Managed app platforms are lovely until the invoice arrives: every app, every worker, every database is a separate line item. Coolify gives you most of that workflow — push to Git, get a deployed app with HTTPS — on a single server you pay a flat price for. It's open source, it runs on Docker, and it takes about five minutes to install on a fresh VPS.
What you get
- Git deploys. Connect GitHub, GitLab or any Git URL; Coolify builds with Nixpacks or your Dockerfile and redeploys on push.
- Automatic HTTPS. Point a domain (or a wildcard) at the server and each app gets its own Let's Encrypt certificate.
- One-click services. Postgres, Redis, MinIO, Plausible, Uptime Kuma, n8n and dozens more, deployed from templates.
- Preview deployments for pull requests, if you want them.
Sizing it honestly
Coolify's documented minimum is 2 vCPU / 2 GB RAM / 30 GB disk. That's enough to install it and deploy something small. The moment you build a JavaScript app or run a database next to it, 2 GB turns into swap and timeouts.
| What you run | Plan that fits |
|---|---|
| Coolify + 1–2 static sites or small APIs | Micro-IP — 2 vCPU, 2 GB, 25 GB ($10/mo), add swap |
| A few apps + Postgres + builds on the box | Small-IP — 4 vCPU, 4 GB, 35 GB ($16/mo) |
| Several apps, workers, heavier builds | Medium-IP — 6 vCPU, 6 GB, 45 GB ($20/mo) |
You need a dedicated-IP plan: Coolify's proxy must answer on 80 and 443 for every app. NAT plans only accept your SSH port inbound.
Install
On a fresh Ubuntu 24.04 or Debian 12 server, as root:
curl -fsSL https://cdn.coollabs.io/coolify/install.sh | bash
The script installs Docker and starts Coolify. Open http://YOUR_SERVER_IP:8000, create the admin account straight away (the first visitor becomes admin), then go to Settings → Instance Domain and set something like https://coolify.example.com.
Once the dashboard is reachable on its domain, close the raw port:
ufw allow 22/tcp && ufw allow 80/tcp && ufw allow 443/tcp
ufw enable
One gotcha: Docker publishes container ports through its own iptables rules, which bypass ufw. Don't publish database ports to the host unless you mean it — keep databases on Coolify's internal network.
Keep it healthy
- Cleanup. Enable automatic Docker cleanup in Coolify's server settings, or old images will quietly eat your disk.
- Database backups. Each database resource has a scheduled-backup tab — send them to any S3-compatible bucket.
- Server backups. Managed Backups take a daily copy of the whole server for $2/mo, and they're included free on annual plans.
- Swap. On 2–4 GB boxes, a 2 GB swap file saves builds from the OOM killer.
The trade-offs
It's one machine. If the server reboots, every app on it blinks. Coolify also moves fast and ships frequent updates — mostly good, occasionally a surprise, so update in a quiet hour rather than on Friday night. And you are now the ops team: when a build breaks at 2 a.m., there's no support desk behind the "Deploy" button.
For a solo developer or a small team running a few projects, that deal is usually worth it. You swap a stack of per-app bills for one server you understand.
Related
- VPS for Docker — plain Docker Compose, if you don't need a dashboard
- Deploy a Docker Compose stack
- How much RAM does a VPS need?
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