Coolify and Stormkit are both positioned as self-hostable alternatives to Heroku, Vercel, and Netlify for deploying applications, but they differ in breadth…
| Coolify | Stormkit | |
|---|---|---|
| Primary category | Hosting | Hosting |
| Rating | Not documented | Not documented |
| Pricing model | Free/Open Source | freemium/subscription |
| Starting price | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | Not documented | Not documented |
| Platforms | Web | Web |
| Team collaboration | Not documented | Not documented |
| AI features | Not documented | Not documented |
| Public API | Yes | Yes |
Self-Hosting Model
Coolify: Coolify's self-hosted version is free forever and fully open source, with unlimited servers and deployments; Coolify Cloud is an optional managed control panel from $5/month for 2 connected servers.
Stormkit: Stormkit is described as a self-hosted deployment platform, with a Free plan offering unlimited usage and community support and paid Premium ($20/month) and Ultimate ($100/month) tiers layering in additional features.
How self-hosting is packaged and priced affects total cost of ownership and how much control a team retains over the underlying infrastructure.
One-Click Service Catalog
Coolify: Coolify supports 280+ one-click services, including databases and applications across multiple programming languages, deployable with one click alongside custom apps.
Stormkit: Stormkit's documented framework support (Node.js, Astro, Nuxt, Next.js, Svelte, TanStack, FastAPI, Go, and more) centers on application deployment rather than a broad one-click database/service catalog.
A large one-click service catalog reduces manual setup work when deploying databases or auxiliary services alongside an application.
Deployment Model
Coolify: Coolify offers automatic database backups and free SSL via Let's Encrypt, browser-based terminal access, and Git integration with GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, and Gitea.
Stormkit: Stormkit emphasizes zero-downtime rolling deployments, automatic TLS certificate provisioning for custom domains, and automated CI/CD triggered from GitHub, GitLab, and BitBucket.
Zero-downtime rolling deployment as an explicit, named feature matters for teams prioritizing uptime during frequent releases.
Enterprise Controls
Coolify: Coolify's team collaboration tools support deployment collaboration, but detailed audit-log or approval-workflow features are not broken out in its documented feature list.
Stormkit: Stormkit documents audit logs, automated E2E testing, and custom TLS certificates as Enterprise-tier controls, with audit logs and approval mode specifically included on the $20/month Premium plan.
Named governance features like audit logs and approval mode matter for teams with compliance or change-management requirements.
Pricing Entry Point for Paid Tiers
Coolify: Coolify Cloud starts at $5/month for 2 connected servers, with $3/month per additional server and a 20% discount for annual billing.
Stormkit: Stormkit's Premium plan (analytics, audit logs, approval mode, teams) starts at $20/month, with premium support via Slack/Discord/Teams reserved for the $100/month Ultimate plan.
The price gap between the two platforms' entry paid tiers ($5 vs. $20/month) affects which is more attractive for small teams wanting to move beyond free/self-hosted usage.
| Feature | Coolify | Stormkit |
|---|---|---|
| Self-hosted free tier | Available | Available |
| One-click service/database deployment | Available | Not documented |
| Zero-downtime deployments | Not documented | Available |
| Automatic SSL/TLS | Available | Available |
| Browser-based terminal access | Available | Not documented |
| Feature | Coolify | Stormkit |
|---|---|---|
| Entry paid/managed tier price | Available | Available |
| Free plan credit card required | Not documented | Available |
| Top-tier price | Not documented | Available |
| Feature | Coolify | Stormkit |
|---|---|---|
| Git provider integrations | Available | Available |
| Audit logs | Not documented | Available |
| Approval mode for deployments | Not documented | Available |
| Automated E2E testing | Not documented | Available |
Starting price reflects the lowest paid tier, not the full cost for every team size or usage level.
Pros
Cons
Pros
Cons
Yes. Both are self-hostable alternatives to Heroku, Vercel, and Netlify for deploying applications with Git-based automation, so they're typically evaluated against each other rather than used together.
Coolify Cloud starts at $5/month for 2 connected servers, while Stormkit's Premium plan (adding analytics, audit logs, and approval mode) starts at $20/month. Both also offer a free self-hosted or free-usage tier before any paid plan.
Coolify explicitly documents 280+ one-click services, including databases and applications across multiple programming languages. Stormkit's documented strength is framework-specific deployment (Next.js, Nuxt, Astro, Svelte, FastAPI, and more) rather than a broad one-click service catalog.
Yes for Coolify — both its self-hosted version and Coolify Cloud require bringing your own servers to deploy to. Stormkit is also described as a self-hosted deployment platform, positioning it similarly around user-controlled infrastructure.
Stormkit documents audit logs and approval mode as named features on its $20/month Premium plan. Coolify's team collaboration tools are documented at a higher level without breaking out audit logs or approval workflows specifically.
Coolify's self-hosted version is explicitly free forever and open source with unlimited servers and deployments. Stormkit's Free plan offers unlimited usage with community support and no credit card required, though it isn't explicitly described as open source in the way Coolify is.
Read the full Coolify review · Read the full Stormkit review