Dokku
The original self-hosted PaaS — small, stable, unglamorous.
95
sovereigntyDokku has been doing this since 2013 and describes itself accurately as the smallest PaaS implementation you have seen: Git-push deployment via Docker, Heroku buildpack support so existing apps often deploy unchanged, and a plugin system for databases and TLS. MIT, around 32k stars. It has no web interface — everything is the command line — and that is deliberate. For someone comfortable in a terminal it is the most dependable option here, and it has outlived several better-funded competitors.
OPEN SOURCEMITSELF-HOSTLOCAL-FIRST
LicenseMIT
PricingFree and open source. You supply the server.
Open sourceYes
Self-hostableYes
Local-first dataYes
What it does well
- +Over a decade of stability; genuinely mature
- +Heroku buildpack support means many apps deploy unchanged
- +MIT and very light — runs on a small VPS
- +Extremely well documented for command-line use
Where it falls short
- −No web interface at all
- −Single-server by design
- −Assumes comfort with the command line
- −Fewer batteries included than Coolify
Dokku as an alternative to
Where Dokku shows up in our comparisons, and how it ranked.
Dokku head-to-head
Straight comparisons against the tools people weigh it against.