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3 open source alternatives to Heroku

App hosting platform as a service by Salesforce. Here are the open source projects real teams use instead — ranked by fit, with honest pros and cons for each.

What people don't love about Heroku

  • Free tier removed in 2022.
  • Pricing grew sharply for small projects.
  • Vendor lock-in with buildpacks and add-ons.

Current Heroku pricing (for reference): Eco dynos from $5/month; production tiers from $25.

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Quick comparison

Alternative Best for License Self-host Hosted cloud?
Dokku
Self-hosted mini-Heroku on a single server. 		Heroku-style git-push deploys on your own single VPS. MIT ★★☆☆☆ Self-host only
Coolify
Open source Vercel/Heroku/Netlify alternative with a UI. 		UI-driven self-hosted PaaS with modern multi-server support. Apache-2.0 ★★☆☆☆ Yes
CapRover
Free, self-hosted PaaS with a clean UI. 		Clean web UI on top of Docker Swarm for solo or small teams. Apache-2.0 ★★☆☆☆ Self-host only

1. Dokku — Heroku-style git-push deploys on your own single VPS.

Self-hosted mini-Heroku on a single server.

Strengths

  • Deploy via git push, just like Heroku.
  • Works on any Linux VPS.
  • Plugin ecosystem for databases, SSL, etc.

Weaknesses

  • Single-host — limited scaling story.
  • Requires Linux sysadmin comfort.
  • UI is CLI-first.
License: MIT Self-host difficulty: 2/5

Dokku homepage · Source on GitHub · Heroku vs Dokku →

2. Coolify — UI-driven self-hosted PaaS with modern multi-server support.

Open source Vercel/Heroku/Netlify alternative with a UI.

Strengths

  • Slick web UI — no CLI required.
  • Multi-server support and one-click deploys for common stacks.
  • Active, fast-moving development.

Weaknesses

  • Rapid updates occasionally break setups.
  • Some quirks on older Linux distributions.
  • Paid cloud is new.
License: Apache-2.0 Self-host difficulty: 2/5 Hosted cloud option

Coolify homepage · Source on GitHub · Heroku vs Coolify →

3. CapRover — Clean web UI on top of Docker Swarm for solo or small teams.

Free, self-hosted PaaS with a clean UI.

Strengths

  • One-command install on any Ubuntu/Debian box.
  • Web UI for managing apps, volumes, and domains.
  • Strong one-click app library (databases, etc.).

Weaknesses

  • Docker Swarm under the hood — not Kubernetes.
  • Smaller team behind it.
  • Scaling across many nodes is limited.
License: Apache-2.0 Self-host difficulty: 2/5

CapRover homepage · Source on GitHub · Heroku vs CapRover →

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Not what you're looking for?

Browse other tools in App Hosting & PaaS, or check out open source projects by category on the full category index.

Other SaaS in App Hosting & PaaS

Alternatives to Vercel

Frontend cloud with edge deploys for Next.js and more.

3 alternatives

Alternatives to Netlify

Jamstack hosting with Git-based deploys, functions, and forms.

3 alternatives

Alternatives to Render

Heroku-style PaaS for web services, workers, and databases.

3 alternatives

Recommended reading

When self-hosting goes wrong: seven failure modes and how to avoid them

An honest retrospective on the ways self-hosted setups break — not in theory, but in practice — and the small habits that prevent most of them.

Will the open source project you depend on still exist in three years?

Bus factor, maintainer burnout, funding models, and the signals that separate OSS projects that survive from those that quietly decay.

From SaaS to self-hosted: a 30-day migration playbook

A week-by-week plan to move one service off SaaS and onto your own server without breaking your team's workflow.