---
title: "Coolify Install A Free Heroku and Netlify Self-Hosted Alternative"
description: "Free Heroku and Netlify alternative? Coolify Install is an easy-to-use self-hosted platform that will help you get started quickly, without any complicated setup."
date: 2023-02-06
categories: ["tools"]
tags: ["coolify","astro","tutorials"]
---

import Button from "../../layouts/components/widgets/Button.astro";
import { Picture } from "astro:assets";
import YouTubeEmbed from "../../layouts/components/widgets/YouTubeEmbed.astro";
import img1 from "../../assets/images/23/02/admin_url_coolify.jpeg";
import img2 from "../../assets/images/23/02/github-coolify.jpeg";
import img3 from "../../assets/images/23/02/astro-Coolify1.jpeg";
import img4 from "../../assets/images/23/02/astro-deploy-coolify.jpeg";
import img5 from "../../assets/images/23/02/Coolify_astro_build.jpeg";

If you want a free Netlify or Heroku alternative that is self-hosted then [Coolify](https://coolify.io/) is the best option out there.

Coolify is an open-source and self-hosted Heroku alternative that offers users the same features as Heroku, such as automated deployment, scalability, and easy configuration, but with the added benefit of being self-hosted.

> **Update (May 2026):** Coolify v4.0.0 has reached stable and v5 with multi-server scalability is coming. For a full review of the latest features, see our [Coolify v5 review](/coolify-v5-self-hosted-paas-review/). Wondering how Coolify stacks up against alternatives? See [Coolify vs Dokploy vs Kamal 2](/coolify-vs-dokploy-vs-kamal-2/). This guide covers the original v3/v4 install process.

This gives users full control over their hosting environment and access to features such as multi-application and multi-domain support, application backup and restore, and more.

Minimum requirements for Coolify

- 2 CPUs
- 2 GB of memory
- 30+ GB of storage for images.

With Coolify you can deploy the following:

**Applications**

- Static sites
- NodeJS
- VueJS
- NuxtJS
- NextJS
- React/Preact
- Gatsby
- Svelte
- PHP
- Laravel
- Rust
- Docker
- Python
- Deno

**Databases**

- MongoDB
- MariaDB
- MySQL
- PostgreSQL
- CouchDB
- Redis

**Services**

- WordPress
- Ghost
- Plausible Analytics
- NocoDB
- VSCode Server
- MinIO
- VaultWarden
- LanguageTool
- n8n
- Uptime Kuma
- MeiliSearch
- Umami
- Fider
- Hasura

The full list of [Services Templates for Coolify](https://github.com/coollabsio/coolify-community-templates)

**Supported Architectures**

AMD64 and ARM architecture are supported. Debian based servers are supported, due to the installation script.

With Coolify you can deploy projects from GitHub or GitLab and like Netlify or Heroku if something is updated in the repo it will be updated in the deployment.

Another alternative to Coolify is EasyPanel you can check: [Easypanel.io: A Modern Hosting Panel for Applications and Databases](https://www.bitdoze.com/easypanel-modern-server-control-panel/) for more details.

## Video With Coolify Install

<YouTubeEmbed
  url="https://www.youtube.com/embed/dY-hUI3fHEM"
  label="Coolify Install A Free Heroku and Netlify Self-Hosted Alternative"
/>

> If you are interested to see some free cool open source self hosted apps you can check [toolhunt.net self hosted section](https://toolhunt.net/sh/).

## How to Install Coolify on a VPS

In this section we will go through all the steps we need to do to get Coolify installed on a VPS server. You can use any VPS provider you want, the most known are [DigitalOcean](https://go.bitdoze.com/do), [Vultr](https://go.bitdoze.com/vultr), [Hetzner](https://go.bitdoze.com/hetzner), [Hostinger](https://go.bitdoze.com/hostinger-vps), I also wrote an article and made a video with the benchmarks here: [DigitalOcean vs Vultr vs Hetzner](https://www.wpdoze.com/digitalocean-vs-vultr-vs-hetzner/) you can check it out.

In this tutorial we are going to use Hetzner for this where we have the VPS created and we can SSH to it to have Coolify installed.

