Is Coolify or Depot better?

Neither clearly leads. Coolify starts at Free and Depot at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, Coolify or Depot?

Coolify starts at Free and Depot at Free.

Does Coolify or Depot run on more platforms?

Coolify runs on Web, Linux, Docker, Self-hosted. Depot runs on Cloud, GitHub, CLI.

Can I use Coolify for free?

Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.

What is Coolify best used for?

Coolify is most often used for replacing a managed platform bill with a single hetzner or digitalocean instance running a dozen small applications, an agency hosting many low-traffic client sites on shared servers with certificates handled automatically, self-hosting analytics, databases and internal tools from the one-click catalogue without writing compose files, deploying inside a country or jurisdiction where no managed platform operates a region. Of those, replacing a managed platform bill with a single hetzner or digitalocean instance running a dozen small applications and an agency hosting many low-traffic client sites on shared servers with certificates handled automatically are not what Depot is typically brought in for.

What can Coolify do that Depot cannot?

Coolify covers Git push deployments, One-click services, Automatic certificates, Managed databases. Depot covers Depot CI, Container builds, GitHub Actions runners, Distributed caching.

Cloud · head to head

Coolify vs Depot

Coolify

Cloud

Open source self-hosted platform that deploys applications and databases to servers you already own

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

Depot

Developer Tools

Cloud-based builds and CI runs 55x faster with less cost

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

The short version

Each has a real cost: Coolify commit history since June 2026 shows one maintainer at 73 commits and a second at 15 with nobody else above one, and the same two people also ship four other coolLabs products, so the project depends on a very small number of individuals.; Depot developer plan minute limits may be insufficient for active development
They diverge on capability: Coolify covers Git push deployments, Depot covers Depot CI.
Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Coolify and Depot actually diverge.

Attributes where Coolify and Depot differ
Attribute	Coolify	Depot
Pricing model	Open source, no licence fee	Unknown
Platforms	Web, Linux, Docker, Self-hosted	Cloud, GitHub, CLI
Category	Cloud	Developer Tools
Founded	Unknown	2022

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Coolify

Git push deployments
One-click services
Automatic certificates
Managed databases
Docker Compose support
Notifications

Only in Depot

Depot CI
Container builds
GitHub Actions runners
Distributed caching
Build API
Depot Registry
Cross-platform builds
SSH debugging

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Coolify

Replacing a managed platform bill with a single Hetzner or DigitalOcean instance running a dozen small applicationsnot Depot
An agency hosting many low-traffic client sites on shared servers with certificates handled automaticallynot Depot
Self-hosting analytics, databases and internal tools from the one-click catalogue without writing Compose filesnot Depot
Deploying inside a country or jurisdiction where no managed platform operates a regionnot Depot

Depot

Accelerating Docker builds for container-based developmentnot Coolify
Replacing GitHub Actions runners with faster infrastructurenot Coolify
Distributing cache across Monorepo buildsnot Coolify
Debugging failed CI builds interactively with SSHnot Coolify

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Coolify

Commit history since June 2026 shows one maintainer at 73 commits and a second at 15 with nobody else above one, and the same two people also ship four other coolLabs products, so the project depends on a very small number of individuals.
Multi-server support is documented as experimental, load balancer configuration is manual, every server must share the same CPU architecture, and moving images between hosts requires you to run your own Docker registry.
In self-hosted mode the Coolify machine holds every SSH key and secret with no documented high availability, so the dashboard host is a single point of failure that the paid Cloud tier fixes and self-hosting does not.
Scheduled S3 backups cover PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB and MongoDB only, so application persistent volumes are your responsibility and a restore is untested unless you test it yourself.
Release cadence is fast enough that six patch versions shipped inside ten days in August 2026 against several hundred open issues, and because instances can update themselves a regression can reach a production host before you have read the changelog.

