Coolify Install: Free Heroku and Netlify Self-Hosted Alternative

If you want a free, self-hosted alternative to Netlify or Heroku, Coolify is the best option. It gives you automated deployments, SSL, databases, and 280+ one-click service templates, all running on your own server.

Coolify is open-source (52,000+ GitHub stars) and has been in active development since 2021. The v4.0.0 stable release dropped in April 2026 after two years of beta, and the project ships updates weekly. v4.1.2 is the latest release as of June 2026, with v5 (focused on multi-server scalability) in development.

Already familiar with Coolify and want a deeper comparison? See Coolify vs Dokploy vs Kamal 2.

What Coolify can deploy

Applications (via Nixpacks, Dockerfile, Docker Compose, or Docker Image)

• Static sites (Astro, Hugo, Jekyll, plain HTML)
• Node.js (Next.js, Nuxt, Express, NestJS)
• Vue, React, Svelte/SvelteKit
• PHP, Laravel, Symfony
• Python (Django, Flask, FastAPI)
• Ruby on Rails, Phoenix (Elixir)
• Rust, Go, Deno
• Any Dockerfile or Docker Compose project

Databases

• PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB
• MongoDB, Redis, KeyDB, Dragonfly
• CouchDB, ClickHouse, Databasus

One-click services (280+ templates)

WordPress, Ghost, n8n, Plausible Analytics, Uptime Kuma, MinIO, VaultWarden, Appwrite, Supabase, Directus, NocoDB, Meilisearch, Umami, Hasura, Beszel, Langfuse, and hundreds more. The full list is in the community templates repo.

Supported architectures and operating systems

• AMD64 and ARM64
• Debian-based (Ubuntu LTS 20.04, 22.04, 24.04, Debian)
• Red Hat-based (CentOS, Fedora, AlmaLinux, Rocky Linux)
• SUSE-based (SLES, openSUSE)
• Arch Linux, Alpine Linux, Raspberry Pi OS (64-bit)

Coolify deploys from GitHub, GitLab, Gitea, and Bitbucket. Push to your repo and Coolify rebuilds automatically, just like Netlify or Heroku.

Minimum server requirements

• 2 CPU cores
• 2 GB RAM
• 30 GB free storage

These are minimums for Coolify itself. If you plan to run builds and multiple apps on the same server, go higher. An 8 GB RAM / 4-core server comfortably runs 10+ apps and several databases.

Video walkthrough

How to install Coolify on a VPS

You can use any VPS provider. Hetzner offers the best price-to-performance for self-hosting. Other options: DigitalOcean, Vultr, Hostinger. We have VPS benchmarks here: DigitalOcean vs Vultr vs Hetzner.

DigitalOcean $100 Free Vultr $100 Free Hetzner €⁠20 Free Hostinger VPS

Step 1: SSH into your server and run the install script

The recommended install method is a single curl command. SSH to your VPS as root and run:

curl -fsSL https://cdn.coollabs.io/coolify/install.sh | sudo bash

The script handles everything: installing dependencies (curl, wget, git, jq, openssl), Docker Engine 24+, creating directories under /data/coolify, generating SSH keys, and starting Coolify.

Note for Ubuntu users: The automatic script works with Ubuntu LTS versions only (20.04, 22.04, 24.04). If you run a non-LTS version like 24.10, use the manual installation method.

Docker via Snap is not supported. If your server has Docker installed via Snap, remove it first and let the Coolify script install Docker Engine.

Step 2: Access the Coolify dashboard

After installation completes, the script prints your Coolify URL. It will look like:

http://your-server-ip:8000

Visit that URL in your browser. You will see a registration page to create your first admin account.

Important: Create your admin account immediately. The registration page is public until an account exists. If someone else finds it first, they get control of your server.

Step 3: Point a domain to the server

For production use, access Coolify over HTTPS with a proper domain. Add an A record pointing your domain or subdomain (e.g., coolify.yourdomain.com) to your server IP.

Step 4: Set the admin URL

Go to Settings > Coolify Settings and set the URL (FQDN) field to your domain. Coolify will automatically provision an SSL certificate via Let’s Encrypt.

Step 5: Connect a Git source

Go to Create New Resource and select your Git source (GitHub, GitLab, Gitea, or Bitbucket). Follow the prompts to connect your account. For GitHub, you will install the Coolify GitHub App on your repositories. The video above walks through this in detail.

Step 6: Deploy an application

Here is a walkthrough deploying a static Astro site (works the same for any framework).

Create the application

Go to Create New Resource > Application and select GitHub as the source:

Choose your repository and branch, then save. Coolify auto-detects the framework. In this case, it recognizes Astro:

Point the domain

Add an A record for your application’s domain or subdomain pointing to the server IP.

DigitalOcean $100 Free Vultr $100 Free Hetzner €⁠20 Free Hostinger VPS

Set the domain in Coolify

Add the URL in the application settings. Coolify configures the reverse proxy and SSL automatically:

Hit save, then hit deploy. The first build takes longer (Coolify pulls base images and installs dependencies). Subsequent builds are faster thanks to Docker layer caching.

Automatic deployments

Push a commit to your connected branch and Coolify rebuilds automatically. This is enabled by default under Features > Enable Automatic Deployment. It works exactly like Netlify or Vercel deploy hooks.

Step 7: Deploy a database

From the same Create New Resource screen, select a database type (PostgreSQL, MySQL, Redis, MongoDB, etc.) and deploy it. Coolify handles the Docker setup, volume persistence, and backup scheduling. You can expose databases publicly or keep them on the internal Docker network.

More Coolify tutorials

• Install Uptime Kuma with Coolify
• Install Plausible Analytics with Coolify
• Coolify vs Dokploy vs Kamal 2
• Coolify v5 self-hosted PaaS review

Coolify Cloud

Don’t want to manage a server yourself? Coolify Cloud is the managed version. You still get the same UI and features, but Coolify handles the infrastructure. Pricing starts at $5/month for 2 servers. See coolify.io/cloud for details.

Conclusion

Coolify is a solid, free, self-hosted PaaS. It handles the full deployment lifecycle: Git integration, automatic builds, SSL, reverse proxy, database management, backups, and preview deployments. The install is a one-liner. The UI is intuitive. It supports every major framework and language.

If you are paying for Heroku, Vercel, or Netlify and want to cut costs without losing convenience, Coolify on a $5-10/month VPS does the job.

DigitalOcean $100 Free Vultr $100 Free Hetzner €⁠20 Free Hostinger VPS

For managing your server with a reverse proxy panel alongside Coolify, check out:

CloudPanel Setup Course