Dokploy
A self hosted platform to deploy apps and databases from git on your server
Alternative toVercelHeroku
Dokploy turns a server into a small deployment platform: connect a git repository or a Docker Compose file, and it builds, runs and routes your app with HTTPS. Most of the code is Apache-2.0, with a separate proprietary folder for paid features.
Best for when
- you want a Vercel or Heroku style flow on a server you control
- you deploy several small apps with their databases
- you want scheduled database backups without writing scripts
Watch out for
- the installer takes over ports 80 and 443 and works best on a dedicated server
- not all of the code is open source, and paid features live in a source available folder
- it is a fast moving project, so read release notes before upgrading production
Install
Install on a fresh server
curl -sSL https://dokploy.com/install.sh | shPush to deploy on your own machine
Hosted platforms make deploying easy and bill you per project. Dokploy brings a similar flow to your own server: pick a repository, choose how it builds, and get a running app behind Traefik with a certificate. It also creates databases such as PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB and Redis, schedules their backups to S3 compatible storage, and deploys compose stacks.
It suits developers who ship side projects or client sites and want a dashboard for deployments, logs and environment variables on a VPS they already pay for. It can manage several servers and uses Docker Swarm under the hood to do it.
What running it involves
The installer sets up Docker, Swarm, Traefik and the Dokploy interface, and it expects a fresh server where it can own ports 80 and 443. Plan for a couple of gigabytes of RAM for the platform itself, plus whatever your apps and builds need; builds on a small VPS can starve running apps.
You are the platform team now: updates, server security, firewall and backups are on you. The admin interface controls everything on the server, so protect it with a strong password and two factor authentication. Check which features sit in the proprietary folder before relying on them in production.
