Best Open Source Alternatives to Heroku in 2026

Heroku killed its free tier in 2022 and now starts at $5/dyno/month with $7/month for Postgres. For hobby projects and startups, that adds up. The good news: open source PaaS options now replicate the Heroku experience — git push deploys, buildpacks, add-ons — on $5/month VPS instances.

TL;DR

Dokku is the closest Heroku experience — same git push workflow, buildpack support, and plugin ecosystem. It's literally called "the smallest PaaS." Coolify adds a web dashboard and more features. Both run on a single VPS for $5/month.

Key Takeaways

• Dokku is the spiritual successor to Heroku — git push dokku main deploys your app exactly like git push heroku main
• Dokku supports Heroku buildpacks — your existing Procfile and buildpack config just works
• Coolify offers Heroku's ease plus a web dashboard — better for teams and visual management
• CapRover adds cluster support — multiple servers behind a load balancer
• Piku is the ultra-minimalist option — deploys to any server, inspired by Dokku but even simpler
• A $5 Hetzner VPS replaces $50+/month in Heroku dynos and add-ons

The Comparison

Feature	Heroku	Dokku	Coolify	CapRover	Piku
Price	$5-250/dyno	Free (OSS)	Free (OSS)	Free (OSS)	Free (OSS)
git push deploy	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
Buildpacks	✅	✅	Nixpacks	✅	❌
Procfile	✅	✅	❌	❌	✅
Add-ons	Marketplace	Plugins	One-click	One-click	Manual
Web UI	✅	❌ (CLI)	✅	✅	❌
Database	Paid add-on	Plugin	Built-in	One-click	Manual
SSL	✅	Plugin	✅	✅	✅
Custom domains	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
Scaling	Horizontal	Vertical	Multi-server	Docker Swarm	❌
Review apps	✅	Plugin	✅	❌	❌
Logs	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
Setup time	0 min	10 min	5 min	10 min	5 min

1. Dokku — The Heroku Clone

Same workflow, your server.

Dokku is the most Heroku-like option. If you've used Heroku, you already know how Dokku works:

# Heroku                          # Dokku
heroku create my-app       →      dokku apps:create my-app
heroku addons:create heroku-postgres → dokku postgres:create my-db
                                      dokku postgres:link my-db my-app
git push heroku main       →      git push dokku main
heroku config:set KEY=val  →      dokku config:set my-app KEY=val
heroku logs --tail         →      dokku logs my-app --tail
heroku ps:scale web=2      →      dokku ps:scale my-app web=2

Popular Dokku plugins:

• dokku-postgres — PostgreSQL databases
• dokku-redis — Redis instances
• dokku-mongo — MongoDB databases
• dokku-mysql — MySQL databases
• dokku-letsencrypt — Automatic SSL
• dokku-maintenance — Maintenance mode
• dokku-redirect — URL redirects

Migrating from Heroku

# 1. Install Dokku on your VPS
wget -NP . https://dokku.com/install/v0.35.x/bootstrap.sh
sudo bash bootstrap.sh

# 2. Create app
dokku apps:create my-app

# 3. Create and link database
dokku postgres:create my-db
dokku postgres:link my-db my-app

# 4. Set environment variables
dokku config:set my-app \
  SECRET_KEY=xxx \
  DATABASE_URL=auto  # Set automatically by postgres:link

# 5. Add git remote and push
git remote add dokku dokku@your-server:my-app
git push dokku main

# 6. Enable SSL
dokku letsencrypt:enable my-app

Best for: Heroku users who want the exact same workflow on their own server.

2. Coolify — Heroku + Dashboard

Everything from the Vercel article applies here. Coolify is the dashboard-first PaaS that handles Git deploys, databases, SSL, and one-click apps. It's Heroku with a modern UI.

Best for: Teams wanting a web interface, multi-app deployments, anyone who prefers clicking over CLI.

3. CapRover — Heroku + Clustering

CapRover provides the web dashboard experience with Docker Swarm clustering — deploy across multiple servers with a load balancer. Good middle ground between Dokku (too simple) and Kubernetes (too complex).

Best for: Growing apps that need horizontal scaling, teams wanting one-click deploys with clustering.

4. Piku — Ultra-Minimalist

Heroku-like deploys with nothing but SSH.

• GitHub: 6K+ stars
• Stack: Python, shell
• License: MIT
• Deploy: Any server with SSH

Piku is the absolute minimum. It needs only Python and SSH on the target server — no Docker, no containers, no complex setup. git push deploys using a Procfile, just like Heroku.

# Deploy is literally:
git remote add piku piku@your-server:my-app
git push piku main

Supports: Python, Node.js, Ruby, Go, Java, Clojure — anything you can run from a Procfile.

Best for: Single-server hobby deployments, Raspberry Pi projects, developers who want zero overhead.

Cost Comparison

Scenario	Heroku	Dokku (Hetzner)	Coolify (Hetzner)
1 web app + Postgres	$14/month	$4.50/month	$4.50/month
3 apps + DB + Redis	$46/month	$7/month	$7/month
5 apps + 3 DBs + workers	$120+/month	$14/month	$14/month
Annual savings (5 apps)	—	$1,272/year	$1,272/year

Decision Guide

Choose Dokku if:

• You want the closest Heroku experience
• You're comfortable with CLI
• Heroku buildpack compatibility matters
• You want a battle-tested, mature solution

Choose Coolify if:

• You want a web dashboard
• You manage multiple apps
• One-click database setup is appealing
• You want Docker Compose support

Choose CapRover if:

• You need multi-server clustering
• Docker Swarm is your scaling model
• Web UI plus scaling matters

Choose Piku if:

• You want absolute simplicity
• No Docker, no containers
• Single server, hobby projects
• Raspberry Pi or lightweight servers

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Compare open source PaaS platforms on OSSAlt — deployment workflows, add-on support, and scaling options side by side.