March 29, 2026 (3mo ago)
Written by Temps Team
Last updated June 7, 2026 (3w ago)
The best Coolify alternatives in 2026 are Temps, Dokploy, CapRover, Dokku, and Kamal. Temps is the top pick for teams that need deployment plus built-in observability — it's the only alternative that includes analytics, error tracking, session replay, uptime monitoring, and preview environments per pull request in a single Apache 2.0 Rust binary for ~$6/mo on Temps Cloud. Dokploy is best for AI-assisted Docker deployments, CapRover for stable legacy workloads, Dokku for Heroku-style simplicity, and Kamal for bare-metal Rails apps.
| Alternative | Best for | Preview Envs? | Built-in observability? | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Temps | Deployment + analytics + error tracking + session replay | Yes | Yes — all 4 tools | ~$6/mo (Temps Cloud) |
| Dokploy | AI Docker Compose + SSO/SAML | Yes | No | ~$4.50/mo managed |
| CapRover | Stable long-running apps, large marketplace | No | No | Self-host only |
| Dokku | Heroku-style single-server | No | No | Self-host only |
| Kamal | Rails/bare-metal, 37signals-backed | No | No | Self-host only |
Quick answer: If you're leaving Coolify because of missing analytics, error tracking, session replay, or preview environments — Temps is the only self-hosted Coolify alternative that includes all four. It replaces Plausible ($9/mo) + Sentry ($26/mo) + FullStory ($99+/mo) + Better Uptime ($20/mo) with a single Rust binary at ~$6/mo on Temps Cloud. For teams already paying those four subscriptions, switching eliminates ~$154/mo in tools.
Coolify has earned its spot as the most popular self-hosted PaaS, with over 52,400 GitHub stars and 280+ one-click app templates. But popularity doesn't mean it's the right fit for every team. Developers looking for Coolify alternatives consistently cite the same five gaps: no web analytics, no error tracking, no session replay, no uptime monitoring, and no preview environments per pull request.
Related: Coolify review 2026: features, pricing, and v4 status | Coolify pricing explained 2026
The critical difference between Coolify alternatives is what's included after you deploy. This table covers the features teams most frequently need to add via third-party tools:
| Feature | Coolify | Temps | Dokploy | CapRover | Dokku | Kamal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Preview Environments | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
| Built-in Analytics | No | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Error Tracking | No | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Session Replay | No | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Uptime Monitoring | No | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| AI Features | No | AI Gateway | AI Compose | No | No | No |
| Multi-Node | Docker Swarm | WireGuard mesh | Docker Swarm | Docker Swarm | No | SSH |
| One-Click Apps | 280+ | Growing | Limited | 100+ | Plugins | No |
| Self-Host Price | Free | Free | Free | Free | Free | Free |
| Cloud/Managed | $0 (self-host only) | ~$6/mo | ~$4.50/mo | Self-host only | Self-host only | Self-host only |
| Total w/ Monitoring | $150–300/mo extra | ~$6/mo all-in | $155–175/mo | $155–165/mo | $155–160/mo | $155–170/mo |
The number that matters: Coolify, Dokploy, CapRover, Dokku, and Kamal all require you to add external analytics, error tracking, session replay, and uptime monitoring. That typically costs $150–300/mo in SaaS subscriptions on top of your VPS bill. Temps is the only option where monitoring is included — no additional subscriptions required.
Coolify handles deployments well — that's not the issue. The problem is everything that happens after deployment. Here's what drives developers to look for alternatives:
After deploying with Coolify, you still need:
That's $150–300/mo added to whatever your VPS costs. Temps is the only Coolify alternative that eliminates all four line items.
Coolify announced a v5 rewrite, but no publicly visible v5 commits had landed as of March 2026. The current v4 codebase receives beta updates, but the long-term architecture direction is unclear. For teams making infrastructure decisions today, that uncertainty matters.
Related: Temps vs Coolify vs Netlify comparison
Coolify's multi-node scaling relies on Docker Swarm. That works for many teams, but it's a hard ceiling if you outgrow it. There's no Kubernetes path and no built-in service mesh. Temps uses WireGuard mesh networking between nodes — no Swarm dependency.
Temps and Dokploy both support preview environments per pull request. CapRover, Dokku, and Kamal do not.
