# Tugport compared with Coolify, Dokploy, Easypanel and CapRover

These are the self-hosted deploy panels people most often weigh against each other. All five run your apps in Docker on servers you own, put HTTPS in front of them and give you a web panel. This page shows where they differ, using each project's own docs, pricing page and GitHub repository, checked on October 27, 2026. Projects change quickly, so the [sources](#sources) are listed at the end. If something here is out of date, [open an issue](https://github.com/backmeupplz/tugport/issues) and it will be fixed.

Tugport is by far the youngest and smallest of the five, and the table says plainly where it's behind.

## At a glance

| Feature | Tugport | Coolify | Dokploy | Easypanel | CapRover |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0, enterprise folder excepted | Proprietary | Apache-2.0, with an appendix |
| Written in | Rust, one binary | PHP (Laravel) | TypeScript | Not published | TypeScript |
| GitHub stars | 4 | 64,982 | 38,063 | Closed source | 15,193 |
| Public since | 2026 | 2021 | 2024 | – | 2017 |
| Self-hosted | Free | Free | Free; enterprise paid | 3 projects free, then from $14.90/server | Free; Pro paid |
| Hosted panel | No | From $5 a month | From $4.50/server | No | No |
| Many servers | Built-in network | SSH servers | Remote servers, Swarm | Swarm | Swarm |
| Zero-downtime deploys | Yes | Rolling updates | Yes | Optional | Not documented |
| Autoscaling, scale to zero | Yes | Not documented | Not documented | Not documented | Not documented |
| Docker Compose | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partly |
| One-click templates | None | 360+ | Yes | Yes | Dozens |
| Database backups | S3 or disk, tested | To S3 | To S3 | Several targets | None built in |
| Preview deployments | No | Yes | Yes, on GitHub | Not documented | Not documented |
| AI agents | Agent users, MCP | MCP server | AI assistant | Remote MCP | API and CLI |
| Moving from another panel | One command, with rollback | No importer | No importer | No importer | No importer |

### Behind the table

- **Licenses.** Dokploy is Apache-2.0 except a source-available folder of enterprise features, and CapRover's Apache-2.0 license has an appendix about its paid features.
- **Prices.** Easypanel is free for 3 projects, then $14.90 to $37.90 per server a month ($10.90 to $29.90 billed yearly). CapRover's paid Pro plan adds 2FA, build notifications and login alerts. Coolify Cloud costs $5 a month for 2 servers and $3 per extra server; Dokploy Cloud starts at $4.50 per server a month. Coolify's self-hosted version is free with every feature.
- **More than one server.** Tugport servers join an encrypted WireGuard network with one command, or Tugport creates them at Hetzner or AWS; replicas spread across servers and move when one goes away. Coolify runs standalone servers over SSH, behind a load balancer you provide, and its Swarm support is experimental. Dokploy uses remote servers or Docker Swarm nodes, Easypanel Docker Swarm worker nodes, and CapRover Docker Swarm nodes.
- **Zero-downtime deploys.** Tugport moves traffic once the new version passes its health check. Coolify rolls updates unless a container has a fixed name, Dokploy needs a health check route, and in Easypanel it's a per-service option.
- **Scale to zero and autoscaling.** In Tugport, idle sites sleep until a request wakes them, and replicas follow CPU or request rate. The other four don't document either.
- **Docker Compose.** CapRover supports an experimental subset.
- **Backups.** Tugport schedules them to S3-compatible storage or a disk, with test restores, and backs up volumes too. Coolify and Dokploy back up to S3, and Easypanel to several kinds of destinations.
- **AI agents.** In Tugport, agents are users with roles and keys: deleting and reading secrets need separate grants, there's an MCP endpoint, and every action lands in an audit log. Coolify has a built-in MCP server used with team API tokens. Dokploy has a built-in AI assistant that uses your own model's API key. Easypanel has a remote MCP server that acts with a chosen user's permissions, and CapRover has an API and a CLI.
- **Moving over.** `tugport migrate easypanel` and `tugport migrate coolify` move a running server, and `tugport migrate rollback` undoes it.

Dokku and Kamal come up in the same searches. Both are command-line tools: Dokku's web panel is part of the paid Dokku Pro, and Kamal deploys from your own machine or CI over SSH, with no panel.

## Where Tugport is ahead

- **Moving over.** `tugport migrate easypanel` and `tugport migrate coolify` take a running server's projects, services, domains, certificates, environment, volumes and webhooks while the apps keep running, and `tugport migrate rollback` brings the old panel back. None of the other panels document an importer. The [migration guide](https://tugport.com/docs/migration/) has the details; its author's own production server moved 14 projects and 57 services this way.
- **Servers come and go.** Replicas spread across servers and move when one disappears, apps can scale with load or sleep until a request comes in, and Tugport can create the servers itself.
- **AI agents get their own users.** An agent gets a role on the projects it needs, and it can't delete anything or read a secret unless you give it those separate grants. Every action lands in the audit log with the key behind it.
- **One binary.** The panel, the reverse proxy, the metrics and the logs are a single Rust program next to Docker, not a stack of services that need looking after themselves.

## Where Tugport is behind

- **It's new.** The first release came out in October 2026. It has a handful of stars, its bug reports so far come mostly from its author's own servers, and there is no company behind it. Coolify, Dokploy and CapRover have years of releases and large communities.
- **No one-click templates.** To run Plausible, Ghost or n8n, you deploy their image or Compose file yourself. Coolify alone lists more than 360 ready-made services.
- **No preview deployments** for pull requests yet.
- **No hosted panel.** Coolify and Dokploy will run the panel for you; with Tugport you always run it yourself.

## Which one fits

- **You want one-click apps and a big community:** Coolify. It's free with every feature, and it has the largest catalog.
- **You want Docker Swarm across several servers, with a hosted option:** Dokploy.
- **You already run Easypanel or Coolify and want zero-downtime deploys, more servers and agent access without rebuilding anything:** try Tugport. `tugport migrate easypanel --dry-run` (or `coolify`) prints the whole plan and changes nothing.
- **You want something small and proven on a single server:** CapRover or Dokku.

## Sources

Checked on October 27, 2026.

- Tugport: [tugport.com](https://tugport.com/), [API reference](https://tugport.com/docs/api/), [migration guide](https://tugport.com/docs/migration/), [GitHub](https://github.com/backmeupplz/tugport)
- Coolify: [docs](https://coolify.io/docs), [pricing](https://coolify.io/pricing), [rolling updates](https://coolify.io/docs/applications/deployments/rolling-updates), [GitHub](https://github.com/coollabsio/coolify)
- Dokploy: [docs](https://docs.dokploy.com), [zero-downtime deployments](https://docs.dokploy.com/docs/core/applications/zero-downtime), [pricing](https://dokploy.com/pricing), [license](https://github.com/Dokploy/dokploy/blob/canary/LICENSE.MD), [GitHub](https://github.com/Dokploy/dokploy)
- Easypanel: [docs](https://easypanel.io/docs), [MCP server](https://easypanel.io/docs/mcp), [pricing](https://easypanel.io/pricing)
- CapRover: [docs](https://caprover.com/docs/get-started.html), [Pro features](https://caprover.com/docs/troubleshooting-pro.html), [license](https://github.com/caprover/caprover/blob/master/LICENSE), [GitHub](https://github.com/caprover/caprover)
- Dokku and Kamal: [dokku.com](https://dokku.com/), [Dokku Pro](https://pro.dokku.com/), [kamal-deploy.org](https://kamal-deploy.org/)