Pier vs Dokku
Updated
Dokku is the classic "Docker-powered mini-Heroku": you deploy with git push and manage everything from the command line, adding databases and Let's Encrypt through plugins. Pier gives you the same self-hosted Heroku workflow through a web UI, with one-click databases, automatic HTTPS, multi-server agents, alerts and backups built in. Pick Dokku if you live in the terminal; pick Pier if you want a dashboard.
curl -fsSL https://pier.team/install | sudo bash GitHub At a glance
| Pier | Dokku | |
|---|---|---|
| Interface | Web UI + REST API | CLI (git push + dokku commands) |
| Language / runtime | Rust, single static binary | Go and shell |
| Minimum server | 512 MB RAM, 1 vCPU minimum (1 GB recommended) | 1 GB RAM (Docker scheduler) |
| Deploy sources | Docker image, Dockerfile, Compose, Git, auto-build with Railpack | git push (buildpacks or Dockerfile), Docker image, archive |
| Databases | One-click templates (PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB, Redis, ClickHouse and more) | Official plugins (e.g. dokku-postgres) |
| HTTPS | Automatic, Traefik + Let's Encrypt | letsencrypt plugin |
| Multi-server | Lightweight agents with heartbeat and metrics | Single server; multi-node via the K3s scheduler |
| Alerts & backups | Built in: alert rules, scheduled S3 backups | Via plugins and your own tooling |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
Pick Pier if
- You want a web dashboard for deploys, logs, metrics and databases instead of SSH sessions.
- You manage several servers and want them in one place.
- You want alerts, scheduled backups and per-project roles without assembling plugins.
Pick Dokku if
- You prefer a pure git push + CLI workflow and don't want a web UI at all.
- You rely on Heroku buildpacks and Procfile conventions.
- You want a permissive MIT license and a project with a very long track record.
Workflow
With Dokku you add a git remote that points at your server and git push to deploy.
Everything else — domains, certificates, databases, environment variables — is a
dokku command over SSH, and datastores and Let’s Encrypt come from plugins.
Pier covers the same ground from a browser: create a project, point it at a repository, an image or a Compose file, attach a domain and the certificate is issued automatically. Databases are templates, not plugins.
Beyond a single server
Dokku is built around one host. Pier installs a small agent on each extra server, shows the whole fleet in one dashboard, and can spread load-balanced replicas across servers.
Where Dokku is the better fit
If you want nothing between you and the terminal, Dokku’s CLI-first design and buildpack compatibility are hard to beat — and it has been battle-tested for over a decade.