head to head · open source
Dokku vs penguin-harness
Dokku has 32,147 GitHub stars, 2,075 forks, 36 open issues and last shipped yesterday. penguin-harness has 2,305 stars, 245 forks, 77 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Dokku leads on adoption by 1,295% (32,147 vs 2,305 stars). Dokku is written in Go under MIT; penguin-harness is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. Dokku has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, penguin-harness 11%. penguin-harness 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
| Dokku | penguin-harness | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 32K | ★ 2.3K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-20 | 2026-09-20 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.1K | ⑂ 245 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Dokku if
- You weight community size — 32K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick penguin-harness if
- You want the penguin-harness feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and penguin-harness fits your workflow better
About Dokku
Dokku is a self hosted Platform as a Service (PaaS) that runs on a single server using Docker containers. It enables developers to deploy applications using familiar workflows like git push , mimicking the simplicity of Heroku while running entirely under the user’s control. Dokku lives in the DevOps and infrastructure automation ecosystem, targeting teams that want PaaS convenience without relying on cloud vendor lock in.
read the full Dokku overview →
About penguin-harness
PenguinHarness is an open source, local first, multi agent auto development platform that runs on a developer's own computer or server and automates the full lifecycle of AI agent applications — creation, evaluation, optimization, and deployment — under the Apache 2.0 licence.
read the full penguin-harness overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Dokku or penguin-harness more popular?
Dokku has 32,147 GitHub stars and penguin-harness has 2,305. Dokku has the larger community by that measure.
Are Dokku and penguin-harness free?
Both are open source. Dokku is licensed under MIT and penguin-harness under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Dokku and penguin-harness?
Dokku is written in Go and penguin-harness 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, Dokku or penguin-harness?
Choose Dokku if you want the larger community (32,147 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose penguin-harness if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.