DEV Community

Alex Spinov
Alex Spinov

Posted on

Coolify Has a Free API: Self-Host Your Apps Like Vercel on Your Own Server

#docker #devops #selfhosted #deployment

What is Coolify?

Coolify is an open-source, self-hostable alternative to Vercel, Netlify, and Heroku. Deploy apps, databases, and services on your own VPS with a beautiful dashboard — no vendor lock-in, no platform costs, just your server bill.

Why Coolify?

  • 100% free — open-source, self-hosted
  • One-click apps — deploy WordPress, Ghost, Plausible, n8n, and 100+ services
  • Auto-deploy — push to GitHub, Coolify builds and deploys
  • SSL included — automatic Let's Encrypt certificates
  • Multiple servers — manage apps across many VPS from one dashboard
  • Database management — PostgreSQL, MySQL, Redis, MongoDB with backups

Quick Start 

# Install on any VPS (Ubuntu 22.04+, 2GB+ RAM)
curl -fsSL https://cdn.coollabs.io/coolify/install.sh | bash

# Dashboard available at http://your-server-ip:8000
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Deploy from GitHub

  1. Connect your GitHub account in Coolify dashboard
  2. Select repository and branch
  3. Coolify auto-detects: Dockerfile, docker-compose, Nixpacks, static site
  4. Click Deploy
  5. Get automatic SSL on your custom domain

Coolify API 

# List applications
curl -s 'http://coolify.yourdomain.com/api/v1/applications' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_TOKEN' | jq '.[] | {name, status, fqdn}'

# Deploy application
curl -X POST 'http://coolify.yourdomain.com/api/v1/applications/APP_UUID/deploy' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_TOKEN'

# Create database
curl -X POST 'http://coolify.yourdomain.com/api/v1/databases' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_TOKEN' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"type": "postgresql", "name": "my-db", "version": "16"}'
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

One-Click Services 

# Available with one click:
# Analytics: Plausible, Umami, Matomo
# CMS: WordPress, Ghost, Strapi, Directus
# Automation: n8n, Activepieces
# Monitoring: Uptime Kuma, Grafana
# Databases: PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB, Redis
# Storage: MinIO, Nextcloud
# Git: Gitea, GitLab
# Chat: Rocket.Chat, Mattermost
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Docker Compose Support 

# docker-compose.yml — Coolify deploys this as-is
services:
  app:
    build: .
    ports:
      - "3000:3000"
    environment:
      - DATABASE_URL=postgresql://user:pass@db:5432/myapp
    depends_on:
      - db

  db:
    image: postgres:16
    volumes:
      - pgdata:/var/lib/postgresql/data
    environment:
      - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=pass

volumes:
  pgdata:
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Coolify vs Alternatives

Feature Coolify Vercel Railway CapRover
Cost Free (self-host) $20/mo Pro $5 credit/mo Free (self-host)
One-click apps 100+ None None 50+
Auto SSL Yes Yes Yes Yes
Multi-server Yes N/A N/A Yes
Database mgmt Built-in None Built-in Plugins
Docker Compose Yes No Yes No
UI quality Modern Best Good Basic

Cost Comparison 

Vercel Pro: $20/mo + $40 bandwidth = $60/mo for 3 apps
Railway: $5 base + $15 usage = $20/mo for 3 apps
Coolify on Hetzner: $5/mo VPS = $5/mo for UNLIMITED apps

Yearly savings: $180-660 on hosting alone.
Plus: no vendor lock-in, no cold starts, full control.
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Real-World Impact

A solo developer ran 5 side projects on separate platforms: Vercel ($20), Railway ($15), DigitalOcean App Platform ($12), plus databases ($25). Total: $72/month. After migrating everything to Coolify on a $6 Hetzner VPS: same 5 projects, 3 databases, automatic backups — $6/month total. Saved $792/year.

Self-hosting your infrastructure? I help teams set up cost-effective deployment platforms. Contact spinov001@gmail.com or explore my data tools on Apify.

Top comments (0)