head to head · open source
Coolify vs Cosmos Server
Coolify has 61,942 GitHub stars, 5,489 forks, 649 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Cosmos Server has 6,158 stars, 249 forks, 201 open issues and last shipped 13 days ago. Coolify leads on adoption by 906% (61,942 vs 6,158 stars). Coolify is written in PHP under Apache-2.0; Cosmos Server is written in Go under a custom or non-standard licence. Coolify has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, Cosmos Server 4%. Coolify was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
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 | Cosmos Server | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 62K | ★ 6.2K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Custom / other |
| Written in | PHP | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-05 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.5K | ⑂ 249 |
| 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 Cosmos Server if
- You want the Cosmos Server feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and Cosmos Server 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 Cosmos Server
Cosmos Server is a self hosted cloud platform written in Go that acts as a secure gateway and server manager for a home server. It lives in the self hosting and infrastructure ecosystem, and it is distributed primarily as a Docker image ( azukaar/cosmos server ) with a web UI for managing applications from any device. The project bundles a reverse proxy, an authentication server, a container manager, a storage manager, a VPN, backups, monitoring, and an app store into a single control plane, and it is published under a NOASSERTION license with a homepage at cosmos cloud.io.
read the full Cosmos Server overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Coolify or Cosmos Server more popular?
Coolify has 61,942 GitHub stars and Cosmos Server has 6,158. Coolify has the larger community by that measure.
Are Coolify and Cosmos Server free?
Both are open source. Coolify is licensed under Apache-2.0, and Cosmos Server has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Coolify and Cosmos Server?
Coolify is written in PHP and Cosmos Server in Go. 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 Cosmos Server?
Choose Coolify if you want the larger community (61,942 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Cosmos Server if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.