Coolify review (2026): is the free plan enough?
Open-source platform to deploy apps and databases to your own servers
Black Friday: is there a Coolify sale?
Coolify report card
Fair · out of 4.0 · graded Nov 13, 2026
Best for self-hosting your own apps and databases
Coolify deploys apps from Git to servers you bring, free if you self-host and $5 a month on its Cloud. It supplies no servers, and self-hosting means you install, update and back it up yourself.
Who Coolify is for
- Fits if you have your own servers and want a deploy dashboard
- Works for developers comfortable with SSH and Docker
Who Coolify is not for
- Skip it if you do not have a server, as neither edition supplies one
- Not for you if you want someone else to handle updates and backups when self-hosting
- Tight if you want fast support, as it is community plus limited email on Cloud
- Pricey if you add many servers on Cloud, at $3 a month each past two
Why Coolify gets a 2.4
Five grades, each with its reason. The GPA is their average: an A is 4 points, an F is none.
- CValue for moneyFree software, but only free if you host it yourself on a server you pay for. Cloud is $5 a month for 2 servers, then $3 each.
- BFree plan and trialThe self-hosted edition has every feature with no restrictions, once you have a server. Cloud has no trial on record.
- BFeaturesGit deploys, builds, one-click databases and services, SSL, backups, monitoring, an API and an MCP server. The listing shows no gap in the core job.
- DEase of useNeeds servers reached over SSH and self-hosting, with community support.
- BPlatforms and integrationsA web dashboard with an API, an MCP server and several integrations.
What these grades rest on. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from Coolify's own pages on 13 November 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews. How we review and grade.
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<a href="https://toolgpa.com/tools/coolify#review"><img src="https://toolgpa.com/badge/coolify.svg" alt="Coolify: 2.4 GPA on ToolGPA" width="196" height="56"></a>Where Coolify stands among web hosts
Coolify's GPA of 2.4 is higher than 99 of the 122 other web hosts we grade, and level with 14.
It stands best on free plan and trial (B, above 99 of 122) and worst on ease of use (D, above 0).
Its paid plans start at $5 a month, against a middle price of $9.69 for the category: 31 of the 107 others that charge start lower.
On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 2.3 out of 4. 1 tool scores higher and costs less.
Each grade against the category
Every bar is all 123 web hosts we grade, cut by the letter each got. Coolify’s own letter is outlined.
- CValue for moneyAbove 13 of 122, level with 65
- BFree plan and trialAbove 99 of 122, level with 21
- BFeaturesAbove 86 of 122, level with 36
- DEase of useAbove 0 of 122, level with 39
- BPlatforms and integrationsAbove 57 of 122, level with 65
Price against what you get
Each dot is one of 111 web hosts. Further left costs less, and higher up scores better on features, ease of use and platforms. Point at a dot to see which tool it is.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Keep Coolify, or make your own?
Your call
Coolify sits between: not beyond making, and not a weekend's work either.
What you would give up is listed below. Whether that is worth the price is your call. It costs $60 a year. Coolify is open source, so there is a third way: take its code and run it yourself.
What you could make
- It runs in a browser, which is where something home-made would run too.
What you could not
- Databases with views, filters and links between them.
- It plugs into other products, GitHub, GitLab and Bitbucket among them, and has an API.
- The depth: we grade its features B, which means it covers the whole job.
What this rests on. Coolify’s listing: what it does, where it runs, what it plugs into and what it costs. It is a judgement about the kind of software this is. We have not built a replacement for it, and making your own means looking after it too. How we decide, and every tool’s verdict.
What is Coolify?
Coolify is an open-source, self-hostable platform for deploying websites, applications, databases and one-click services to servers you connect over SSH, positioned as an alternative to Vercel, Heroku, Netlify and Railway. It is free to run on your own server, and a managed Cloud edition runs the dashboard for a monthly fee while you bring the servers.
Worth knowing
- Coolify does not supply servers: both editions need servers you bring, and Cloud charges $3 a month for each server beyond the first two.
- Self-hosting means you handle installation, updates and backups, with community support.
- Cloud support is described as community plus limited email support.
- Some pricing FAQ answers, including trial and discount questions, were not readable on the page, so no trial is recorded.
Key features
- Deploy from Git
- Integrations with GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket and Gitea give push-to-deploy and separate deployments for pull requests.
- Flexible builds
- Applications can be built with Nixpacks, Railpack, a Dockerfile or Docker Compose, served as static sites, or run from a prebuilt Docker image.
- One-click databases and services
- PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, MongoDB, Redis, KeyDB, Dragonfly and ClickHouse start in seconds, alongside a catalog of 360+ one-click services.
- Any server over SSH
- Resources can be deployed to your own server, a VPS, a Raspberry Pi or providers such as Hetzner and DigitalOcean, across one or many servers.
- SSL, backups and monitoring
- Let's Encrypt certificates renew automatically, databases back up to S3-compatible storage, and servers and deployments are monitored with notifications.
- API and MCP server
- An API automates deployments and resources, and an MCP server lets AI clients list resources, deploy and read logs with the same API tokens.
Coolify pricing
As of Nov 13, 2026, Coolify has a free plan, and paid plans start at $5 per month for up to 2 connected servers (Cloud), or free to self-host.
- Starts at
- $5 per month for up to 2 connected servers (Cloud), or free to self-host
- Free plan
- The self-hosted edition is free forever with every feature and no restrictions; you run it on your own infrastructure.
- Free trial
- None listed
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Self-hosted | $0 | Install Coolify yourself on your own infrastructure with all features and unlimited servers and teams. Support comes from the community, and you handle updates and backups. |
| Cloud | $5per month for up to 2 servers, then $3 per extra server | Coolify hosts the dashboard at app.coolify.io; you bring your own servers. Unlimited deployments, email alerts, and limited email support. |
Read from coolify.io on Nov 13, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with Coolify before you buy.
Ways to pay less
- Annual discount20% off Cloud with annual billing
The pricing page's billing toggle marks annual billing as 20% cheaper than monthly for Coolify Cloud.
Stated on coolify.io
Works with
Coolify alternatives
- Coolify vs Dokploy
Free trial · from $4.50/mo
- Coolify vs Dokku
Free plan · from $849 one-time
- Coolify vs Render
Free plan · from $25/mo
- Coolify vs Railway
Free trial · from $5/mo
Common questions
Does Coolify have an Android app?
No Android app was listed when its pages were read on Nov 13, 2026. Coolify is listed for Web.
Does Coolify have an iPhone app?
No iPhone app was listed when its pages were read on Nov 13, 2026. Coolify is listed for Web.
Is Coolify open source?
Yes. Coolify is open source, according to its own site. It can also be run on a server of your own.
Does Coolify have an API?
Yes. Coolify offers a public API, according to its own site.
Sources for this page
The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Nov 13, 2026.