- Coolify is a free, self-hosted PaaS with 53,500 stars on GitHub, replacing Vercel, Heroku, and Netlify.
- Built by Andras Bacsai from Hungary, the project runs on any server with SSH — from a $5 VPS to a Raspberry Pi.
- Apache-2.0 licensed, 280+ one-click services, free SSL, automated backups, and pull request preview deployments included.
- A five-person team on Vercel pays $100 to $500 per month. The same team on Coolify pays $5 per month total.
Why Coolify Is Better Than Vercel
Vercel charges $20 per seat per month. Netlify charges $20 per month. Heroku killed its free tier entirely. Go over your bandwidth on any of them, and surprise bills hit — sometimes thousands of dollars. Coolify charges nothing. You install it on a server you own, and you deploy everything: static sites, full-stack apps, databases, APIs, and 280+ one-click services including WordPress, Ghost, Plausible, n8n, and Supabase.
The feature gap between Coolify and paid platforms has effectively closed. Free SSL certificates with auto-renewal, automatic database backups to S3, pull request preview deployments, real-time server terminal in the browser, push-to-deploy from GitHub, GitLab, and Bitbucket, and server monitoring with Discord, Telegram, and email alerts. These are features Vercel and Netlify charge extra for. Coolify ships them all at zero cost. No vendor lock-in either — all configs live on your server. If you stop using Coolify, everything still runs.
Coolify vs Vercel: Features Compared
| Feature | Coolify | Vercel | Netlify |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free forever | $20/seat/month | $20/month |
| Self-hosting | Yes, any server | No | No |
| Bandwidth overages | None | Surprise bills | Surprise bills |
| Database hosting | Built-in | Add-on (Vercel Postgres) | No |
| One-click services | 280+ | Limited integrations | Limited integrations |
| SSL certificates | Free, auto-renewed | Included | Included |
| PR preview deploys | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Vendor lock-in | None | High | Medium |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Proprietary | Proprietary |
Coolify is not for everyone. It requires basic server management and DevOps knowledge — you are trading your time for your wallet. But for developers and teams already comfortable with SSH and Docker, the math is brutal for the incumbents. A 5-person team running on a Hetzner VPS at $5 per month replaces a Vercel bill that can easily exceed $100 per month.
How to Get Started With Coolify
- Spin up a VPS on Hetzner, DigitalOcean, or any provider ($5 per month minimum).
- Run the one-line install script from the Coolify documentation.
- Access the dashboard via your browser at your server’s IP address.
- Connect your GitHub, GitLab, or Bitbucket account for push-to-deploy.
- Deploy your first app or pick from 280+ one-click services.
- Configure monitoring alerts via Discord, Telegram, or email.
Coolify has 53,500 stars, 675 releases, and 15,259 commits on the v4.x branch. It is built with PHP and Laravel, deployed via Docker, and maintained by Andras Bacsai with community sponsorship. No VC funding, no paywall, no catch.
