head to head · open source
Coolify vs Dokploy
Coolify has 65,550 GitHub stars, 5,910 forks, 649 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Dokploy has 38,197 stars, 3,139 forks, 668 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Coolify leads on adoption by 72% (65,550 vs 38,197 stars). Coolify is written in PHP under Apache-2.0; Dokploy is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence. Coolify has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, Dokploy 8%. Coolify was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 4 topic tags (databases, deployment, docker, mariadb), 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 | Dokploy | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 66K | ★ 38K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Custom / other |
| Written in | PHP | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.9K | ⑂ 3.1K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Coolify if
- You weight community size — 66K 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 Dokploy if
- You want the Dokploy feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Dokploy fits your workflow better
About Coolify
Coolify An open source & self hostable Heroku / Netlify / Vercel alternative. About the Project Coolify is an open source & self hostable alternative to Heroku / Netlify / Vercel / etc. It helps you manage your servers, applications, and databases on your own hardware; you only need an SSH connection. You can manage VPS, Bare Metal, Raspberry PIs, and anything else. Imagine having the ease of a cloud but with your own servers. That is Coolify . No vendor lock in, which means that all the configurations for your applications/databases/etc are saved to your server. So, if you decide to stop using Coolify (oh…
read the full Coolify overview →
About Dokploy
Join us on Discord for help, feedback, and discussions! Dokploy is a free, self hostable Platform as a Service (PaaS) that simplifies the deployment and management of applications and databases. ✨ Features Dokploy includes multiple features to make your life easier. Applications : Deploy any type of application (Node.js, PHP, Python, Go, Ruby, etc.). Databases : Create and manage databases with support for MySQL, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, MariaDB, libsql, and Redis. Backups : Automate backups for databases to an external storage destination. Docker Compose : Native support for Docker Compose to manage complex…
read the full Dokploy overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Coolify or Dokploy more popular?
Coolify has 65,550 GitHub stars and Dokploy has 38,197. Coolify has the larger community by that measure.
Are Coolify and Dokploy free?
Both are open source. Coolify is licensed under Apache-2.0, and Dokploy has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Coolify and Dokploy?
Coolify is written in PHP and Dokploy 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 Dokploy?
Choose Coolify if you want the larger community (65,550 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Dokploy if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.