Cloud vs Self-Hosted

Both versions of Dokploy share the same deployment engine — same Docker/Traefik integration, same API, same core features. The main difference is operational: who manages the Dokploy instance itself. On top of that, there are four editions with different limits and extras, summarized below.

Editions at a glance

Dokploy comes in four editions: Self-Hosted (OSS), Cloud, Enterprise Self-Hosted, and Enterprise Cloud.

Enterprise: Cloud vs Self-Hosted

There are two ways to get Enterprise, and they are not the same thing:

• Enterprise Self-Hosted — you run your own Dokploy instance and activate a license key issued by the Dokploy team. You keep full control of your infrastructure (including air-gapped setups) and unlock SSO, custom roles, audit logs, Application Authentication, whitelabeling, and unlimited concurrent builds per server.
• Enterprise Cloud — the Dokploy team manages the control plane for you with a custom plan. You get the same enterprise capabilities (SSO, custom roles, audit logs, Application Authentication) plus managed uptime, automatic updates, and priority support with SLA.

Key differences between the two Enterprise flavors:

What's actually different

The differences come down to three things:

1. Managed uptime

With Self-Hosted, you are responsible for keeping the Dokploy instance running. If your server goes down, restarts, or runs out of disk — you need to fix it yourself.

With Cloud, the Dokploy team manages the uptime of the control plane (the UI, database, and management layer). Your applications still run on your own servers, but the management dashboard is maintained by us.

2. Automatic updates

With Self-Hosted, you update Dokploy manually when new versions are released.

With Cloud, updates are applied automatically — you're always on the latest version without doing anything.

3. Support

With Self-Hosted, support is community-based (Discord, GitHub issues).

With Cloud, you get direct support depending on your plan:

Architecture

Both versions use the same architecture. The only difference is where the control plane runs.

Self-Hosted

The Dokploy UI, PostgreSQL, Redis, and your applications all run on the same server(s) that you manage.

┌─────────────────────────────────┐
│     Your Server (you manage)    │
│                                 │
│  Dokploy UI + PostgreSQL + Redis│
│  Traefik (reverse proxy)        │
│  ─────────────────────────────  │
│  Your Apps & Databases          │
└─────────────────────────────────┘

Cloud

The control plane runs on Dokploy's infrastructure. Your servers only run your workloads.

┌─────────────────┐         ┌──────────────────────┐
│  Dokploy Cloud   │  SSH    │   Your Server(s)     │
│  (managed by us) │────────►│   Apps + Databases   │
│                  │         │   Traefik            │
│  UI, DB, Redis   │         └──────────────────────┘
└─────────────────┘

When to choose what

Cloud Plans

If you choose Dokploy Cloud, there are several plans depending on your needs:

Plan comparison

Which plan do I need?

• Hobby — You're a solo developer deploying personal projects or small client sites on a single server.
• Startup — You have a team, need multiple environments (production, staging, dev), and want unlimited backups and scheduled jobs.
• Enterprise — You need SSO/SAML, audit logs, white labeling, custom roles with fine-grained permissions, and priority support with SLA.
• Agency — You manage infrastructure for multiple clients and need a tailored partnership.