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Coolify vs Vercel

Two sides of the hosting decision: your own server and frontend cloud. When each fits, what it costs, who moves from one to the other, and what makers who chose it say.

CoolifyYour own serverllms.txt
VercelFrontend cloudllms.txtMCPCLIIn v0
Ask your AI about this, with this page as the source:ChatGPT ↗Claude ↗Perplexity ↗

Which fits you

Choose Coolify if
  • You want a flat monthly bill and full control, and don't mind running one server

Use it whenYou want a web dashboard with one-click databases and services on a server you own.

Trade-offThe dashboard itself runs on your server and needs updates.

Choose Vercel if
  • You built a Next.js or other frontend-heavy app and want preview URLs on every pull request

Use it whenYour app is Next.js, or you want a preview URL on every pull request with no setup.

Trade-offThe Hobby plan is non-commercial; costs grow with usage.

At a glance

CoolifyVercel
Used by23 makers' products1821 makers' products · 105 open-source projects
Cost at default usagerequests 5 million requests, data transfer out 100 GB, serverless function compute 100 GB-hours—$40/mo Pro + Flat Rate CDN 10M
Moved to it on GitHubpull requests since Oct 20249 from Vercelfewer than 3
Downloads★ 62.3k5.7M/wk+94% vs npm
PricingSelf-hosted software is free and open source; optional managed cloud version billed per subscription. · paid from $5/mo (Cloud)Free Hobby plan (non-commercial); Pro per seat plus usage. · paid from $20/mo
Free tierYesYes
Open sourceYes · self-hostableNo
Incidents, 90 daysfrom its status pageno public status feed27 (10 major)

Who moves from one to the other

Public pull requests on GitHub since Oct 2024 whose title says "Coolify to Vercel" or the reverse — real code changes, by developers in general rather than makers only.

Vercel → Coolify9 PRs
All matching pull requests on GitHub ↗
Fewer than 3 pull requests move from Coolify to Vercel.

What makers say

Makers on using it for hosting, from Product Hunt and Starter Story interviews, each linked to the source. Products with a page of their own and fuller notes first.

On Coolify
Coolify enables Listadum to manage our servers cost-efficiently, which is essential given the compute and bandwidth demands of running shop intelligence and the keyword explorer features.
Listadum, the makerSep 2026 ↗
Migrated everything to Coolify. It's simply an incredible tool for indie makers, looking to cut costs on the criminally expensive services provided by today's cloud giants.
RPC Info, the makerSep 2026 ↗
Self-hosting is always a must and Coolify brings a Vercel-like UX with full control, no vendor lock-in, and is far cheaper at scale.
SODAX SDK, the makerSep 2026 ↗
12 more on the Coolify page →
On Vercel
Instant deployment for Tomosu's landing page, privacy policy, and terms of service. Push to main, it's live. Zero config, zero devops headaches. Exactly what a solo developer needs.
Tomosu, the makerMar 2026 ↗
Vercel made it straightforward to build, deploy, and continuously improve VocalVia. We rely on it to ship our Next.js product quickly and keep the experience responsive for users.
VocalVia, the makerJul 2026 ↗
Vercel is literally zero-config. I push to Git, and it's live. Cloudflare Pages is great, but Vercel's DX (Developer Experience) allowed me to iterate on the landing page 10x faster.
GHOSTYPE, the makerSep 2026 ↗
486 more on the Vercel page →

Loved and watch-outs

Themes that recur in makers' words and Hacker News comments, each linked to what it summarises.

Coolify
Most loved
  • It gives a Vercel- or Heroku-style git-push workflow on your own server. PHHNHN 2
  • Self-hosting with it cuts costs compared with managed platforms. PHHNHN 2
  • SSL, backups, deploys and monitoring are handled from one web UI. PHHNHN 2
Watch-outs
  • Reliability is uneven, including a nasty breaking bug around its Traefik proxy. HNHN 2HN 3
  • Setup and UX can be hard, and it takes more debugging than a hosted platform. HNHN 2PH
  • It is tied to Docker and lacks some integrations, such as Forgejo. HNHN 2
On Product Hunt: 5.0★, 41 reviews · mentioned most: application deployment, easy setup, open source · complaints: backup options
Vercel
Most loved
  • Pushing to Git deploys automatically with zero configuration. PHPH 2PH 3PH 4
  • Every commit or pull request gets a preview URL, so changes are reviewed live before release. PHPH 2PH 3PH 4
  • Small teams ship without managing infrastructure or CI/CD themselves. PHPH 2PH 3PH 4
Watch-outs
  • Heavy bot traffic, such as Meta's crawler, can multiply the bill with little protection. HNHN 2HN 3
  • Execution limits and middleware quirks need workarounds. PH
On Product Hunt: 5.0★, 1,077 reviews · mentioned most: fast deployment, Next.js integration, developer experience · complaints: pricing, UI dependencies

Who uses each

Coolify23 makers' products
CartGhostClipwingCreavit StudioFAQPopupLikeRemote.comListadumMaillayerMakisoda BetaRPC InfoSODAX SDKUiverse.iounloved+11 more
Vercel1821 makers' products
24CallDeskAccordio AIActx0Agent 37 CloudAgent-SinAgentcardAgenticCalling AIAgentQLAgentRailAgentSeaAgentXAgreeGuard+1809 more
Used by both — often one replacing the other, or each for a different part of the product
ClipwingSODAX SDKviral.appvol

What makers pair each with

With Coolify
Frontend Framework
Transactional Email
Database
Web Analytics
With Vercel
Frontend Framework
Transactional Email
Database
Payments

Neither quite right?

See the whole hosting decision →
NetlifyFrontend cloudStatic sites and JAMstack apps on any framework.vs Vercel →
CloudflareEdge platformCheap global hosting with Workers, plus database (D1) and storage (R2) on the same platform.vs Vercel →
RailwayPaaSServers, workers and databases deployed together, with almost no configuration.vs Coolify →vs Vercel →
RenderPaaSA Heroku-style platform for web services, cron jobs and Postgres.vs Vercel →
Fly.ioContainer platformDocker apps that should run close to users in many regions.vs Vercel →
Amazon Web ServicesHyperscaler cloudThe widest catalog of building blocks — Lambda, containers, managed databases, queues — to assemble your own infrastructure.vs Vercel →
Hetzner CloudYour own serverA lot of CPU and RAM per euro, in European, US and Singapore regions.