Comparing Dokploy, Dokku, Coolify, and CapRover. Which Self-Hosted PaaS is Best for You?
With the rise of self-hosted Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) solutions, developers are increasingly looking for alternatives to cloud-based services like Heroku, Vercel, and Netlify. These self-hosted PaaS platforms provide a simplified way to deploy, manage, and scale applications without vendor lock-in.
In economics, vendor lock-in, also known as proprietary lock-in or customer lock-in, makes a customer dependent on a vendor for products, unable to use another vendor without substantial switching costs.
What is PaaS?
A Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) is a cloud computing model that provides developers with a platform to build, deploy, and manage applications without dealing with the complexities of infrastructure. PaaS solutions often include features like automated deployments, scaling, monitoring, and integrations with development tools, making them ideal for streamlining the software development lifecycle.
In this post, we’ll compare four of the most popular open-source and free self-hosted PaaS solutions: Dokploy, Dokku, Coolify, and CapRover. These platforms offer features like CI/CD, monitoring, auto-scaling, load balancing, one-click deployments, and built-in database management—perfect for developers who want control over their infrastructure.
Why Self-Hosted?
Developers may prefer self-hosted PaaS over cloud-hosted solutions for several reasons:
1. No Vendor Lock-in
With self-hosted platforms, you’re not tied to a single provider like AWS, GCP, or Azure. This gives you full control over your infrastructure and avoids price hikes, service restrictions, or forced migrations.
2. Cost Efficiency
Cloud platforms charge for compute, storage, and bandwidth. Running your own PaaS on bare-metal servers, VPS, or on-premise infrastructure can significantly reduce costs for long-term projects.
3. Full Control Over Data & Security
Self-hosting ensures that your data stays on your own servers, allowing for better security, compliance with regulations (like GDPR), and custom firewall configurations.
4. Customization & Flexibility
Unlike managed services, self-hosted PaaS allows for deep customization—installing specific software, tweaking resource allocation, and integrating any monitoring or CI/CD tools you prefer.
5. Performance Optimization
You can fine-tune your stack for better performance, optimize network configurations, and even use dedicated hardware for resource-heavy applications, which is not always possible with cloud providers.
6. Offline & Private Cloud Deployment
Some businesses and developers need offline or private cloud environments due to compliance, security, or operational constraints. Self-hosting ensures your applications run even without internet access.
7. More Predictable Pricing
Cloud pricing can be unpredictable due to egress fees, API requests, and auto-scaling charges. Self-hosting provides a fixed, predictable cost structure based on server expenses.
8. Learning & Experimentation
Running a self-hosted PaaS is a great learning experience for DevOps and software engineers who want to understand orchestration, load balancing, and infrastructure management at a deeper level.
1. Overview of Each Platform
| Platform | Description | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| Dokploy | A modern, Docker-based PaaS with a simple UI and multi-server support. | Developers who need a lightweight Heroku alternative. |
| Dokku | A minimalistic, Git-based PaaS similar to Heroku. | Developers who love Git push deployments. |
| Coolify | A feature-rich PaaS with a UI, Git integration, and built-in databases. | Teams looking for a Netlify/Vercel replacement. |
| CapRover | A powerful PaaS with one-click app installs and a strong community. | Full-stack teams needing flexibility. |
2. Key Feature Comparison
| Feature | Dokploy | Dokku | Coolify | CapRover |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UI for Management | ✅ Yes | ❌ No | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Docker Support | ✅ Full | ✅ Full | ✅ Full | ✅ Full |
| Git Deployments | ❌ No (UI-based) | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Built-in Databases | ✅ Yes | ⚠️ Plugins | ✅ Yes | ⚠️ Plugins |
| Multi-Server Support | ✅ Yes | ❌ No | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Load Balancing | ✅ Traefik | ❌ No | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| CI/CD Integration | ✅ GitHub Actions | ❌ No | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Monitoring (Grafana, Logs) | ✅ Built-in | ❌ No | ✅ Built-in | ✅ Add-ons |
| Auto-Scaling | ✅ Yes | ❌ No | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| One-Click App Installs | ❌ No | ❌ No | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Best for | Docker-based app hosting | Simple Git-based PaaS | Modern UI-driven PaaS | DevOps flexibility |
3. Pros and Cons of Each Platform
Dokploy
✅ Pros:
- Modern UI for managing apps.
- Supports multi-server orchestration via SSH.
- Uses Traefik for load balancing and reverse proxy.
- Built-in CI/CD support (GitHub Actions).
- Monitoring tools (Grafana, Prometheus).
- Auto-scaling capabilities.
❌ Cons:
- No Kubernetes support.
- Less mature than Dokku or CapRover.
Dokku
✅ Pros:
- Lightweight, minimal dependencies.
- Git-based deployment (
git push dokku master). - Large plugin ecosystem.
❌ Cons:
- No UI, CLI-only.
- No built-in multi-server support.
- Lacks CI/CD, monitoring, and auto-scaling features out of the box.
Coolify
✅ Pros:
- Great UI, GitHub/GitLab integration.
- Auto-deployments, logs, monitoring.
- Built-in databases and services.
- CI/CD support, Webhooks, Git sync.
- One-click app installations.
- Auto-scaling support.
❌ Cons:
- More resource-intensive than Dokku.
- Fewer community plugins compared to CapRover.
CapRover
✅ Pros:
- One-click app deployments (WordPress, Next.js, etc.).
- Multi-server, Docker, and load balancing support.
- Strong community and stability.
- CI/CD pipelines supported via webhooks.
- Auto-scaling features.
❌ Cons:
- CLI setup can be tricky.
- UI is less modern than Coolify.
4. Which One Should You Choose?
| Use Case | Best Choice |
|---|---|
| Beginner-friendly PaaS with UI | Coolify |
| Minimalist, Git-based PaaS | Dokku |
| Best for Docker-based scaling | Dokploy |
| One-click apps & strong community | CapRover |
5. Additional Features That Developers Love
- CI/CD Integration → Dokploy, Coolify, and CapRover offer Git-based deployments with automation.
- Monitoring with Grafana → Dokploy and Coolify come with built-in monitoring tools.
- Load Balancing & Reverse Proxy → Traefik (Dokploy), Nginx (CapRover), and other solutions.
- Multi-Server Deployments → Dokploy and CapRover allow horizontal scaling.
- One-Click Apps → CapRover and Coolify have app templates for easy deployment.
- Auto-Scaling → Dokploy, Coolify, and CapRover support automatic resource allocation.
- Built-in Database Management → Coolify and Dokploy provide integrated database hosting.
Conclusion
All four platforms are open-source, free, and self-hosted, but they cater to different needs:
- If you want simplicity → Dokku
- If you want a Heroku alternative with UI → Coolify or CapRover
- If you want multi-server & Docker focus → Dokploy