# Dokku vs Kamal

**Leader by vioscaleAI score:** Dokku

| Attribute | Dokku | Kamal |
|---|---|---|
| **vioscaleAI score** | 58.9 (54% (medium)) | 49.9 (24% (low)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | 100 | 29 |
| adoption.dependent_repos | 20 | 3 |
| adoption.github_stars | 32,157 | 14,634 |
| content.faq | `[{"answer":"Dokku is a self-hosted deployment platform that enables you to build, deploy, and scale applications using Docker and Heroku-compatible buildpacks. You can push code via Git to your own Dokku server, and it will automatically build and run your application in isolated containers, providing a Heroku-like experience on hardware you control. It is indexed under PaaS & Hosting.","source":"https://dokku.com","question":"What is Dokku?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Dokku is open source, so it can be self-hosted and used at no licence cost. It is released under the MIT licence. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://dokku.com","question":"Is Dokku free to use?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Dokku supports Linux and a command-line interface. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.","source":"https://dokku.com","question":"What platforms does Dokku support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. Dokku can be deployed on-premise and self-hosted, so it does not have to run on the vendor's infrastructure.","source":"https://dokku.com","question":"Can Dokku be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed 7 integrations for Dokku, including Docker, Heroku Buildpacks, nginx, Git, Slack, Airbrake and Tailscale. This is what we could verify from public sources, so the vendor may support others we have not indexed.","source":"https://dokku.com","question":"What does Dokku integrate with?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. Dokku is published under the MIT licence, a permissive licence that generally allows commercial use and modification. Licence terms can change between releases, so verify against the repository for the version you intend to use.","source":"https://github.com/dokku/dokku","question":"Is Dokku open source?","confidence":0.95}]` | `[{"answer":"A containerized application deployment tool that enables web apps to run across any infrastructure—bare metal, cloud, or hybrid—while maintaining complete freedom to change or combine providers without vendor dependency. It is indexed under Hosting Infrastructure.","source":"https://kamal-deploy.org","question":"What is Kamal?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Kamal is open source, so it can be self-hosted and used at no licence cost. It is released under the MIT licence. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://kamal-deploy.org","question":"Is Kamal free to use?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Kamal supports macOS, Linux and a command-line interface. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.","source":"https://kamal-deploy.org","question":"What platforms does Kamal support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. Kamal can be deployed cloud / SaaS and self-hosted, so it does not have to run on the vendor's infrastructure.","source":"https://kamal-deploy.org","question":"Can Kamal be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. Kamal is published under the MIT licence, a permissive licence that generally allows commercial use and modification. Licence terms can change between releases, so verify against the repository for the version you intend to use.","source":"https://github.com/basecamp/kamal","question":"Is Kamal open source?","confidence":0.95}]` |
| deployment.options | `{"self_hosted":true}` | `{"cloud":true,"on_prem":true}` |
| description.long | Dokku is a self-hosted deployment platform that enables you to build, deploy, and scale applications using Docker and Heroku-compatible buildpacks. You can push code via Git to your own Dokku server, and it will automatically build and run your application in isolated containers, providing a Heroku-like experience on hardware you control. | An open-source deployment tool that enables zero-downtime releases of containerized web applications, supporting deployment from physical servers to cloud VMs with multi-server orchestration via SSH. |
| features.capabilities | `{"hosting":"self","regions":"single","edge_cdn":false,"runtimes":"Multiple languages via Heroku buildpack auto-detection","rollbacks":false,"autoscaling":"none","cli_and_api":true,"env_secrets":true,"build_system":"buildpacks","git_push_deploy":true,"preview_deploys":false,"container_deploy":true,"managed_databases":true,"custom_domains_tls":true}` | - |
| integrations.count | 35 | - |
| integrations.list | `[{"name":"Docker"},{"name":"Heroku Buildpacks"},{"name":"nginx"},{"name":"Heroku","native":true},{"name":"Git","native":true},{"name":"GitHub","native":false,"category":"version_control"},{"name":"Slack","native":false,"category":"communications"},{"name":"Airbrake","native":false,"category":"monitoring"},{"name":"Tailscale","native":false,"category":"networking"},{"name":"PostgreSQL"},{"name":"MySQL"},{"name":"Redis"},{"name":"RabbitMQ"},{"name":"CouchDB"},{"name":"Elasticsearch"},{"name":"RethinkDB"},{"name":"MongoDB"},{"name":"MariaDB"},{"name":"Clickhouse"},{"name":"Varnish"}]` | - |
| language.primary | Go | Ruby |
| license.spdx | MIT | MIT |
| market.availability | `{"primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` | - |
| platform.support | `{"cli":true}` | `{"cli":true,"mac":true,"linux":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"open_source","plans":[{"free":true,"name":"Open Source","features":["Git push deployment","Buildpack/Dockerfile support","Docker container management","Environment variables","Domain/SSL configuration","Process management","Cron tasks","Persistent storage","Plugin extensibility"],"description":"Full Dokku platform"}],"summary":"Free open source. Dokku Pro available (pricing not disclosed).","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://dokku.com","retrievedAt":"2026-08-03T22:43:50.078Z"}` | `{"type":"open_source","sourceUrl":"https://kamal-deploy.org","retrievedAt":"2026-08-31T14:00:34.347Z"}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | - |
| pricing.model | open_source | commercial |
| pricing.price_level | free | free |
| pricing.transparent | yes | - |
| release.cadence_days | 2 | 19 |
