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Coolify

coolify.io

Visit coolify.io

Category: Developer Tools
Rank: No. 60Tools index
Listed in: #10 Deploy an application
Pricing: Open Source
Type: TOOL
Builder: coollabsio
GitHub: 61.5k stars
Latest release: v4.3.17
Date: Indexed Apr 26, 2026

About

Self-hostable Heroku/Vercel/Netlify alternative. Deploy from git, manage databases and services.

What it does

Coolify acts as a control plane for infrastructure you own. It connects to machines over SSH, organizes resources by team, project, and environment, and manages applications, service stacks, standalone databases, deployment queues, proxies, backups, and status updates through a web interface and REST API.

Why it's ranked here

Coolify is compelling when control and exit options matter. Configuration stays on your servers, and running resources remain manageable if you stop using its automation. Its broad resource model, token-scoped API, policy-based authorization, and real-time status reporting make it more than a thin deployment screen.

What's good

It supports VPS hosts, bare metal, and Raspberry Pi systems through the same SSH-based model. Applications can come from Git or Docker images. Database support spans PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, MongoDB, Redis, ClickHouse, KeyDB, and Dragonfly. API tokens separate read, write, and deploy abilities, while sensitive response fields receive dedicated masking.

Tradeoffs

Self-hosting transfers operational responsibility to you. The recommended topology uses one server for Coolify and separate servers for deployed resources. High availability, included email notifications, better support, and reduced maintenance are presented as cloud-version benefits. Resource migration, server transfer, and the V5 architecture remain restricted to development environments, with substantial production activation work documented.

How to use it well

Choose Coolify when a team wants cloud-style application operations while retaining its own hosts and configurations. Give it SSH access to dedicated infrastructure, organize workloads by team and environment, and use scoped API tokens for automation. Use the paid cloud offering when maintaining the Coolify control server is unwanted. It does not provide the underlying deployment hardware itself.

Technical notes+

The backend is a PHP Laravel project declared in composer.json, with Livewire, Horizon, Sanctum, OpenAPI tooling, and Laravel MCP dependencies. package.json defines a private ES module frontend using React, Inertia, Vite, Tailwind CSS, Vitest, and Playwright. vite.config.js combines Laravel, Inertia, and React inputs, while vitest.config.ts targets tests under resources/js/v5. AGENTS.md documents the /api/v1/ REST interface, Sanctum token abilities, Redis queues, Soketi events, Traefik proxies, and Docker Compose development services. .mcp.json exposes Laravel Boost through the Artisan CLI. docs/dev-only-features.md gates resource migration and server transfer behind local development checks. docs/v5/production-activation-checklist.md states that V5, Flux, related migrations, schedules, and container roles are not production-ready.

Observed

License: Apache License 2.0
Languages: PHP backend with JavaScript and TypeScript frontend code
Install surface: Shell installation script delivered through curl; source installation script is included
Interfaces: Web UI, Artisan CLI, REST API at /api/v1/, and a Laravel Boost MCP development server
Platform support: Manages SSH-reachable VPS hosts, bare-metal servers, and Raspberry Pi systems
Packaging: Composer project plus a private JavaScript ES module package with a Bun lockfile
Testing structure: Pest, browser testing, Vitest, Testing Library, and Playwright dependencies are declared

Read from README.md, package.json, composer.json, docs/dev-only-features.md, docs/v5/production-activation-checklist.md, vite.config.js, vitest.config.ts, resources/js/app.js, resources/js/v5/app.tsx, LICENSE, artisan, bun.lock, .mcp.json, AGENTS.md, CLAUDE.md.

Tech Stack

Node.jsPHPVite

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