<Button link="https://go.bitdoze.com/do" text="DigitalOcean $100 Free" />
<Button link="https://go.bitdoze.com/vultr" text="Vultr $100 Free" />
<Button link="https://go.bitdoze.com/hetzner" text="Hetzner €⁠20 Free" />
<Button link="https://go.bitdoze.com/hostinger-vps" text="Hostinger VPS" />

### Below are some of the tutorials on Coolify:

- [Install Uptime Kuma With One Click](https://www.bitdoze.com/deploy-uptime-kuma/)
- [Install Plausible With One Click](https://www.bitdoze.com/install-plausible-analytics/)

### Installing Coolify on Ubuntu 22.04

We are going to install Coolify on a Ubuntu 22.04 server. To do this, you just need to SSH to the VPS server and run the following command:

```bash
wget -q https://get.coollabs.io/coolify/install.sh \
-O install.sh; sudo bash ./install.sh
```

While I was installing the script I saw that docker 23 version was released and I had to go into the install script and change DOCKER_MAJOR=23 DOCKER_MINOR=0 for the installation to work, this is a new thing as docker was just released.

If you are interested is how you can monitor your CPU and have an automatic email sent when load is too big you should check: [Monitor CPU Usage and Send Email Alerts in Linux](https://www.bitdoze.com/monitor-cpu-usage-and-send-email-alerts-in-linux/)

### Create a Coolify user

All you need to do is register a new account in the login area with http://ip:3000. You can enter your email and password.

### Point the domain/subdomain to the server

To access Coolify securely, you need to point your domain or subdomain to the server IP. All you need to do is add an A record and point it to the server IP.

### Add an admin URL

To do this, go to Settings - Coolify Settings and in URL (FQDN) add your admin domain.

<Picture
  src={img1}
  alt="Coolify Admin URL"
/>

After that, you can use the new URL to sign in and deploy applications or services.

### Add a GitHub repo

This will link your GitHub profile to Coolify so you can choose which repo to deploy from, to do this just go to

Create New Resource and select the git source, just add it there and follow the prompts. The video has all the details.

### Deploy and Node.js static website.

I have this website that is hosted on CloudFlare Pages and I will deploy it on a subdomain with Coolify to see exactly how it works.

#### Creating the application

The first step is to go to Create New Resource - Application and select Github, as shown in the image below:

<Picture
  src={img2}
  alt="Coolify Gitlab select"
/>

After you select the repo and branch and hit save. After you get something like the below where you have the type, in my case this is an astro website and it is selected:

<Picture
  src={img3}
  alt="Coolify Astro select"
/>

#### Point the domain to the serve

To access the static website you just need to go and point the subdomain or website to the server again, just add a record for root or subdomain in function of what you are using.

<Button link="https://go.bitdoze.com/do" text="DigitalOcean $100 Free" />
<Button link="https://go.bitdoze.com/vultr" text="Vultr $100 Free" />
<Button link="https://go.bitdoze.com/hetzner" text="Hetzner €⁠20 Free" />
<Button link="https://go.bitdoze.com/hostinger-vps" text="Hostinger VPS" />

#### Adding the domain to Coolify

After you point the domain you just add the URL as in the picture below, everything will be set up as in the picture below as sees that Astro is used:

<Picture
  src={img4}
  alt="Coolify astro deploy"
/>

After you hit save, just hit deploy. It will take longer the first time, but after the build it will be faster.

If you change something, Coolify will automatically fetch the latest version, just like Heroku or Netlify or other cloud deployments out there. This is enabled in **Features - Enable Automatic Deployment**.

<Picture
  src={img5}
  alt="Coolify astro deploy logs"
/>

After that you can go and deploy a database or an application to see exactly how easy it is and without any problems.

### Conclusion

In conclusion,Coolify Install is an excellent free alternative to Heroku and Netlify for those looking for a self-hosted solution. It's easy to install, configure, and manage with its intuitive user interface. Additionally, the platform supports all of the main programming languages, so it's suitable for development projects in any field.

<Button link="https://go.bitdoze.com/do" text="DigitalOcean $100 Free" />
<Button link="https://go.bitdoze.com/vultr" text="Vultr $100 Free" />
<Button link="https://go.bitdoze.com/hetzner" text="Hetzner €⁠20 Free" />
<Button link="https://go.bitdoze.com/hostinger-vps" text="Hostinger VPS" />

In case you are interested to have a web panel that can help you manage your applications and be used as a reverse proxy you can check the bellow course:

<Button
  link="https://webdoze.net/courses/cloudpanel-setup/"
  text="CloudPanel Setup Course"
/>