Dokploy

What Dokploy does

Dokploy is a self-hosted platform-as-a-service. You install it on a server, connect a Git provider or a Docker registry, and it builds and runs your applications as Docker Swarm services behind Traefik, which handles domains and HTTPS certificates. The project describes it as an open source alternative to Vercel, Heroku and Netlify.

Applications can be built with Nixpacks (the default), Railpack, a Dockerfile, Cloud Native Buildpacks, or as a static site. Docker Compose files are supported natively, which helps when an app comes with its own workers and side services. Dokploy can also create MySQL, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, MariaDB, libSQL and Redis databases and back them up on a schedule to external storage, and it ships a set of one-click templates for common open source apps.

Deployments and scaling

Deployments are triggered from the dashboard, the CLI and API, or a webhook called by GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, Gitea or Docker Hub. Preview deployments create a separate build for each pull request and remove it when the pull request is closed or merged, but they only work with the GitHub integration, are off by default and are limited to three per application unless you change the setting. The documentation recommends not enabling them on public repositories, since anyone opening a pull request could run a build on your server.

Because Dokploy is built on Docker Swarm, you can run several replicas of an application and spread them across worker nodes. The documentation suggests scaling the main server vertically first; a cluster needs extra servers with the same CPU architecture and a Docker registry. Alternatively, you can add remote servers and deploy individual apps to them.

Self-hosting Dokploy

The install script sets up Docker if needed, initialises a Swarm and starts Dokploy with PostgreSQL 16, Redis and Traefik. The documentation asks for at least 2 GB of RAM and 30 GB of disk, and ports 80, 443 and 3000 must be free or the installation fails. Listed distributions include recent Ubuntu and Debian releases, Fedora and CentOS. In a standard self-hosted setup, the dashboard, its database and your apps share one machine, so a busy build can affect the control panel.

Licensing and paid editions

Dokploy is open core. Most of the repository is Apache-2.0, but code in /proprietary directories is under the Dokploy Source Available License, which only allows production use with a commercial agreement. That code covers the Enterprise features: single sign-on, SCIM provisioning, login gates in front of deployed apps, custom roles, audit logs and whitelabeling. The repository’s terms and conditions file also says reselling Dokploy as a service needs the developers’ consent.

Hosted version

Dokploy Cloud runs the dashboard, database and monitoring for you, while applications, databases and Traefik stay on servers you connect over SSH. Plans are paid and billed per server; an Enterprise Cloud plan adds the Enterprise features and a support SLA.

Limitations

Team features that larger organizations expect, such as SSO and audit logs, are paid. Preview environments are GitHub-only. As with every tool in this category, you look after the servers, operating system updates and backups yourself, and there is no global edge network or serverless functions layer.

Who it suits

Dokploy suits developers and small teams who want Heroku- or Vercel-style deploys on their own servers and like Docker Compose, plus a path to a multi-node Swarm cluster. Compare it with Coolify, which has no paid-only features, in the deployment platforms guide.