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Kamal

★ 12k

37signals’ deploy tool: zero-downtime Docker deploys to any bare VPS with a single `kamal deploy`. No PaaS in between.

Kamal does the job of Heroku, self-hosted. It is MIT-licensed, so you can do essentially what you like with it, and setting it up is an afternoon, not a weekend. Heroku bills $25/mo for it. 12k stars on GitHub.

Open-source replacement for Heroku.

Licence
MIT
Self-hosting
Medium
The paid one costs
$25/mo
GitHub stars
12k
view the code →official site →

Is it actually a replacement?

We have written a verdict on what it replaces — what you lose, and why people still pay:

How Kamal runs

Where it runs

Kamal runs on your server.

What setup takes

not verified by us yet — check the repo README.

Kamal questions

Is Kamal open source?

Yes — it is released under MIT.

Can Kamal replace Heroku?

Our verdict on Heroku is YES. Coolify (57k stars), Dokploy (36k stars), Dokku (32k stars) are mature open-source replacements for Heroku — self-host with real ops work and stop paying $7/mo.

Can I self-host Kamal?

Yes — we rate it medium to self-host, and it runs on your server.

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