Tool page

Coolify

Item: Coolify
Rating: 4.7

Self-host your apps, databases and services on your VPS without fighting Kubernetes.

Category: Business & Infra
Pricing: €0 · Open Source
How often: Per project
My rating: 4.7 out of 5

Try Coolify (official site, new tab)

In short

Coolify is the self-hosting revolution. You get the Vercel/Railway experience on your own server, without paying $20/month per service.

Ideal for: Independent developers and small teams who want the Vercel experience on their own server
Use case: Deploying apps (Next.js, Laravel, Docker), databases (Postgres, Redis), services (Listmonk, n8n)

What it costs

Entry price: €0. Prices taken from the official site, excluding tax.

What it costs
Plan	Per month	Per year	For whom
Self-hosted	€0	–	Developers with a VPS who want full control
Coolify Cloud	€5	–	Those who want Coolify without managing a VPS

Alternatives I ruled out

Alternatives I ruled out
Alternative	Why I did not keep it
Kamal (Rails/Basecamp)	Kamal for CLI-only teams. Coolify for a complete visual interface. Better at: Lighter, CLI-first, no interface to host Worse at: No graphical interface, less accessible to beginners
Vercel / Railway	Vercel/Railway for absolute simplicity. Coolify to keep your costs under control. Better at: Zero server configuration, automatic scaling, technical support Worse at: High costs at scale (~$20 to $100+/month vs ~$5 to $10/month on a VPS)

Strengths and limits

Pros

Deploys any Dockerized app in a few clicks through a web interface
One-click services: Postgres, Redis, MariaDB, MinIO, n8n, Listmonk, Cal.com...
Automatic deployment via GitHub/GitLab webhooks (push to deploy)
Automatic SSL management via Let's Encrypt
Built-in Traefik reverse proxy: no more configuring nginx by hand

Cons

Initial VPS setup takes time (firewall, SSH, Docker)
Debugging deployment problems is less intuitive than on a managed PaaS
More advanced features (multi-server, clusters) are still in development
You stay responsible for backups and server security updates

Main features

Deployment from Git: GitHub/GitLab connection: every push triggers an automatic deployment Minimalist CI/CD: `git push` = production deployment in <2 minutes
One-click services: Pre-configured services: PostgreSQL, Redis, MySQL, MinIO, n8n, Listmonk, Cal.com... Launch a database or an open source SaaS without writing a line of docker-compose
Automatic SSL: Let's Encrypt configured automatically for every deployed application HTTPS on all your services without touching nginx or certbot
Preview deployments: Preview deployments for each pull request Test a feature in production before the merge
Built-in monitoring: CPU, RAM and network metrics per container from the console Quickly spot containers that use too many resources

Compatibility

macOS : not compatible
Windows : not compatible
Linux : compatible
iOS : not compatible
Android : not compatible
Browser : compatible
API : compatible
n8n : not compatible
Zapier : not compatible

Frequently asked questions

Is Coolify really free?

When self-hosted, yes. You only pay for your VPS (usually $5 to $20/month depending on the provider).

Which server for Coolify?

Recommended minimum: 2 vCPU / 2 GB RAM / 30 GB SSD. Coolify runs on any Linux VPS with Docker.

Does Coolify support Next.js?

Yes, Next.js, Nuxt, Remix, Laravel, Django, Rails, and anything that can be Dockerized.

How do I migrate from Heroku to Coolify?

Create a Dockerfile, connect the GitHub repo in Coolify, set up the environment variables. Migration takes a few hours.

Final verdict

The tool that makes self-hosting accessible. The equivalent of Vercel on your own server, at a fraction of the price.

