Is Dokku or Keycloak better?

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

Which is cheaper, Dokku or Keycloak?

Dokku starts at Free and Keycloak at Free.

Does Dokku or Keycloak run on more platforms?

Dokku runs on Linux, Docker, CLI, Self-hosted. Keycloak runs on Self-hosted, Docker, Kubernetes, Linux, Windows, API.

Can I use Dokku for free?

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

What is Dokku best used for?

Dokku is most often used for running a dozen side projects and client applications on one virtual private server with heroku style deployment, moving off a managed platform when the monthly bill has grown faster than the traffic has, a consultancy that wants buildpack deployments without teaching every client team kubernetes, keeping a legacy procfile application alive on hardware you control after a managed platform deprecates its stack. Of those, running a dozen side projects and client applications on one virtual private server with heroku style deployment and moving off a managed platform when the monthly bill has grown faster than the traffic has are not what Keycloak is typically brought in for.

What can Dokku do that Keycloak cannot?

Dokku covers Git push deploy, Heroku buildpacks, Datastore plugins, Automatic certificates.

Cloud · head to head

Dokku vs Keycloak

Dokku

Cloud

Single-server platform that accepts a git push and runs Heroku buildpacks on Docker

From: Free
Free plan: Yes

Full review Website

Keycloak

Developer Tools

Open-source identity and access management server.

From: Free
Free plan: Yes

Full review Website

The short version

Each has a real cost: Dokku one maintainer accounts for nearly all human commit activity and the project records roughly 10,500 US dollars of annual income on Open Collective, which is not enough to fund a maintainer, so continuity rests on one person continuing to volunteer.; Keycloak requires self-hosted deployment and operational expertise to install, configure and maintain
Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Dokku and Keycloak actually diverge.

Attributes where Dokku and Keycloak differ
Attribute	Dokku	Keycloak
Pricing model	Open source, no licence fee	open-source
Platforms	Linux, Docker, CLI, Self-hosted	Self-hosted, Docker, Kubernetes, Linux, Windows, API
Category	Cloud	Developer Tools

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 Dokku

Git push deploy
Heroku buildpacks
Datastore plugins
Automatic certificates
Zero downtime deploys
Pluggable schedulers

Only in Keycloak

Nothing recorded that Dokku does not also cover.

What people use each for

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

Dokku

Running a dozen side projects and client applications on one virtual private server with Heroku style deploymentnot Keycloak
Moving off a managed platform when the monthly bill has grown faster than the traffic hasnot Keycloak
A consultancy that wants buildpack deployments without teaching every client team Kubernetesnot Keycloak
Keeping a legacy Procfile application alive on hardware you control after a managed platform deprecates its stacknot Keycloak

Keycloak

Organisations requiring self-hosted identity infrastructure for compliance or data residencynot Dokku
Companies with existing LDAP/Active Directory systems needing federated authenticationnot Dokku
Open-source projects and communities requiring free IAM without licensing costsnot Dokku
Enterprises building custom identity workflows requiring fine-grained authorisationnot Dokku
Teams with sufficient operational expertise to manage infrastructurenot Dokku

Where each one falls short

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

Dokku

One maintainer accounts for nearly all human commit activity and the project records roughly 10,500 US dollars of annual income on Open Collective, which is not enough to fund a maintainer, so continuity rests on one person continuing to volunteer.
Dokku Pro asks 849 US dollars for a lifetime licence from a project with no disclosed legal entity behind the promise and no published refund terms, while the product is still described as in development at early bird pricing.
Dokku is single-server by design, and the k3s scheduler that provides multi-node support is missing log retrieval, process inspection and content-based health checks, with a post-run hook the documentation says does not consistently fire.
Supported operating systems are limited to Ubuntu 22.04 or 24.04 and Debian 11 or later, so organisations standardised on Red Hat, Rocky or Alma Linux cannot run it on their approved base image.
Backups are separate commands per datastore plugin that you schedule yourself, with no unified snapshot, no point-in-time recovery and no tested restore path, so verifying that a restore works is entirely your responsibility.

