Side Quest: Self-Hosting Coolify as a Vercel Alternative

Jan 17, 2026

The Motivation 🚀

I love Vercel. It’s fast, polished, and has an excellent developer experience.

But over time, I started feeling boxed in.

Background jobs? Limited.
Long-running processes? Nope.
Pricing at scale? 😬
Databases and workers? Scattered across multiple platforms.

I didn’t want more tools.
I wanted ownership.

So I decided to self-host my own deployment platform using Coolify, running entirely on my own VPS.

This post documents that journey — from a fresh server to a fully working, HTTPS-enabled Coolify setup that replaces most of what I used Vercel for.

What Is Coolify? 🧠

Coolify is an open-source, self-hosted PaaS.

Think of it as:

Vercel + Railway + Render — but you own the server

With Coolify, you get:

Git-based deployments
Docker isolation
Automatic HTTPS (Let’s Encrypt)
Support for frontend, backend, workers, and databases
One dashboard for everything
No vendor lock-in

The trade-off?
You manage the server.

For me, that was a feature — not a bug.

The Setup 🏗️

Here’s the infrastructure I used (genericized):

Component	Value
VPS Provider	Any modern VPS provider
OS	Ubuntu 24.04 LTS
Reverse Proxy	Traefik (via Coolify)
SSL	Let’s Encrypt
Domain	`coolify.example.com`

Nothing exotic. Just a clean VPS and a domain.

Step 1: Provision the VPS 🖥️

Spin up a VPS with Ubuntu 24.04 LTS.

Recommended minimum specs:

2 CPU cores
4 GB RAM
40 GB disk

Once the server is ready, SSH in:

ssh root@<SERVER_IP>

Always start with updates:

apt update && apt upgrade -y

Step 2: Install Docker & Firewall 🛠️

Coolify runs entirely on Docker.

Install Docker:

curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com | sh
systemctl enable --now docker

Install Docker Compose if needed:

apt install docker-compose -y

Firewall (UFW)

Open the required ports:

ufw allow 22/tcp
ufw allow 80/tcp
ufw allow 443/tcp
ufw allow 8000/tcp
ufw enable

Verify:

ufw status

Step 3: Install Coolify ⚡

Coolify’s install process is refreshingly simple.

Run this one command:

curl -fsSL https://get.coolify.io | bash

After a few minutes, Coolify will be running on:

http://<SERVER_IP>:8000

Open it in your browser and create the first admin account.

⚠️ The first registered user becomes the root admin — do this immediately.

Step 4: DNS Configuration 🌐

Create a DNS record for your Coolify dashboard.

Example:

A   coolify   <SERVER_IP>

This will point:

coolify.example.com → <SERVER_IP>

Wait a few minutes for DNS propagation.

You can verify from the server:

dig +short coolify.example.com

Step 5: Enable HTTPS 🔒

Coolify uses Traefik + Let’s Encrypt automatically.

Edit Coolify’s environment file:

cd /data/coolify/source
nano .env

Set:

APP_URL=https://coolify.example.com
COOLIFY_FQDN=coolify.example.com

Save, then restart Coolify in production mode:

docker compose down
docker compose -f docker-compose.yml -f docker-compose.prod.yml up -d

After a short wait, open:

https://coolify.example.com

If everything is correct:

HTTPS is enabled
A valid Let’s Encrypt certificate is issued
Traefik handles renewals automatically

Deploying Apps (Vercel-Style, But Freer) 📦

Deploying apps feels familiar:

Connect a Git repository
Choose branch
Set build & start commands
Add environment variables
Deploy

Example build commands:

npm install
npm run build
npm start

But unlike Vercel, you can now:

Run long-lived servers
Use WebSockets
Run background workers
Host databases next to your app
Use custom Dockerfiles

No edge limits. No cold starts.

Built-In Services 🧰

Coolify isn’t just for apps.

You can deploy:

PostgreSQL
Redis
MySQL
n8n
Cron jobs
Workers

All from the same dashboard.

One server. One bill.

Debugging & Logs 🧪

When something breaks (and it will), Coolify makes debugging sane.

Useful commands:

docker ps
docker logs coolify
docker logs coolify-proxy

If you ever see “No available server”, it usually means:

The app container isn’t healthy
The app isn’t listening on the expected port
DNS or domain mismatch

Logs almost always tell the truth.

Trade-Offs ⚖️

Self-hosting isn’t free magic.

Pros

Full control
Predictable costs
Backend + frontend together
No vendor lock-in
You own your data

Cons

You manage updates
You manage backups
You are the ops team

If you enjoy understanding your stack, this is empowering.

Coolify vs Vercel 📊

Feature	Vercel	Coolify
Frontend apps	✅	✅
Backend services	❌	✅
Background jobs	❌	✅
Databases	❌	✅
WebSockets	⚠️	✅
Cost control	❌	✅
Vendor lock-in	High	None

Coolify doesn’t just replace Vercel — it replaces an entire stack.

Final Thoughts 🎯

This started as a weekend experiment.

It ended with me running my own deployment platform, on my own infrastructure, with no artificial limits.

More responsibility — but also more freedom.

If you’re tired of platform constraints and want to truly own your stack, Coolify is absolutely worth exploring.

The best cloud is the one you understand.

Key Takeaways ✅

Coolify is a powerful Vercel alternative
One VPS can host apps, databases, and workers
HTTPS and deployments are automatic
You trade convenience for control — intentionally