head to head · open source
Coolify vs Refine
Coolify has 61,942 GitHub stars, 5,489 forks, 649 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Refine has 35,688 stars, 3,214 forks, 43 open issues and last shipped 8 days ago. Coolify leads on adoption by 74% (61,942 vs 35,688 stars). Coolify is written in PHP under Apache-2.0; Refine is written in TypeScript under MIT. Coolify has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, Refine 9%. 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 | Refine | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 62K | ★ 36K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | PHP | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-10 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.5K | ⑂ 3.2K |
| 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 Refine if
- You want the Refine feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Refine 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 Refine
Refine is an open source React meta framework for building CRUD heavy internal tools, admin panels, dashboards, and B2B applications. It operates in the React ecosystem and targets developers who need structured, scalable frontends without the constraints of low code platforms or the overhead of building everything from scratch.
read the full Refine overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Coolify or Refine more popular?
Coolify has 61,942 GitHub stars and Refine has 35,688. Coolify has the larger community by that measure.
Are Coolify and Refine free?
Both are open source. Coolify is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Refine under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Coolify and Refine?
Coolify is written in PHP and Refine in TypeScript. 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 Refine?
Choose Coolify if you want the larger community (61,942 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Refine if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.