- Pick a database engine and version from the dashboard, and the platform provisions it as its own container on the server with sane defaults for storage and networking.
- Point the automatic backup job at an S3-compatible bucket, whether that is real AWS S3, Cloudflare R2, Backblaze B2, or a self-hosted MinIO instance, and set a schedule.
- When something goes wrong, restore from any scheduled backup with a couple of clicks in the dashboard instead of SSHing in and running pg_restore by hand.

> A database running as just another container on the same VPS as your application shares CPU and memory with everything else on that box. A single heavy Postgres workload can starve your app containers of resources unless you size the server accordingly or move the database to a dedicated instance once traffic grows.

## Git-Based Deploys and What Happens Under the Hood

The deploy experience on both platforms looks the same from the outside: connect a GitHub, GitLab, or Bitbucket repository, pick a branch, and every push triggers a new build and rollout. Internally, both detect your project type automatically and either use a Dockerfile you already have or generate a build for you when there is none, then wire the result into Traefik using labels much like the snippet below, which is representative of the compose configuration either platform assembles behind the scenes.

## Resource Use on a Small VPS

Since both platforms are themselves a set of containers running on the same server as your applications, the overhead they add matters a lot on a budget VPS. Neither one is free to run, and the difference shows up most on the smallest droplets and instances.

- Coolify's own dashboard, plus the Postgres and Redis containers it uses internally to store your configuration, typically settle at a few hundred megabytes of RAM once idle, and that is before any of your applications start.
- Dokploy runs a comparable dashboard container alongside Traefik, so budget a similar modest baseline overhead on top of whatever your own applications and databases need.
- On a common 2 vCPU, 4 GB RAM VPS, either platform still leaves enough headroom for two or three small Next.js or Node services plus one lightweight database, which covers most side projects and small client sites comfortably.

Either platform replaces an entire weekend of manually wiring Docker, Traefik, and certbot renewals with an install script that takes a few minutes to run. That alone is worth the modest RAM overhead for most self-hosters.

## Which One Should You Actually Pick?

Reach for Coolify if you want the platform with the largest community, the most one-click services, the longest track record in production, and a fully open Apache 2.0 license with no features held back behind a paid tier. Reach for Dokploy if you want the fastest possible onboarding, you like a leaner and more opinionated dashboard, and you already know you want Docker Swarm clustering as the default scaling story from day one rather than an optional add-on.

For most solo developers and small teams running a handful of side projects or client sites on a single VPS, either platform will comfortably replace a manual Docker and Traefik setup within an afternoon. The decision usually comes down to whether you value Coolify's larger ecosystem and fully open license, or Dokploy's leaner footprint and Swarm-first design. Try both on a cheap throwaway VPS before committing; the install script for either one takes only a few minutes to run and just as long to tear down.

## Sources:

- Coolify official documentation — Introduction
- Dokploy official documentation — Core concepts
- Coolify GitHub repository (coollabsio/coolify)
- Dokploy GitHub repository (Dokploy/dokploy)
- Coolify docs: Docker Swarm (deprecated)
- Dokploy LICENSE.MD
- Easypanel pricing

## What About Easypanel? A Commercial Third Option

Readers have asked about Easypanel, and its founder wrote in to suggest it. It belongs in this conversation with one clear distinction: Easypanel's core is commercial, closed-source software with a free plan, whereas Coolify and Dokploy are open source. It suits people who want to deploy apps on their own VPS through a simple interface, with a large maintained template catalogue and paid support behind it.

As of October 2026 the free plan allows up to three projects with unlimited services and deployments, and paid plans are licensed per server. If an open licence matters to you, stay with Coolify or Dokploy; if you would rather pay for a polished panel and a vendor to call, Easypanel is a reasonable choice.

Read the full three-way comparison: Easypanel vs Coolify vs Dokploy

> Correction, October 2026: an earlier version of this post described Dokploy's core as source-available and listed Docker Swarm as an ongoing Coolify option. Dokploy's core is Apache 2.0 with only its /proprietary directories under a separate licence, and Coolify has deprecated Swarm support. Both statements are now fixed above.

> **Key takeaway:** Coolify and Dokploy both turn a single VPS into a self-hosted PaaS with git deploys, Traefik routing and Let's Encrypt certificates. Coolify is fully Apache 2.0 with the larger service catalogue; Dokploy has an Apache 2.0 core, a leaner dashboard and Swarm-first scaling. Easypanel is the commercial alternative with a free plan.

## Source links

- https://coolify.io/docs/get-started/introduction
- https://docs.dokploy.com/docs/core
- https://github.com/coollabsio/coolify
- https://github.com/Dokploy/dokploy
- https://coolify.io/docs/core/infrastructure/scaling/docker-swarm
- https://github.com/Dokploy/dokploy/blob/canary/LICENSE.MD
- https://easypanel.io/pricing

## FAQ

### What is the main difference between Coolify and Dokploy?

Coolify is the older, larger project with a bigger community, a catalog of more than 280 one-click services, and a fully open Apache 2.0 license. Dokploy is newer and built Docker Swarm clustering into its core from the start, with a leaner dashboard but some advanced features gated behind a separate proprietary license. Both are self-hosted alternatives to Vercel, Heroku, and Netlify.

### Can I run either Coolify or Dokploy on a single small VPS?

Yes. Both platforms run comfortably on a single VPS with as little as 2 vCPUs and 4 GB of RAM, leaving enough headroom for a few small applications and a lightweight database. Docker Swarm clustering only becomes relevant once you actually need to scale across multiple servers, and neither platform forces you into it on day one.

### How do Coolify and Dokploy handle database backups?

Both platforms let you deploy managed Postgres, MySQL, MongoDB, or Redis instances from the dashboard and configure automatic backups to any S3-compatible storage, such as AWS S3, Cloudflare R2, or a self-hosted MinIO bucket. You can then restore from a scheduled backup with a few clicks instead of running database restore commands by hand over SSH.

### Why would I choose Dokploy instead of the more established Coolify?

Choose Dokploy if you want the fastest possible onboarding, prefer a leaner and more opinionated dashboard, or already know you want Docker Swarm clustering as your default scaling path rather than an optional add-on. Coolify's larger feature set and community can feel like more surface area than a smaller project actually needs.

### Do I still need to configure Nginx or certbot manually with these platforms?

No. Both Coolify and Dokploy generate their reverse proxy configuration through Traefik automatically and provision Let's Encrypt TLS certificates for every domain you connect, renewing them without any manual intervention. Manually editing Nginx configs or scheduling certbot renewal cron jobs is no longer necessary once either platform is managing your deploys.

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