Choose FlatRun when
- Production changes must be previewed before they run.
- People and automation need the same permissions across the UI, CLI, CI and MCP.
- Scaling should respect host and container capacity.
FlatRun vs Coolify
FlatRun and Coolify both deploy apps to servers you control. Compare how they automate changes, run across servers, and keep deployments portable.
Open source, MIT licensed · Runs on any Linux server with Docker
Self-hosted platform
Coolify and FlatRun are both open source and self-hosted. Both deploy from Git, run Docker Compose, issue certificates and back up databases.
FlatRun leans on reviewable, portable operations: every project is a plain Compose directory, changes can be planned before they run, and the dashboard, CLI, CI and MCP clients share one permission model.
Side by side
| FlatRun | Coolify | |
|---|---|---|
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| License | MIT | Apache 2.0 |
| Official CLI | Yes | Yes |
| REST API | Yes | Yes |
| Multi-server deployment | Fleet of connected servers and orchestrator providers | Multiple attached servers |
| Traffic across replicas | Managed Nginx or Traefik routing | External load balancer for standalone multi-server deployments |
| Capacity decisions | Policies check host and container limits | Operator watches capacity and adds or removes servers |
| Change preview | Plan and apply with stale-plan protection | No |
| External agent access | Permissioned MCP tools | CLI command catalog for agent context |
Switching
Run the installer on a fresh server, or alongside Coolify on a spare one.
Create each project from its repository or its Compose file.
Copy data folders, restore database dumps, and point DNS at the new server.
Both are open source and free to self-host. Coolify also sells a hosted control plane.
Coolify details come from Coolify scalability and Coolify documentation . FlatRun details are in the documentation.
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