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Cloud · head to head

Dokku vs Longhorn

Dokku logo

Dokku

Cloud

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

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Longhorn logo

Longhorn

Cloud

Open source distributed block storage for Kubernetes, incubating at the CNCF

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

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.; Longhorn there is no vendor and no SLA, so a production incident at three in the morning is your own problem unless you buy SUSE Rancher Prime support separately.
  • They diverge on capability: Dokku covers Git push deploy, Longhorn covers Per-volume controllers.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Dokku and Longhorn actually diverge.

Attributes where Dokku and Longhorn differ
AttributeDokkuLonghorn
PlatformsLinux, Docker, CLI, Self-hostedLinux, Kubernetes

Identical on both: starting price (Free), pricing model (Open source, no licence fee), 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 Dokku

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

Only in Longhorn

  • Per-volume controllers
  • Synchronous replication
  • Snapshots and backups
  • Volume expansion
  • Disaster recovery volumes
  • Web interface

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 Longhorn
  • Moving off a managed platform when the monthly bill has grown faster than the traffic hasnot Longhorn
  • A consultancy that wants buildpack deployments without teaching every client team Kubernetesnot Longhorn
  • Keeping a legacy Procfile application alive on hardware you control after a managed platform deprecates its stacknot Longhorn

Longhorn

  • An on-premises Kubernetes cluster with local disks and no SAN that needs replicated persistent volumesnot Dokku
  • Edge sites where shipping a storage array is impractical and three nodes is the whole clusternot Dokku
  • A K3s deployment where the storage layer must be light enough to run alongside the workloadsnot Dokku
  • A team that wants snapshots and S3 backups of persistent volumes without paying per-node storage licencesnot 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.

Longhorn

  • There is no vendor and no SLA, so a production incident at three in the morning is your own problem unless you buy SUSE Rancher Prime support separately.
  • Synchronous replication across nodes means write latency depends on the slowest replica and the network between nodes, which makes it a poor fit for latency-sensitive databases.
  • Every replica is a full copy, so three-way replication consumes three times the raw capacity, unlike erasure-coded systems that are far more space efficient.
  • It is designed for block storage on modest clusters and does not scale to the node counts or throughput that Ceph or a commercial array handles, so growth eventually forces a migration.
  • Recovery from certain degraded states, such as a volume stuck detaching or replicas failing to rebuild, requires manual intervention and knowledge of Longhorn internals that is not widely held.

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

Longhorn

Free
  • LonghornFree
    • Apache 2.0 licensed, no licence fee
    • Community support via GitHub and Slack only
    • No vendor SLA or escalation path

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 Longhorn if

  • You need per-volume controllers.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Kubernetes.
  • You also want synchronous replication.
Longhorn review

Questions people ask

Is Dokku or Longhorn better?
Neither clearly leads. Dokku starts at Free and Longhorn at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Dokku or Longhorn?
Dokku starts at Free and Longhorn at Free.
Does Dokku or Longhorn run on more platforms?
Dokku runs on Linux, Docker, CLI, Self-hosted. Longhorn runs on Linux, Kubernetes.
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 Longhorn is typically brought in for.
What can Dokku do that Longhorn cannot?
Dokku covers Git push deploy, Heroku buildpacks, Datastore plugins, Automatic certificates. Longhorn covers Per-volume controllers, Synchronous replication, Snapshots and backups, Volume expansion.

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.

Longhorn: Who do we call when it breaks?

Nobody, unless you buy SUSE Rancher Prime, which includes commercial support for Longhorn. This is the decisive question for production use.

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.

Longhorn: How much capacity does replication cost?

Full copies, so three replicas means three times the raw capacity. Budget accordingly rather than assuming erasure coding efficiency.

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.

Longhorn: Is it suitable for production databases?

For modest workloads yes, but synchronous replication adds write latency and high-transaction databases usually want something faster.

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.

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