I recommend it to: Independent developers and small teams who want to control their infra without paying prohibitive PaaS prices.
Not suited for: Teams without DevOps skills: self-hosting remains a technical responsibility.
Value for money: Excellent · 4.7 out of 5

Other tools on the workbench

Business & Infra · €0 fixed + 1.5% + €0.25 per transaction (EU card)
Stripe
Business & Infra · €3.99/month (VPS KVM 1)
Hostinger
Business & Infra · €0
Medium

In short

Coolify is the self-hosting revolution. You get the Vercel/Railway experience on your own server, without paying $20/month per service.

Ideal for: Independent developers and small teams who want the Vercel experience on their own server
Use case: Deploying apps (Next.js, Laravel, Docker), databases (Postgres, Redis), services (Listmonk, n8n)

Plan

Per month

Per year

For whom

Self-hosted

€0

–

Developers with a VPS who want full control

Coolify Cloud

€5

–

Those who want Coolify without managing a VPS

Alternatives I ruled out

Alternatives I ruled out
Alternative	Why I did not keep it
Kamal (Rails/Basecamp)	Kamal for CLI-only teams. Coolify for a complete visual interface. Better at: Lighter, CLI-first, no interface to host Worse at: No graphical interface, less accessible to beginners
Vercel / Railway	Vercel/Railway for absolute simplicity. Coolify to keep your costs under control. Better at: Zero server configuration, automatic scaling, technical support Worse at: High costs at scale (~$20 to $100+/month vs ~$5 to $10/month on a VPS)

Strengths and limits

Pros

Deploys any Dockerized app in a few clicks through a web interface
One-click services: Postgres, Redis, MariaDB, MinIO, n8n, Listmonk, Cal.com...
Automatic deployment via GitHub/GitLab webhooks (push to deploy)
Automatic SSL management via Let's Encrypt
Built-in Traefik reverse proxy: no more configuring nginx by hand

Cons

Initial VPS setup takes time (firewall, SSH, Docker)
Debugging deployment problems is less intuitive than on a managed PaaS
More advanced features (multi-server, clusters) are still in development
You stay responsible for backups and server security updates

Main features

Deployment from Git: GitHub/GitLab connection: every push triggers an automatic deployment Minimalist CI/CD: `git push` = production deployment in <2 minutes
One-click services: Pre-configured services: PostgreSQL, Redis, MySQL, MinIO, n8n, Listmonk, Cal.com... Launch a database or an open source SaaS without writing a line of docker-compose
Automatic SSL: Let's Encrypt configured automatically for every deployed application HTTPS on all your services without touching nginx or certbot
Preview deployments: Preview deployments for each pull request Test a feature in production before the merge
Built-in monitoring: CPU, RAM and network metrics per container from the console Quickly spot containers that use too many resources

Frequently asked questions

Is Coolify really free?

When self-hosted, yes. You only pay for your VPS (usually $5 to $20/month depending on the provider).

Which server for Coolify?

Recommended minimum: 2 vCPU / 2 GB RAM / 30 GB SSD. Coolify runs on any Linux VPS with Docker.

Does Coolify support Next.js?

Yes, Next.js, Nuxt, Remix, Laravel, Django, Rails, and anything that can be Dockerized.

How do I migrate from Heroku to Coolify?

Create a Dockerfile, connect the GitHub repo in Coolify, set up the environment variables. Migration takes a few hours.

Final verdict

The tool that makes self-hosting accessible. The equivalent of Vercel on your own server, at a fraction of the price.

I recommend it to: Independent developers and small teams who want to control their infra without paying prohibitive PaaS prices.
Not suited for: Teams without DevOps skills: self-hosting remains a technical responsibility.
Value for money: Excellent · 4.7 out of 5

Coolify

In short

What it costs

Alternatives I ruled out

Strengths and limits

Pros

Cons

Main features

Compatibility

Frequently asked questions

Final verdict

Other tools on the workbench

Stripe

Hostinger

Medium

Coolify

In short

What it costs

Alternatives I ruled out

Strengths and limits

Pros

Cons

Main features

Compatibility

Frequently asked questions

Final verdict

Other tools on the workbench

Stripe

Hostinger

Medium