Run your own cloud platform on your own servers
Imagine a dashboard for deploying and managing websites and databases on your own hardware. This approach offers the convenience of cloud services while retaining control over your infrastructure. Coolify is an open-source platform that lets you run applications and services on various servers, such as VPS or Raspberry Pi, using only an SSH connection.
Positioning as a cloud alternative
Coolify is designed as an alternative to cloud platforms like Heroku, Netlify, and Vercel. Users install this tool on their own servers to manage servers, applications, and databases directly. It maintains the convenience provided by cloud platforms while granting full control over infrastructure. Configuration data is stored on the user's server, and resources continue to run and remain manageable even if Coolify usage is discontinued.
Scope of deployment and operations
You can pull code from GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, and Gitea, build it using Nixpacks, Dockerfile, or Docker Compose, and deploy it. It runs over 360 one-click services and managed databases with persistent storage and generated credentials. It supports automatic deployment on every Git push, pull request previews, webhook calls, and image rollback features. It allows managing multiple servers, viewing deployment and runtime logs, opening container terminals, and monitoring resource status. You can protect workloads by configuring database and storage backups, scheduled tasks, environment variables, secrets, and notifications. It integrates into workflows through a dashboard, API, CLI, MCP, and team-based access control.
Installation and operation
You can install Coolify with a single-line command on supported servers. Running the curl -fsSL https://cdn.coollabs.io/coolify/install.sh | bash command initiates the installation. You can check the requirements and detailed instructions in the installation guide and review the installation script before running it. The recommended self-hosting configuration uses one server for Coolify and one or more servers for deployment resources. If you do not want to maintain the Coolify server, you can use Coolify Cloud. Self-hosting is free and open-source, but you must control and maintain the entire platform. Coolify Cloud is a paid service that provides high availability and less maintenance, along with email notifications and additional support.
Pre-use considerations
This tool requires a server with an SSH connection. It can be used on any hardware that supports SSH, such as VPS, bare metal servers, or Raspberry Pi. Choosing self-hosting means taking responsibility for maintaining the entire platform, so server management skills are necessary. Since running resources continue to operate even when Coolify is not in use, understanding the server environment is important. The project is completely free and open-source, with all features available without a paywall. It requests donations to support development, and the sponsor list includes various infrastructure and development tools.