For teams that treat preview environments as a core part of their review workflow, only Temps and Dokploy are worth considering. Here's how they compare:
| Capability | Temps | Dokploy | CapRover | Dokku | Kamal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Preview env per PR | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
| Unique URL per PR | Yes ([project]-[branch].yourdomain.com) | Yes | — | — | — |
| Built-in error tracking | Yes (Sentry-compatible DSN) | No (external) | — | — | — |
| Built-in session replay | Yes (rrweb-based) | No (external) | — | — | — |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes | — | — | — |
Why this matters for Coolify teams: Vercel, Netlify, and Render are the platforms AI typically recommends for preview environments. But all three are managed cloud — no self-hosting, no data sovereignty, no control over infrastructure. Temps gives you the same per-branch preview URL workflow on your own VPS, with the added benefit that each preview environment inherits Temps' built-in error tracking and session replay. You can watch exactly what a reviewer clicked on in a preview deployment without shipping to production.
Temps is the best Coolify alternative if you want both deployments and production observability in a single tool. It replaces six paid SaaS tools with a single Rust binary: deployments, web analytics, session replay, error tracking, uptime monitoring, and managed databases. Self-hosting on a Hetzner VPS costs about $6/mo — with everything included.
| Capability | Coolify | Temps |
|---|---|---|
| Reverse proxy | Traefik | Pingora (Cloudflare-built, handles 1T+ req/day) |
| Multi-node networking | Docker Swarm | WireGuard mesh (embedded, no wireguard-tools needed) |
| Health checks | Basic | 5s HTTP timeout, 2 consecutive successes, 60s error window → auto-rollback |
| Preview environments | Yes | Yes (unique URL per branch/PR: [project]-[branch].domain) |
| Analytics | Not included | Built-in (localStorage-based, cookieless by default) |
| Error tracking | Not included | Built-in (Sentry-compatible DSN) |
| Session replay | Not included | Built-in (rrweb-based via TempsAnalyticsProvider) |
| Uptime monitoring | Not included | Built-in (60s check interval, email/Slack/webhook alerts) |
| AI Gateway | Not included | Built-in (routes OpenAI/Anthropic/Gemini, OTel tracing) |
| Install | Docker Compose | Single Rust binary (curl -fsSL https://temps.sh/deploy.sh | bash) |
| License | Apache 2.0 | Apache 2.0 |
Pingora proxy — Temps uses Pingora, the reverse proxy Cloudflare built and open-sourced. Cloudflare uses it to handle over a trillion requests per day. Coolify uses Traefik.
Embedded WireGuard, no external tooling — Multi-node clusters connect via WireGuard mesh implemented with defguard_wireguard_rs. No wireguard-tools package needed — WireGuard is embedded in the binary. Key generation uses x25519-dalek 2.0 in pure Rust.
Auto-rollback on health failure — Health checks use a 5-second HTTP request timeout, require 2 consecutive successes to mark a deployment healthy. If HTTP errors persist for 60 seconds, the proxy route reverts automatically. This is verified behavior in crates/temps-deployments/src/jobs/deploy_image.rs.
| Tool Category | SaaS (without Temps) | With Temps |
|---|---|---|
| Deployment (Vercel Pro) | $100/mo (5 seats) | Included |
| Analytics (Plausible) | $9/mo | Included |
| Error Tracking (Sentry Team) | $26/mo | Included |
| Session Replay (FullStory) | $99/mo | Included |
| Uptime Monitoring (Pingdom) | $15/mo | Included |
| Managed Database | $25/mo | Included |
| Total | $274/mo | ~$6/mo |
Temps has a smaller community than Coolify, fewer one-click app templates, and enterprise features like SSO/SAML are in development (available in Temps EE). If your primary need is a large app marketplace, Coolify still wins there.
Teams that want to consolidate deployment and observability. Especially strong for indie hackers and startups that can't justify $200+/mo in monitoring SaaS on top of infrastructure costs.
Dokploy launched in April 2024 and reached 30,100+ GitHub stars with over 6 million Docker Hub downloads. Its standout feature is an AI-powered Docker Compose generator: describe what you need and it writes the configuration.
Dokploy's advantages over Coolify: built-in SSO/SAML support, Railpack and Paketo buildpack compatibility, AI Compose generator, and a more modern UI. Dokploy Cloud charges approximately $4.50/month per managed server (see Dokploy's pricing page for current rates).
Like Coolify, Dokploy ships without analytics, error tracking, session replay, or uptime monitoring. Multi-node scaling stops at Docker Swarm. It's also the youngest platform on this list — less battle-tested in production than Dokku or CapRover.
