head to head · open source
Harness vs Dokku
Harness has 38,798 GitHub stars, 3,451 forks, 106 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Dokku has 32,222 stars, 2,098 forks, 36 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Harness leads on adoption by 20% (38,798 vs 32,222 stars). Harness is written in Go under Apache-2.0; Dokku is written in Go under MIT. Harness has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, Dokku 7%. Harness 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
| Harness | Dokku | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 39K | ★ 32K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Go | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.5K | ⑂ 2.1K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Harness if
- You weight community size — 39K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Dokku if
- You want the Dokku feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and Dokku fits your workflow better
About Harness
Harness Harness Open Source is an open source development platform packed with the power of code hosting, automated DevOps pipelines, hosted development environments (Gitspaces), and artifact registries. Overview Harness Open source is an open source development platform packed with the power of code hosting, automated DevOps pipelines, Gitspaces, and artifact registries. Running Harness locally The latest publicly released docker image can be found on harness/harness. To install Harness yourself, simply run the command below. Once the container is up, you can visit in your browser. The Harness image uses a…
read the full Harness overview →
About Dokku
Dokku Docker powered mini Heroku. The smallest PaaS implementation you've ever seen. Sponsors Become a sponsor and get your logo on our README on GitHub with a link to your site. [Become a sponsor] Backers Support us with a monthly donation and help us continue our activities. [Become a backer] [ ](
read the full Dokku overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Harness or Dokku more popular?
Harness has 38,798 GitHub stars and Dokku has 32,222. Harness has the larger community by that measure.
Are Harness and Dokku free?
Both are open source. Harness is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Dokku under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Harness and Dokku?
Harness is written in Go and Dokku 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, Harness or Dokku?
Choose Harness if you want the larger community (38,798 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Dokku if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.