How much does it cost to self-host Dokku?

Dokku can be self-hosted starting at $4.13/mo on hetzner CAX11. Detected requirements: 4GB RAM, 40GB disk.

Is Dokku actively maintained?

Dokku has a composite health score of 85/100 across activity, maturity, community, security, sustainability, and adoption. See /methodology/ for the formula.

How much can you save by self-hosting Dokku instead of using Heroku?

Self-hosting Dokku on the cheapest qualifying VPS plan saves approximately $34/year compared to Heroku's entry tier of $7/mo.

Dokku by dokku

Shell MIT SECURITY.md

A docker-powered PaaS that helps you build and manage the lifecycle of applications

dokkupaasherokudockerkubernetesnomadcontainersbuildpackdevopsself-hostedselfhosted

Verdict 85/100 health $4.13/mo cheapest, hetzner Last release 24 days ago

Deploy Dokku on hetzner → View on GitHub More Heroku alternatives

Health score
 85 /100 
6-dim composite

Self-hosts from

$4.13 /mo

hetzner · CAX11

Difficulty

— /5

GitHub stars

32k

2.1k forks

Health score breakdown

6-dimension composite. See methodology for formula and weights.

activity

100

maturity

100

community

security

sustainability

100

adoption

Adoption signals

Real-world usage data, pulled from each registry. The bigger the numbers, the more battle-tested the project.

Signal	Value	Source
GitHub stars	32k	github.com/dokku/dokku
GitHub forks	2.1k	github.com/dokku/dokku

Release & maintenance

Is this project actively maintained, or about to die? Check the recency of last commit and last release.

Project age	13.1 years	since Jun 2013
Last commit	8 days ago	Jun 19, 2026
Releases shipped	339	last: 24 days ago
Security policy	SECURITY.md	declared by maintainers
Funding links	3	declared by maintainers

Self-hosting cost across providers

Detected requirements: 4GB RAM, 40GB disk minimum. Cheapest plan per provider that meets the requirement.

Provider	Plan	Specs	Monthly
hetzner	CAX11	2c · 4GB · 40GB	$4.13 USD	Deploy →
vultr	VC2	1c · 1GB · 25GB	$5 USD	Deploy →
linode	Nanode 1GB	1c · 1GB · 25GB	$5.12 USD	Deploy →
digitalocean	Basic Regular 1GB	1c · 1GB · 25GB	$6 USD	Deploy →

Replaces these paid SaaS

Dokku is one of the open-source alternatives to:

Heroku alternatives

Ready to self-host Dokku?

Spin up a hetzner CAX11 (4GB RAM, 40GB disk) for $4.13/mo and follow the project's official install docs.

Deploy on hetzner → $4.13/mo Read install docs on GitHub

Data last refreshed Jun 21, 2026.

Frequently asked questions