docker-zulip VS Dokku

Running an arbitrary thing in Docker is far easier than without it. If I want to run the PHP/MySQL-based Matomo, I can just grab the ready-made docker-compose.yml [0] and tell my main nginx to proxy_pass onto it. I don’t need to figure out how to configure MySQL/MariaDB/PHP-FPM and what hacks did my distro introduce to it (at least I’m not using Debian/Ubuntu, so there shouldn’t be that many). Similarly, I can get Zulip in Docker [1] (even if it’s apparently in alpha state) and not mess with the Python packaging trainwreck, and also setting up all of Redis, PostgreSQL, RabbitMQ and memcached.

[0]: https://github.com/matomo-org/docker/tree/master/.examples/n...

[1]: https://github.com/zulip/docker-zulip

> complicated to deploy. Not just a simple docker container or anything.

Huh? https://github.com/zulip/docker-zulip

We started with this, but slightly modified it for our use - added database backup, and changed the configuration, as we needed to configure things that are not possible to configure via env vars (SSO, for example).

Would be great to see a comparison to some better known alternatives like

- Dokku [0]

- CapRover [1]

[0] https://dokku.com/

[1] https://caprover.com/

If you want to dig into it anyways, Dokku is an interesting mention. They provide an Open Source PaaS that you can install on your server to simplify self hosting containers.

When I came across Coolify, I thought of giving it a try. I am aware of Dokku, but I never really tried it because it doesn't have a UI. I work primarily as a UI developer, so having a nice UI to work with is a plus for me.

I run all my projects on Dokku. It’s a sweet spot for me between a barebones VPS with Docker Compose and something a lot more complicated like k8s. Dokku comes with a bunch of solid plugins for databases that handle backups and such. Zero downtime deploys, TLS cert management, reverse proxies, all out of the box. It’s simple enough to understand in a weekend and has been quietly maintained for many years. The only downside is it’s meant mostly for single server deployments, but I’ve never needed another server so far.

https://dokku.com/

Yeah there are a bunch of selfhostable things:

Caprover (https://caprover.com/)

Dokku (https://github.com/dokku/dokku)

But people still choose Netlify and Vercel for ease of use I think.

Maybe we need something that's just Netlify. The closest I've seen to the "right" UX is Ness:

https://ness.sh

The modern iteration of these tools has taken the developer experience learnings from the Platform as a Service (PaaS) category, and will bring them to your own VM, giving you your own personal PaaS. Example of this include Dokku, Coolify, Caprover, Cloud66 and many more!

Based on the fact that your ideal is to have a similar experience to heroku than managing your own server setting up reverse proxies take a look at these options:

1) https://dokku.com - lets you turn your light sail instance basically into heroku

2) https://render.com

3) https://fly.io

4) If you have aws credits this is their heroku equivalent: https://aws.amazon.com/elasticbeanstalk

above is not what I do but would be the options I would pursue if I understand your preference and requirement correctly.

All in all, I really recommend trying out Dokku if you are a developer interested in hosting your own projects. It makes it super easy to get everything you need to get up and running without having to worry about the specifics. And the price is impossible to beat!

The installation instructions are on the frontpage of our site. Thats basically all you need to do to install Dokku. As far as using it, we have a simplified tutorial here.