| release.history | `[{"url":"https://github.com/dokku/dokku/releases/tag/v0.38.31","date":"2026-09-27T01:46:26Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.38.31"},{"url":"https://github.com/dokku/dokku/releases/tag/v0.38.30","date":"2026-09-23T22:37:25Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.38.30"},{"url":"https://github.com/dokku/dokku/releases/tag/v0.38.29","date":"2026-09-23T01:55:49Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.38.29"},{"url":"https://github.com/dokku/dokku/releases/tag/v0.38.28","date":"2026-09-17T23:26:42Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.38.28"},{"url":"https://github.com/dokku/dokku/releases/tag/v0.38.27","date":"2026-08-12T09:28:41Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.38.27"},{"url":"https://github.com/dokku/dokku/releases/tag/v0.38.26","date":"2026-08-09T06:27:30Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.38.26"},{"url":"https://github.com/dokku/dokku/releases/tag/v0.38.25","date":"2026-07-22T07:42:22Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.38.25"},{"url":"https://github.com/dokku/dokku/releases/tag/v0.38.24","date":"2026-07-18T04:28:27Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.38.24"},{"url":"https://github.com/dokku/dokku/releases/tag/v0.38.23","date":"2026-07-18T01:37:20Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.38.23"},{"url":"https://github.com/dokku/dokku/releases/tag/v0.38.22","date":"2026-07-08T22:53:02Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.38.22"},{"url":"https://github.com/dokku/dokku/releases/tag/v0.38.21","date":"2026-07-07T00:21:50Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.38.21"},{"url":"https://github.com/dokku/dokku/releases/tag/v0.38.20","date":"2026-06-28T07:17:12Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.38.20"},{"url":"https://github.com/dokku/dokku/releases/tag/v0.38.19","date":"2026-07-07T00:23:10Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.38.19"},{"url":"https://github.com/dokku/dokku/releases/tag/v0.38.18","date":"2026-07-07T00:22:24Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.38.18"},{"url":"https://github.com/dokku/dokku/releases/tag/v0.38.17","date":"2026-06-03T08:34:30Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.38.17"},{"url":"https://github.com/dokku/dokku/releases/tag/v0.38.16","date":"2026-06-01T02:22:41Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.38.16"},{"url":"https://github.com/dokku/dokku/releases/tag/v0.38.15","date":"2026-05-31T09:19:37Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.38.15"},{"url":"https://github.com/dokku/dokku/releases/tag/v0.38.14","date":"2026-05-31T02:18:36Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.38.14"},{"url":"https://github.com/dokku/dokku/releases/tag/v0.38.13","date":"2026-05-30T11:43:16Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.38.13"},{"url":"https://github.com/dokku/dokku/releases/tag/v0.38.12","date":"2026-05-30T04:15:28Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.38.12"}]` | `[{"url":"https://github.com/basecamp/kamal/releases/tag/v2.12.0","date":"2026-06-18T07:58:33Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.12.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/basecamp/kamal/releases/tag/v2.11.0","date":"2026-03-18T14:02:17Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.11.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/basecamp/kamal/releases/tag/v2.10.1","date":"2025-12-16T08:50:04Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.10.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/basecamp/kamal/releases/tag/v2.10.0","date":"2025-12-15T12:53:08Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.10.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/basecamp/kamal/releases/tag/v2.9.0","date":"2025-11-26T11:45:04Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.9.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/basecamp/kamal/releases/tag/v2.8.2","date":"2025-10-27T09:14:15Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.8.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/basecamp/kamal/releases/tag/v2.8.1","date":"2025-10-20T21:43:17Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.8.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/basecamp/kamal/releases/tag/v2.8.0","date":"2025-10-19T14:11:46Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.8.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/basecamp/kamal/releases/tag/v1.9.3","date":"2025-06-25T07:30:22Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.9.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/basecamp/kamal/releases/tag/v2.7.0","date":"2025-06-18T09:45:28Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.7.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/basecamp/kamal/releases/tag/v2.6.1","date":"2025-05-15T14:25:18Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.6.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/basecamp/kamal/releases/tag/v2.6.0","date":"2025-05-13T09:27:34Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.6.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/basecamp/kamal/releases/tag/v2.5.3","date":"2025-02-27T10:37:01Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.5.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/basecamp/kamal/releases/tag/v2.5.2","date":"2025-02-07T15:31:39Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.5.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/basecamp/kamal/releases/tag/v2.5.1","date":"2025-02-06T13:57:48Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.5.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/basecamp/kamal/releases/tag/v2.5.0","date":"2025-02-04T11:21:18Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.5.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/basecamp/kamal/releases/tag/v2.4.0","date":"2024-12-13T12:39:24Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.4.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/basecamp/kamal/releases/tag/v2.3.0","date":"2024-10-31T09:22:51Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.3.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/basecamp/kamal/releases/tag/v2.2.2","date":"2024-10-10T17:30:20Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.2.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/basecamp/kamal/releases/tag/v2.2.1","date":"2024-10-09T18:49:03Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.2.1"}]` |
| security.scorecard | 5.4 | - |
| security.vulnerabilities | `{"count":0,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=github.com%2Fdokku%2Fdokku%2Fplugins%2Fcommon&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":null}` | `{"count":0,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=rubygems&package_name=kamal&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":null}` |

*Source: vioscaleAI. Generated 2026-10-20T09:52:12.409Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*