head to head · open source
Coolify vs aaPanel
Coolify has 61,942 GitHub stars, 5,489 forks, 649 open issues and last shipped yesterday. aaPanel has 3,058 stars, 762 forks, 92 open issues and last shipped 22 days ago. Coolify leads on adoption by 1,926% (61,942 vs 3,058 stars). Coolify is written in PHP under Apache-2.0; aaPanel is written in JavaScript under a custom or non-standard licence. Coolify has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, aaPanel 25%. Coolify was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (docker, mysql), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| Coolify | aaPanel | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 62K | ★ 3.1K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Custom / other |
| Written in | PHP | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-08-27 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.5K | ⑂ 762 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Coolify if
- You weight community size — 62K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches PHP
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick aaPanel if
- You want the aaPanel feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and aaPanel fits your workflow better
About Coolify
Coolify is an open source, self hostable Platform as a Service (PaaS) designed to replace commercial services like Vercel, Heroku, and Netlify. It runs on user provided infrastructure—VPS, bare metal, or Raspberry Pi—and automates deployment, scaling, and management of applications, databases, and services using Docker and Docker Compose. Built with Laravel and PHP, it lives in the infrastructure and operations ecosystem, targeting developers and DevOps teams seeking vendor lock in free control over their deployment stack.
read the full Coolify overview →
About aaPanel
aaPanel is a web based hosting control panel for Linux servers, distributed from the aaPanel GitHub repository under the infrastructure and operations category. It is written in JavaScript and installs on top of an existing Linux operating system, where it presents a graphical interface for managing the web server rather than requiring administrators to edit configuration files by hand. The project sits in the Linux server management ecosystem alongside the Apache, Nginx, MySQL, PHP and Docker tooling that it installs and administers. Its stated design goal is simplicity combined with power: a single panel that c…
read the full aaPanel overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Coolify or aaPanel more popular?
Coolify has 61,942 GitHub stars and aaPanel has 3,058. Coolify has the larger community by that measure.
Are Coolify and aaPanel free?
Both are open source. Coolify is licensed under Apache-2.0, and aaPanel has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Coolify and aaPanel?
Coolify is written in PHP and aaPanel in JavaScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Coolify or aaPanel?
Choose Coolify if you want the larger community (61,942 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose aaPanel if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.