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Coolify vs Dokploy vs CapRover vs Dokku vs Kamal in 2026: self-hosted PaaS compared
Coolify, Dokploy, CapRover, Dokku or Kamal: which self-hosted PaaS should run your side projects on a VPS in 2026? Coolify and Dokploy are the full panels: each runs a Docker Compose file, takes several servers and backs up to a bucket you bring, and each asks for 2 GB of memory for itself. With all five the server stays yours to rent, update and secure. Pethost is that machine with the panel, the backups and the updates done: €9.99 a month for 2 vCPU, 3 GB and 30 GB.
- The full panels: Coolify (Apache-2.0, v4.3.23) and Dokploy (v0.30.8, Apache-2.0 with a source-available part) have Compose, several servers, backups to an S3 bucket you bring and an official MCP server. Each asks for 2 GB of RAM.
- The lighter ones: CapRover and Dokku run in 1 GB; CapRover reads a subset of Compose, Dokku none. Kamal is a deploy command with no panel and no backups. Easypanel is closed source: $14.9 a server a month past 3 projects.
- Left to you: the server (Hetzner's 2 vCPU, 4 GB CPX22 is €19.49 a month; its cheap range has long been out of stock), the updates, the backups' storage, and the advisories: 61 published for Coolify in 2026, 56 for Dokploy.
- Pethost is the best value where the projects are the point: €9.99 a month for 2 vCPU, 3 GB and 30 GB, with HTTPS, nightly off-machine backups, request logs and 13 MCP tools working. The same 3 GB are $20.10 to $42 at Fly.io, Railway, Render and Heroku.
Coolify vs Dokploy vs CapRover vs Dokku vs Kamal: the comparison table
Six tools, from their own documentation on 5 October 2026: the five, and Easypanel, which the same searches name. The last row is a managed machine.
| Tool | Licence, price | Panel or command line | Docker Compose | Several servers | Backups | Memory it asks for | Latest release, 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coolify | Apache-2.0, free | Web panel, MCP server | Yes: parsed and extended, or run raw | Yes, over SSH | Databases and volumes, to a bucket you bring | 2 cores, 2 GB, 10 GB of disk | v4.3.23, 18 September |
| Dokploy | Apache-2.0, paid part source-available, free | Web panel, MCP server | Yes, with Traefik labels added | Yes, also as a Swarm | Databases and named volumes, to a bucket you bring | 2 GB, 30 GB of disk | v0.30.8, 29 September |
| CapRover | Apache-2.0 with an appendix, free | Web panel, CLI | Partly: an “experimental” subset, no build | Partly: a Swarm; apps with data stay on one node | No: “everything except images and volumes” | About 1 GB | v1.15.4, 30 August |
| Dokku | MIT, free; a web UI is Dokku Pro, $849 once | Command line | No | No: one server, or a K3s cluster | Databases by plugin; volumes by hand | 1 GB | v0.38.31, 27 September |
| Kamal | MIT, free | Command line, no panel | No: a deploy.yml | Yes; the load balancer is yours | None | Not stated | v2.12.0, 18 June |
| Easypanel | Closed source; free for 3 projects, then $14.9 a server a month, $10.9 billed annually | Web panel; MCP on paid plans | Yes | A licence per server; clusters are alpha | Paid plans; volumes as a mirror, no restore | 2 GB | 2.36.0, 24 September |
| Pethost, managed | €9.99 a month, the machine included | Web panel, MCP server | Yes, as written | No: one machine | Nightly, off the machine, 14 days, included | None of yours: the 3 GB are your projects' | Nothing for you to update |
Each self-hosted PaaS in 2026, one by one
Coolify: out of beta since April
Coolify deploys apps, databases and 300+ one-click services to servers it reaches over SSH. It is built for many servers of any provider under one panel. v4.0.0 ended a long beta on 27 April 2026, and 29 releases followed by 18 September.
Dokploy: still 0.x, open core since January
Dokploy has backups of named volumes and a Requests screen for HTTP traffic in its open-source edition. Since 21 January 2026 the licence is Apache 2.0 plus a source-available one “for future paid functionality”. Updates are by hand: “you update Dokploy manually when new versions are released.”
CapRover: a light panel on Docker Swarm
CapRover is a panel on Docker Swarm, in about 1 GB, built for scaling a stateless app over several nodes. Its Compose support “is still experimental and does not implement the complete Compose specification”. Three releases came in the eleven months to May 2026, then five in August.