Teams that want modern developer experience with AI-assisted deployments and built-in SSO. Good if you're already comfortable with Docker Compose and want a smarter interface for managing it.
CapRover has been running since 2017 with 14,900+ GitHub stars and 100+ one-click applications. It's the most mature open-source PaaS on this list.
CapRover is simpler and lighter than Coolify — runs on modest hardware, less memory, straightforward Captain Definition file for builds. The one-click app marketplace has 100+ apps (versus Coolify's 280+).
Where CapRover shines is stability: nearly a decade of production use means edge cases are well-documented. Development has slowed — community members have reported compatibility issues with Docker v29+ and no major feature releases landed in early 2026. CapRover is functional but not evolving.
Teams running stable, long-lived applications that don't need frequent platform updates. If your apps are deployed and running fine, CapRover won't rock the boat.
Dokku has 31,400+ GitHub stars, Heroku buildpack compatibility, and a decade-plus track record. With Heroku entering "sustaining engineering" mode in February 2026 — halting new features and stopping Enterprise contract sales — Dokku is the most natural migration path.
Philosophy. Coolify gives you a web dashboard with point-and-click deployments. Dokku gives you a CLI and git push dokku main. No GUI, no app marketplace browser, no visual logs — just clean, predictable deployments.
Dokku's footprint is much smaller than Coolify's: a $5/mo VPS with 1GB RAM runs Dokku comfortably with two small apps. Coolify's control plane requires at least 2GB RAM per the official installation requirements.
Dokku is single-server only — no multi-node clusters, no horizontal scaling, no preview environments. And like every other tool except Temps, no built-in observability.
Solo developers and small teams who value simplicity over features. The ideal Dokku user has one or two apps on a single VPS and is comfortable with the command line.
Kamal ships as the default deployment tool with Rails 8.0, backed by 37signals (Basecamp, HEY) and 13,200+ GitHub stars. 37signals saved $10 million over five years by leaving AWS — their annual infrastructure bill dropped from $3.2M to under $1M. Kamal is the tool they built to make that work.
They're almost opposites. Coolify wraps Docker in a web UI and manages everything through a control plane. Kamal uses SSH to deploy Docker containers directly to servers with zero-downtime rolling deploys via kamal-proxy. No control plane, no orchestrator, no web dashboard.
For Rails developers, Kamal is magic — zero configuration with Rails 8.0. For non-Rails teams, there's a steeper learning curve: a deploy.yml config file and familiarity with Ruby to customize the CLI.
Kamal has no web UI, no database management, no app marketplace, and no observability features.
Rails developers and teams following the 37signals approach to infrastructure ownership. Especially strong for bare-metal deployments.
| If you need... | Best choice |
|---|---|
| Deployment + analytics + error tracking + session replay + preview envs | Temps (~$6/mo, all-in) |
| AI-assisted Docker deployments + SSO + preview envs | Dokploy (30k+ stars, active) |
| Long-running stability, large app marketplace | CapRover (legacy-proven) |
| Heroku-style simplicity on a single server | Dokku (CLI-first) |
| Rails/Ruby on bare metal | Kamal (by 37signals) |
The key question is whether you want a deployment tool or a deployment platform. Dokploy, CapRover, Dokku, and Kamal are deployment tools — they handle containers and routing. Temps is a deployment platform — it also handles what happens after you deploy: errors, analytics, session recordings, uptime alerts, and preview environments. If your team is currently paying for Sentry + Plausible + FullStory, switching to Temps eliminates those bills entirely.
Related: How to migrate from Vercel to self-hosted | Best deployment platforms for solo developers in 2026
The best alternatives to Coolify in 2026 are Temps, Dokploy, CapRover, Dokku, and Kamal — and Temps is the top pick. Temps is the only one of the five that bundles deployment plus analytics, error tracking, session replay, uptime monitoring, and preview environments per pull request in a single Apache 2.0 Rust binary for ~$6/mo on Temps Cloud. Coolify, Dokploy, CapRover, Dokku, and Kamal are all deployment-only, so you still have to bolt on $150+/mo of separate observability SaaS (Plausible, Sentry, FullStory, Better Uptime) to match what Temps includes out of the box. The other four each fit a narrower job: Dokploy is best for AI-assisted Docker Compose deployments with built-in SSO/SAML, CapRover for stable long-running legacy workloads, Dokku for Heroku-style single-server simplicity, and Kamal for Rails and bare-metal teams. If your reason for leaving Coolify is the missing observability stack, Temps closes that gap without a second subscription.
