Coolify and Kamal are the two names that come up whenever developers decide to leave Vercel and run apps on their own servers — and they represent opposite philosophies. Coolify is a dashboard: git-push deploys, one-click databases, preview environments. Kamal is a CLI: one YAML file, one command, zero-downtime deploys, nothing running on your servers but Docker.
Both are free and open source. Both run on a $5 VPS. The choice is about how you like to deploy: clicking, or typing.
| Coolify | Kamal | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Self-hostable PaaS with a web dashboard (Heroku-style) | CLI deploy tool — no dashboard, no control plane |
| Price | Self-hosted free forever; Coolify Cloud from $5/mo (2 servers) | Free forever (MIT); you pay only for your servers |
| Deploy workflow | Connect a Git repo, push, watch the dashboard deploy it | kamal deploy from your machine or CI — image built, pushed, pulled, health-checked, switched |
| Databases & services | 280+ one-click services: Postgres, Redis, n8n, and more | Accessories in the same YAML file — configured by hand, but fully yours |
| Multi-server | Multi-server orchestration from one dashboard | Roles and hosts in YAML; your own load balancer in front for HTTPS |
| Preview environments | Yes — per-branch previews with databases | No built-in preview URLs; roll your own with a second server |
| Who maintains it | Coolify team, fast release cadence in 2026 | 37signals — runs Basecamp and HEY in production |
| Best for | Teams that want a Heroku-like UI on their own hardware | Developers comfortable in a terminal who want the thinnest possible deploy layer |
The open-source, self-hostable Heroku: git-push deploys on your own servers.
Self-hosted: free forever (you bring your own servers); Coolify Cloud:
Try Coolify →Zero-downtime Docker deploys to your own servers — no Kubernetes, no dashboard, just a CLI.
Free and open source (MIT license); you pay only for your own servers
Try Kamal →Pick Coolify if you want Vercel's workflow on your own servers — the dashboard, previews, and one-click services are worth it the moment a second person deploys. Pick Kamal if you deploy from CI, already know Docker, and would rather read one YAML file than babysit a control plane. Both cost $0 plus a VPS; the difference is purely how you like to work.
Yes — both are open source with no per-app or per-seat fee. Your only cost is the servers you run them on. Coolify also sells a managed cloud from $5/mo if you don't want to operate the dashboard yourself.
Yes, and some teams do: Kamal deploys the app, Coolify hosts the databases and one-click services on the same server. But most teams pick one workflow and stick with it.
Coolify — the dashboard, git-push flow, and one-click services need no Docker knowledge. Kamal assumes you can write a Dockerfile and SSH into a server.
Kamal — it's the default deploy path in Rails 8 and the tool 37signals runs in production. Coolify handles Rails fine too, but Kamal's Rails integration is first-class.