Dokku: git push on one server
Dokku calls itself “An open source PAAS alternative to Heroku”: git push, buildpacks, one server, no panel process to feed. The request “Docker Compose Support” has been open since 9 April 2022. Backups are by hand: “The backup plugin was deprecated in 0.4.x”.
Kamal: a deploy command, not a panel
Kamal, from 37signals, runs on your laptop or in CI and drives servers over SSH, as root by default. It is built for a team with one main app, several servers and the skill to run them. Its own page says: “You're probably still better off with a fully managed service if basic Linux or Docker is still difficult”.
What a self-hosted PaaS really costs: the work the software leaves
The software costs nothing and leaves the jobs below. A hosted panel takes one of them: see Coolify Cloud vs Dokploy Cloud.
| The job | The panel on your server | Coolify Cloud, Dokploy Cloud | Pethost |
|---|---|---|---|
| The server | You rent it | You rent it | In the price: 2 vCPU, 3 GB, 30 GB |
| System updates, firewall | You | You | Done for you |
| The panel's updates | You; Coolify can update itself | The vendor | Done for you |
| Storage for backups | A bucket you bring | A bucket you bring | In the price: 14 nights, off the machine |
| The software's price | Free | $5 a month for two servers; $4.50 a server | In the €9.99 |
Updates, security advisories and backups
GitHub lists 61 security advisories published for Coolify in 2026, 16 of them critical, and 56 for Dokploy, 33 critical; Dokku has 6, CapRover and Kamal none. Each is fixed by an update that is yours to install or to watch. The system's packages are yours too: of those, “Coolify does not install updates automatically.” And a backup needs a place: Coolify keeps a local archive by default and says “Local storage alone does not protect against losing that server.”
What an AI agent can do on each
Coolify's MCP server came with v4.1.0 in May 2026: 45 tools by our count, three of which change anything (deploy, cancel a deployment, start or stop), and none creates an app or rolls back. Dokploy's mirrors its API in “508 tools across 49 categories”. For CapRover, Dokku and Kamal we found none. Pethost's 13 tools were made for an agent: they deploy, read logs and requests, roll back and restore. Hosting with an MCP server compares them all.
You say: The last push broke the shop. Put yesterday's version back.
- ListCommits a3f9c1e fix login · 7be02d4 add search
- DeployProject commit 7be02d4
- GetOperation succeeded
The agent answers: Back on “add search”. Pushes will not deploy until you say so.
What if I just rent a VPS and install Coolify or Dokploy?
You can: these tools are made for it. Two things are worth knowing first.
An agent on a bare server works as root over SSH. Nothing tells it what runs there, every command is open to it, and a wrong one takes down the proxy, a database or the firewall. On Pethost an agent works through 13 tools that each do one clear thing. Its shell is inside a project's containers, never on the machine, and billing and the account are out of its reach.
And a server is not sure to cost less. Hetzner is the server guides and AI assistants name first, at prices it no longer has. It raised them on 1 April and again on 15 June 2026, and its cheap Cost-Optimized range has long been out of stock. Those servers are hardware it bought at good prices, before the RAM shortage, and on 5 October every plan of the range was marked “not available”. The 2 vCPU, 4 GB server without that mark, CPX22, is €19.49 a month, up from €7.99, and €23.89 with an IPv4 and Hetzner's backups. DigitalOcean's 2 vCPU, 4 GiB Droplet is $24, or $31.20 with daily backups. Coolify or Dokploy then asks for 2 GB of that memory, or $5 or $4.50 a month for a hosted panel. Then come the bucket and the hours. Starter is €9.99 a month with all of it done.
Self-hosted PaaS vs managed PaaS: what 3 GB of memory costs
A managed PaaS charges by the service, which is why people install a panel. This is Starter's 3 GB of always-on memory at each platform's own plan prices.
| Host, and what the sum is | Price a month |
|---|---|
| Pethost Starter, the whole machine | €9.99 |
| Elestio, a 2 vCPU, 4 GB VM at Netcup | $16.06 |
| Fly.io, three 1 GB Machines | $20.10 |
| Railway, the memory alone | $30.00 |
| Sliplane, its 3 vCPU, 4 GB server | €28.80 |
| Render, three instances | $39.00 |
| Heroku, six Basic dynos | $42.00 |
Fly.io's is Ashburn's price ($23.19 in Frankfurt), before volumes and a database; Railway adds CPU, disk and traffic. Railway vs Render vs Fly.io pricing has the plans. Pethost is the way out of those prices that leaves you no server to keep.