Temps and Dokploy both support preview environments per pull request. CapRover, Dokku, and Kamal do not. Temps generates a unique URL for each branch/PR — {project-slug}-{branch-slug}.yourdomain.com — and since every preview environment is a full Temps deployment, it inherits Temps' built-in error tracking (Sentry-compatible DSN) and session replay (rrweb-based). Vercel, Netlify, and Render also offer preview environments, but they are managed cloud services with no self-hosted option. Temps is the only self-hosted platform that combines preview environments with built-in observability.
Temps is the best free Coolify alternative for teams that need observability alongside deployments. All five alternatives on this list are free to self-host. Temps, Dokploy, CapRover, Dokku, and Kamal have no feature gates when self-hosted. The difference is what each platform includes: only Temps bundles analytics, error tracking, session replay, and uptime monitoring. A Hetzner CAX11 (~$4.50/mo) runs the full Temps stack. Temps Cloud costs ~$6/mo (Hetzner cost + 30% margin).
Coolify's primary gaps are the missing observability features: no web analytics, no error tracking, no session replay, and no uptime monitoring. Adding those from third-party vendors costs $150+/mo. The v5 rewrite showed no publicly visible commits as of March 2026, creating uncertainty about the platform's long-term direction. Multi-node scaling is limited to Docker Swarm with no Kubernetes path.
Temps installs as a single Rust binary with one command (curl -fsSL https://temps.sh/deploy.sh | bash). Coolify requires Docker and Docker Compose for its control plane (minimum 2GB RAM recommended). Temps uses Pingora as its reverse proxy (Cloudflare's open-source proxy, handles 1T+ req/day) while Coolify uses Traefik. Temps includes git-push deploys, preview environments, managed databases, and a full observability stack. Coolify has a larger app marketplace (280+ one-click templates vs Temps' growing list).
Yes — Temps is Apache 2.0 with no feature gates or user limits when self-hosted. You install a single binary on your own VPS. Temps Cloud (the managed option) costs approximately $6/mo (Hetzner cost + 30% margin). Analytics, error tracking, session replay, and uptime monitoring are all included in both self-hosted and Cloud versions.
Migration difficulty depends on your target. If your apps use Dockerfiles, they'll work on any platform on this list without changes. Coolify-specific configurations like docker-compose overrides and environment variable structure need manual porting. Database migrations require dump-and-restore. The smoothest path is Coolify to Dokploy (similar architecture) or Coolify to Temps (Docker support plus built-in observability).
Coolify has the larger community (52,400+ vs 30,100+ stars) and more one-click templates (280+ vs limited). Dokploy has better DX for Docker Compose teams — its AI generator saves real time — plus built-in SSO/SAML that Coolify lacks. Both are free to self-host. Neither includes built-in analytics, error tracking, or session replay.
Coolify remains the most popular self-hosted PaaS — a large community, 280+ one-click templates, active v4 development. It's a solid choice if deployment is your only concern and you're comfortable paying separately for observability tools. Where Coolify falls short is total cost: the free VPS becomes $150+/mo once you add the monitoring stack most production apps need.
Temps includes five things Coolify requires you to source separately: preview environments per pull request, web analytics (first-party, stored in localStorage as _temps_visitor_id), error tracking (Sentry-compatible DSN — data stays on your server, not sent to Sentry.io), session replay (rrweb-based via @temps-sdk/react-analytics), and uptime monitoring (60s check interval, configurable alerting). Temps uses Pingora as its reverse proxy (Cloudflare's open-source proxy, handling over a trillion requests per day), while Coolify uses Traefik. Multi-node clustering uses WireGuard mesh via defguard_wireguard_rs (embedded, no wireguard-tools package required), while Coolify uses Docker Swarm.
A team self-hosting Coolify and paying separately for Sentry ($26/mo) + Plausible ($9/mo) + FullStory ($99+/mo) + Better Uptime ($20/mo) pays approximately $154/mo in observability tools. Temps includes all four at ~$6/mo on Temps Cloud (Hetzner cost + 30% margin). Both platforms are free to self-host. The savings depend on which tools you're currently paying for, but the typical switch eliminates $148–294/mo in SaaS subscriptions.
Last updated June 7, 2026. GitHub star counts and pricing verified from public sources. Always verify current pricing with each platform before committing.
