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Cloud · head to head

Coolify vs Portworx

Coolify logo

Coolify

Cloud

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

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Portworx logo

Portworx

Cloud

Kubernetes-native storage and data services, priced by the node hour

From
$0.33/node hour
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Coolify has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • 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.; Portworx bare metal nodes are charged at 1.11 USD per node hour against 0.33 for virtual nodes, so a bare metal cluster costs more than three times a virtualised one for identical capability.
  • They diverge on capability: Coolify covers Git push deployments, Portworx covers Container-native volumes.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Coolify and Portworx actually diverge.

Attributes where Coolify and Portworx differ
AttributeCoolifyPortworx
Starting priceFree$0.33/node hour
Pricing modelOpen source, no licence feePer node hour
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWeb, Linux, Docker, Self-hostedLinux

Identical on both: 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 Portworx

  • Container-native volumes
  • Failure domain placement
  • Volume encryption
  • Database automation
  • Disaster recovery
  • Autopilot capacity management
  • Hardware independence

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

Portworx

  • Running a production PostgreSQL or Cassandra cluster on Kubernetes and needing the data to survive node lossnot Coolify
  • A platform team offering self-service databases to developers on an internal Kubernetes platformnot Coolify
  • Failing over stateful applications between clusters in different regions as a disaster recovery positionnot Coolify
  • An OpenShift estate where the built-in storage option does not meet the availability requirement for stateful setsnot 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.

Portworx

  • Bare metal nodes are charged at 1.11 USD per node hour against 0.33 for virtual nodes, so a bare metal cluster costs more than three times a virtualised one for identical capability.
  • A 1,000 node hour monthly minimum applies, which means small or intermittent clusters pay for capacity they do not consume.
  • Replicating volumes across nodes consumes real capacity and network bandwidth, so the underlying infrastructure cost rises alongside the licence in a way the node hour rate does not show.
  • Pure Storage ownership means roadmap priorities are set by an array vendor, and buyers should confirm that hardware independence remains contractual rather than assumed.
  • Operating it well requires Kubernetes storage expertise, and teams that adopted Kubernetes to simplify operations often find they have added a distributed storage system to run.

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

Portworx

$0.33/node hour
  • Portworx Enterprise on virtual machine nodes$0.33/node hour
    • Minimum 1,000 node hours per month
    • Replicated persistent volumes
    • Encryption and disaster recovery
  • Portworx Enterprise on bare metal nodes$1.11/node hour
    • Minimum 1,000 node hours per month
    • Same capabilities on bare metal clusters
    • Higher rate reflects node density

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 Portworx if

  • You need container-native volumes.
  • You work on Linux.
  • You also want failure domain placement.
Portworx review

Questions people ask

Is Coolify or Portworx better?
Neither clearly leads. Coolify starts at Free and Portworx at $0.33/node hour, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Coolify or Portworx?
Coolify has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Coolify and $0.33/node hour for Portworx.
Does Coolify or Portworx run on more platforms?
Coolify runs on Web, Linux, Docker, Self-hosted. Portworx runs on Linux.
Can I use Coolify for free?
Yes. Coolify has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Portworx starts at $0.33/node hour.
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 Portworx is typically brought in for.
What can Coolify do that Portworx cannot?
Coolify covers Git push deployments, One-click services, Automatic certificates, Managed databases. Portworx covers Container-native volumes, Failure domain placement, Volume encryption, Database automation.

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.

Portworx: Is Portworx tied to Pure Storage hardware?

No. It runs on any Kubernetes distribution over any underlying storage, though Pure has owned it since 2020 and sets the roadmap.

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.

Portworx: What does a real cluster cost?

At 0.33 USD per virtual node hour, twenty nodes running continuously is roughly 4,800 USD a month. Bare metal at 1.11 USD per node hour is around 16,000 USD for the same node count.

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.

Portworx: Is backup included?

No. Portworx Backup is a separately priced product covering Kubernetes application backup.

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.

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