head to head · open source
Coolify vs OpenPanel
Coolify has 61,942 GitHub stars, 5,489 forks, 649 open issues and last shipped yesterday. OpenPanel has 745 stars, 106 forks, 4 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Coolify leads on adoption by 8,214% (61,942 vs 745 stars). Coolify is written in PHP under Apache-2.0; OpenPanel is written in HTML under a custom or non-standard licence. Coolify has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, OpenPanel 14%. Coolify was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (docker), 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 | OpenPanel | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 62K | ★ 745 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Custom / other |
| Written in | PHP | HTML |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.5K | ⑂ 106 |
| 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 OpenPanel if
- You want the OpenPanel feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches HTML
- You evaluated both and OpenPanel 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 OpenPanel
OpenPanel is an open source web hosting control panel built around containers, and it lives in the self hosted infrastructure operations ecosystem for Docker and Podman hosting panels. It is offered as a free community edition and as a fully supported commercial version.
read the full OpenPanel overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Coolify or OpenPanel more popular?
Coolify has 61,942 GitHub stars and OpenPanel has 745. Coolify has the larger community by that measure.
Are Coolify and OpenPanel free?
Both are open source. Coolify is licensed under Apache-2.0, and OpenPanel has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Coolify and OpenPanel?
Coolify is written in PHP and OpenPanel in HTML. 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 OpenPanel?
Choose Coolify if you want the larger community (61,942 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose OpenPanel if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.