dokku
DockNimbus vs Dokku
Both simplify self-hosted deployments, but at completely different levels:
| DockNimbus | Dokku | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Self-hosted cloud platform | Self-hosted PaaS (mini-Heroku) |
| Deploy model | Docker images via CLI/manifest | git push (buildpacks or Dockerfile) |
| Abstraction | Infrastructure-level (nodes, clusters, networking) | App-level (just push code, platform handles the rest) |
| Multi-node | Built-in (multi-node clusters) | Single-node only (no clustering) |
| Node provisioning | Automated via SSH | Not applicable — runs on one server |
| Networking | WireGuard mesh, EasyHAProxy, dnsmasq | Nginx reverse proxy, Let's Encrypt built-in |
| Storage | NFS volumes, MinIO S3 | Plugin-based (postgres, redis, etc. as services) |
| Databases | Not included (deploy as containers) | First-class plugins (postgres, mysql, redis, mongo) |
| SSL/TLS | Self-signed or custom certs | Automatic Let's Encrypt |
| IaC | YAML manifests for full infrastructure | App config via CLI, no full IaC |
| Buildpacks | Not included (bring your own image) | Heroku buildpacks + Dockerfile + Cloud Native Buildpacks |
| Scaling | Replicas via Swarm/K3s across nodes | Process scaling on single host (dokku ps:scale) |
| Zero-downtime deploy | Via Swarm rolling updates | Built-in zero-downtime checks |
| App lifecycle | Manual (deploy, update, remove) | Full lifecycle (deploy, rollback, maintenance mode) |
| Review apps | Not included | Not built-in (but possible with plugins) |
| Cron jobs | Not included | Built-in (dokku cron) |
| Logs | Not included | dokku logs per app |
| ARM support | First-class | Supported |
| Minimum resources | Single RPi, ~256MB RAM | Single server, ~1GB RAM |
| Target audience | Infra-minded homelabbers, small teams | Developers who want Heroku-style deploys |
When to use which
DockNimbus — You're managing multiple machines and need infrastructure orchestration: clusters, encrypted networking, shared storage, multi-node workloads. You think in terms of infrastructure.
Dokku — You have a single server and want to deploy web apps with git push. You want managed databases as plugins, automatic SSL, and a Heroku-like developer experience. You think in terms of apps.
Key philosophical difference
- Dokku is a developer platform — push code, get a running app with a URL and SSL
- DockNimbus is an infrastructure platform — provision machines, build clusters, deploy workloads
Dokku is for developers who don't want to think about infrastructure. DockNimbus is for people who want to build the infrastructure itself.