Is Coolify or SST better?

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

Which is cheaper, Coolify or SST?

Coolify starts at Free and SST at Free.

Does Coolify or SST run on more platforms?

Coolify runs on Web, Linux, Docker, Self-hosted. SST runs on AWS, Cloudflare, Node.js.

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 SST is typically brought in for.

What can Coolify do that SST cannot?

Coolify covers Git push deployments, One-click services, Automatic certificates, Managed databases. SST covers Single config file, Resource linking, Local development, Multi-cloud support.

Cloud · head to head

Coolify vs SST

Coolify

Cloud

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

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

SST

Cloud

Build full-stack apps on your own infrastructure

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.; SST primarily optimized for AWS with Cloudflare support
They diverge on capability: Coolify covers Git push deployments, SST covers Single config file.
Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Coolify and SST actually diverge.

Attributes where Coolify and SST differ
Attribute	Coolify	SST
Pricing model	Open source, no licence fee	Unknown
Platforms	Web, Linux, Docker, Self-hosted	AWS, Cloudflare, Node.js

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

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 SST

Single config file
Resource linking
Local development
Multi-cloud support
Multiple deployment stages
VPC tunneling

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 SST
An agency hosting many low-traffic client sites on shared servers with certificates handled automaticallynot SST
Self-hosting analytics, databases and internal tools from the one-click catalogue without writing Compose filesnot SST
Deploying inside a country or jurisdiction where no managed platform operates a regionnot SST

SST

Deploying Next.js frontends with serverless backendsnot Coolify
Managing databases and storage alongside application codenot Coolify
Creating staging environments for feature testingnot 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.

SST

Primarily optimized for AWS with Cloudflare support
Learning curve for developers unfamiliar with infrastructure concepts
Limited documentation for some advanced use cases

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

SST

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the SST review.

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 SST if

You need single config file.
You want to start without paying.
You work on AWS, Cloudflare, Node.js.
You also want resource linking.

SST review

Questions people ask

Is Coolify or SST better?: Neither clearly leads. Coolify starts at Free and SST at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Coolify or SST?: Coolify starts at Free and SST at Free.
Does Coolify or SST run on more platforms?: Coolify runs on Web, Linux, Docker, Self-hosted. SST runs on AWS, Cloudflare, Node.js.
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 SST is typically brought in for.
What can Coolify do that SST cannot?: Coolify covers Git push deployments, One-click services, Automatic certificates, Managed databases. SST covers Single config file, Resource linking, Local development, Multi-cloud support.

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.

SST: Is SST free?

Yes, SST is open source and free. You only pay for cloud resources from AWS and other providers.

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.

SST: What cloud providers does SST support?

SST supports over 150 providers through built-in AWS and Cloudflare components, plus Pulumi and Terraform providers.

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.

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 SST

Coolify

SST

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Coolify

Only in SST

What people use each for

Coolify

SST

Where each one falls short

Coolify

SST

Pricing, plan by plan

Coolify

SST

Which should you pick?

Choose Coolify if

Choose SST if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on Coolify

More on SST

Keep looking

Other head to heads