36,992 stars · Apache-2.0 for the main tree, PLUS the Dokploy Source Available License (LICENSE_PROPRIETARY.md) covering the /proprietary folder — production use of that folder requires a paid commercial agreement · v0.30.7 (2026-09-18), read from /releases/latest; ungh was stale here and returned v0.29.13 of 2026-07-21 · Track this in Scout
A web screen for your own server that deploys applications and databases the way a hosting company would.
▶Repo detailsthe review · specs · pros & cons · install
What it is
Dokploy is a self-hosted platform-as-a-service. It manages Docker containers (a way to run a program inside its own sealed box, so it cannot break anything else on the machine), sets up reverse proxying and certificates, runs databases such as PostgreSQL and MySQL, and can rebuild an application when a repository changes.
What it is good for. The situation where monthly hosting bills are growing, the applications are small, and one rented server could hold all of them — but nobody wants to hand-write proxy configuration and certificate renewals. It replaces the part of a hosting company that is a control screen, and keeps the machine yours.
- One install covers deployment, databases, backups, certificates and logs, so there is one screen instead of five tools.
- The main codebase is Apache-2.0, a plain permissive licence. Running it on your own machine costs nothing.
- Very widely used for its age. The repository was created in April 2024 and already has 36,992 stars, so answers to ordinary problems are easy to find.
- Part of it is not open source. Beside the Apache-2.0 licence there is a second file, the Dokploy Source Available License, covering the
/proprietaryfolder. Its own words: this code "may only be used in production, if you have agreed to, and are in compliance with, a valid commercial agreement from Dokploy." You may read and test that code; using it for real needs a paid agreement. - The whole point is that everything runs on one machine, which makes that machine a single point of failure. A backup of the server, not only of the databases, is the thing to arrange first.
- The release numbers move fast — v0.30.7 was published on 18 September 2026 — and it is still below version 1.0, so upgrades occasionally change behaviour.
coollabsio/coolify61,717 stars, the best-known tool for the same job, with a larger catalogue of one-click services; it is a single licence with no proprietary folder.
Track this in Scout- caprover/caprover
15,129 stars, older and simpler, built on Docker Swarm; fewer features but less to learn.
Track this in Scout - kubero-dev/kubero
4,373 stars, the same idea but on top of Kubernetes, which suits people who already run a cluster and nobody else.
Track this in Scout
# on a fresh Ubuntu or Debian server, as root curl -sSL https://dokploy.com/install.sh | sh # it installs Docker if missing, then serves the panel on port 3000 # open http://YOUR-SERVER-ADDRESS:3000 and create the first account immediately
