dokku/dokku

Health v2 · maintenance only

Adoption not part of the score

32111 stars · 2070 forks observed · 2026-08-28

What it is AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, 2026-08-29, confidence not recorded

Dokku is a Docker-powered, open source Platform as a Service (PaaS) that runs on a single server, letting you deploy apps via git push using Heroku buildpacks or Dockerfiles. It is extensible through a plugin system and manages building, routing, scaling, and the full lifecycle of applications.

Use cases

• self-host a Heroku alternative on my own server
• deploy apps with git push like Heroku
• run a lightweight PaaS on a cheap VPS
• manage app deployment, scaling, and routing from the CLI
• deploy Dockerfile-based apps without writing CI/CD
• host multiple small apps on one server with subdomains

When to choose

• you want Heroku-style git-push deploys on your own hardware or a single cloud server
• you need a simple, low-resource PaaS without Kubernetes complexity
• you want to extend your platform with plugins for databases, TLS, and schedulers
• you prefer no vendor lock-in and full control over your deployment platform

When to avoid

• you need multi-node orchestration, autoscaling, or a full Kubernetes feature set
• you require managed services, SLAs, or enterprise support
• your team already standardizes on Kubernetes or a large cloud PaaS
• you cannot run Ubuntu/Debian servers with root access

Facets

service · maturity stable

deployment container-runtime cli plugin-system http-server developer-tools self-hosted cloud-computing web-development developer-tools self-hosted cli cloud paas heroku-alternative git-deploy buildpacks docker mini-heroku single-host devops containers linux

Member repositories

For agents

markdown · JSON · MCP: product_card(name="dokku/dokku")