Keycloak

Requires self-hosted deployment and operational expertise to install, configure and maintain
No managed cloud option provided by Red Hat; organisations must operate infrastructure themselves or use third-party distributions
Clustering and high-availability configurations require additional operational knowledge
Community support only; commercial support requires third-party vendors or distributions

Pricing, plan by plan

Dokku

Free

DokkuFree
- MIT licensed, no usage limits
- Command line and SSH only
- All datastore and certificate plugins
Dokku Pro$849/one-time
- Lifetime licence with free upgrades and no subscription
- Covers 1 production and 2 pre-production servers
- Web dashboard and JSON REST API

Keycloak

Free

Open-sourceFree
- Full platform functionality
- Self-hosted deployment
- Community support

Which should you pick?

Choose Dokku if

You need git push deploy.
You want to start without paying.
You work on Linux, Docker, CLI, Self-hosted.
You also want heroku buildpacks.

Dokku review

Choose Keycloak if

You want to start without paying.
You work on Self-hosted, Docker, Kubernetes, Linux, Windows, API.

Keycloak review

Questions people ask

Is Dokku or Keycloak better?: Neither clearly leads. Dokku starts at Free and Keycloak at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Dokku or Keycloak?: Dokku starts at Free and Keycloak at Free.
Does Dokku or Keycloak run on more platforms?: Dokku runs on Linux, Docker, CLI, Self-hosted. Keycloak runs on Self-hosted, Docker, Kubernetes, Linux, Windows, API.
Can I use Dokku for free?: Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Dokku best used for?: Dokku is most often used for running a dozen side projects and client applications on one virtual private server with heroku style deployment, moving off a managed platform when the monthly bill has grown faster than the traffic has, a consultancy that wants buildpack deployments without teaching every client team kubernetes, keeping a legacy procfile application alive on hardware you control after a managed platform deprecates its stack. Of those, running a dozen side projects and client applications on one virtual private server with heroku style deployment and moving off a managed platform when the monthly bill has grown faster than the traffic has are not what Keycloak is typically brought in for.
What can Dokku do that Keycloak cannot?: Dokku covers Git push deploy, Heroku buildpacks, Datastore plugins, Automatic certificates.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Dokku: Is Dokku still maintained?

Yes. Version 0.38.27 shipped in August 2026 with roughly six releases in the preceding two months. The caveat is that one maintainer writes nearly all of it.

Keycloak: What protocols does Keycloak support?

Keycloak supports OpenID Connect, OAuth 2.0 and SAML 2.0 protocols for authentication and authorisation.

Source

Dokku: What does Dokku Pro give me over the free edition?

A web dashboard, a JSON REST API, git push over HTTPS, browser log tailing, team management and email support from the maintainers. It costs 849 US dollars once for one production and two pre-production servers.

Keycloak: Can Keycloak integrate with existing user directories?

Yes. Keycloak supports user federation with LDAP and Active Directory systems, allowing organisations to leverage existing user directories.

Source

Dokku: Can Dokku run across multiple servers?

Only through the k3s or Nomad schedulers. The k3s path is missing several commands and health check types, and the older Kubernetes scheduler is deprecated and no longer developed.

Keycloak: Is Keycloak free?

Yes. Keycloak is fully open-source and free to deploy and use. No licensing fees are required.

Source

Dokku: Will my Heroku application run on it unchanged?

Usually. Dokku runs the same buildpacks and reads a Procfile, so the application layer normally moves across. Add-ons, scaling behaviour and backups are the parts you have to rebuild.

Dokku vs Keycloak

Dokku

Keycloak

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Dokku

Only in Keycloak

What people use each for

Dokku

Keycloak

Where each one falls short

Dokku

Keycloak

Pricing, plan by plan

Dokku

Keycloak

Which should you pick?

Choose Dokku if

Choose Keycloak if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on Dokku

More on Keycloak

Keep looking

Other head to heads