Depot

Developer plan minute limits may be insufficient for active development
Startup plan at $200/mo is expensive for smaller teams
Business plan requires custom pricing consultation
macOS M2 runners not available on Developer plan

Pricing, plan by plan

Coolify

Free

Self-hostedFree
- Apache-2.0, no features held back
- Unlimited servers, applications and users
- You run, update and back up the dashboard yourself
Cloud$5/month
- Connects 2 servers, then 3 US dollars a month per extra server
- Managed and updated Coolify dashboard with high availability
- Managed backups of the Coolify instance itself

Depot

Free

Developer$20/month
- 1 user
- 500 Docker build minutes per month
- 2,000 Depot CI minutes per month
Startup$200/month
- Unlimited users
- 5,000 Docker build minutes per month
- 20,000 Depot CI minutes per month
Business$undefined/custom
- Custom pricing
- Unlimited users
- Custom monthly compute

Which should you pick?

Choose Coolify if

You need git push deployments.
You want to start without paying.
You work on Web, Linux, Docker, Self-hosted.
You also want one-click services.

Coolify review

Choose Depot if

You need depot ci.
You want to start without paying.
You work on Cloud, GitHub, CLI.
You also want container builds.

Depot review

Questions people ask

Is Coolify or Depot better?: Neither clearly leads. Coolify starts at Free and Depot at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Coolify or Depot?: Coolify starts at Free and Depot at Free.
Does Coolify or Depot run on more platforms?: Coolify runs on Web, Linux, Docker, Self-hosted. Depot runs on Cloud, GitHub, CLI.
Can I use Coolify for free?: Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Coolify best used for?: Coolify is most often used for replacing a managed platform bill with a single hetzner or digitalocean instance running a dozen small applications, an agency hosting many low-traffic client sites on shared servers with certificates handled automatically, self-hosting analytics, databases and internal tools from the one-click catalogue without writing compose files, deploying inside a country or jurisdiction where no managed platform operates a region. Of those, replacing a managed platform bill with a single hetzner or digitalocean instance running a dozen small applications and an agency hosting many low-traffic client sites on shared servers with certificates handled automatically are not what Depot is typically brought in for.
What can Coolify do that Depot cannot?: Coolify covers Git push deployments, One-click services, Automatic certificates, Managed databases. Depot covers Depot CI, Container builds, GitHub Actions runners, Distributed caching.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Coolify: Is anything held back for the paid tier?

No. Coolify Cloud hosts, updates and backs up the dashboard and gives it high availability. Every feature that touches your applications is in the Apache-2.0 build you can run yourself.

Depot: How much faster are Depot runners compared to GitHub Actions?

Depot runners offer 30% faster CPUs and 10x faster networking than standard GitHub-hosted runners, enabling builds to complete significantly faster.

Source

Coolify: What does Coolify Cloud cost?

Five US dollars a month connects two servers, and each additional server is three dollars a month, with 20 per cent off for annual billing. You still supply and pay for the servers themselves.

Depot: What is included in the Developer plan?

Developer plan ($20/month) includes 500 Docker build minutes, 2,000 Depot CI minutes, 2,000 GitHub Actions minutes, 25 GB storage, unlimited concurrency, and community support.

Source

Coolify: Does it back up my application data?

It backs up PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB and MongoDB to S3 on a schedule. Application persistent volumes are not covered, so anything stored outside a managed database needs your own backup plan.

Depot: Can I use Depot with my own AWS account?

Yes, Depot Managed allows deployment within customer AWS accounts. This is available to interested customers; contact sales for details.

Source

Coolify: Can I run it across several servers?

Yes, but the documentation calls multi-server experimental. Load balancing is not configured for you, all nodes must share a CPU architecture, and you need to run your own Docker registry.

Coolify vs Depot

Coolify

Depot

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Coolify

Only in Depot

What people use each for

Coolify

Depot

Where each one falls short

Coolify

Depot

Pricing, plan by plan

Coolify

Depot

Which should you pick?

Choose Coolify if

Choose Depot if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on Coolify

More on Depot

Keep looking

Other head to heads