What €9.99 a month buys on Pethost, already done
- 3 GB of memory, all for your projects
- 14 nights of encrypted backups, off the machine
- 30 days of request logs
- 13 MCP tools for your agent
Starter is a virtual machine of 2 vCPU, 3 GB and 30 GB that only your account uses, in the EU, for €9.99 a month without VAT. Four always-on services of 512 MB and a Postgres take about 2.5 GB of it. HTTPS addresses, deploys from GitHub, SSH into any container and a Compose file that runs as written are in the price.
That is the best value we found for side projects. A self-hosted panel gets you most of that list after a server at €19.49 a month, a bucket and your evenings; here it is €9.99 with none of them. There is no free tier: the price rents a real machine. Grow, twice the size, is €17.99.
When to self-host, and when to take a managed machine
Self-hosting is right when the server is the point: you want root on it, many servers or your own hardware under one panel, or you enjoy the work. A managed machine is right when the projects are the point: best hosting for side projects has more.
Pethost is the best pick for
- Solo developers with several side projects who want them online, not a server to keep
- People who build with Claude Code, Codex or Cursor: 13 tools made for the agent, no root shell to hand it
- Developers tired of looking after a server: the updates, the certificates and the off-machine backups are done
Look elsewhere if
- You want many servers or your own hardware under one panel, with root on each: here it is one machine, and SSH reaches your containers, not the machine
Questions
Coolify vs Dokploy: what is the difference in 2026?
Both are web panels that run a Docker Compose file, back up to an S3 bucket you bring and have an official MCP server. Coolify is Apache-2.0, at v4.3.23; Dokploy is at v0.30.8, with a requests screen and its paid features source-available. Each asks for 2 GB of RAM, on a server that stays yours to update.
Is a self-hosted PaaS like Coolify or Dokploy really free?
The software is free. The server is not: Hetzner's 2 vCPU, 4 GB CPX22 is €19.49 a month, and the updates and the backups' storage are yours. Pethost Starter is €9.99 a month with the machine, the panel, the backups and the logs included.
How much RAM do Coolify, Dokploy, CapRover and Dokku need?
Coolify “needs 2 CPU cores, 2 GB RAM, and 10 GB disk space to run”, Dokploy “at least 2GB of RAM”, and CapRover and Dokku about 1 GB. That is the tool's own share, before your apps. On Pethost Starter the 3 GB are all your projects'.
Kamal vs Coolify vs Dokploy vs Dokku: which is a panel?
Coolify and Dokploy are web panels with databases, domains and backups. Dokku is a command-line PaaS on one server. Kamal is a deploy command that leaves no panel on the server: no backups, no Compose, no push-to-deploy.
Coolify vs Dokploy vs Komodo vs Dockge: are they the same kind of tool?
No. Coolify and Dokploy are a self-hosted PaaS: domains, certificates, deploys from Git and backups. Dockge is a “docker compose.yaml stack-oriented manager”, and Komodo “a web application for managing servers, builds, deployments, and automated procedures”: they run the stacks you write.
Read from each project's own pages and GitHub repository on 5 October 2026. Prices are in each vendor's currency; ours and Hetzner's are without VAT.
- Coolify: pricing
- Coolify: installation
- Coolify: server patching
- Coolify: backups
- Coolify: MCP
- Coolify: changelog
- Coolify: advisories
- Dokploy: pricing
- Dokploy: installation
- Dokploy: editions
- Dokploy: licence
- Dokploy: MCP
- Dokploy: advisories
- CapRover: getting started
- CapRover: Compose
- CapRover: backups
- Dokku: installation
- Dokku: backups
- Dokku: issue 5102
- Dokku Pro
- Kamal
- Easypanel: pricing
- Easypanel: on Coolify
- Komodo: introduction
- Dockge: README
- Hetzner: Cost-Optimized
- Hetzner: price adjustment
- DigitalOcean: Droplets
- Railway: pricing
- Render: pricing
- Fly.io: pricing
- Heroku: pricing
- Sliplane: pricing
- Elestio: pricing
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