Dokploy vs DotDeployer for .NET
Dokploy is open-source: a Docker Swarm and Traefik control plane you install on a server yourself, free forever, or pay for their managed Dokploy Cloud. DotDeployer is always managed — no control plane to install, no Docker to learn — and built specifically around ASP.NET Core and Blazor.
| DotDeployer | Dokploy | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $12/mo (Starter), 1 server | Free forever, self-hosted (you run Dokploy itself on a server) — Dokploy Cloud from $4.50/mo per server |
| Managed option | Always managed — nothing to install or update yourself | Dokploy Cloud Hobby $4.50/mo (1 server) or Startup $15/mo (up to 3 servers) |
| Runtime | .NET 8/9 — ASP.NET Core, Blazor WebAssembly and Blazor Server, no Docker required | Any app deployable via Nixpacks, Heroku buildpacks, or a Dockerfile, orchestrated with Docker Swarm |
| Databases | PostgreSQL and SQL Server, installed directly on the server | PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB, Redis and others, run as containers |
| Who maintains the control plane | DotDeployer — you never patch or upgrade it | You, on the self-hosted tier (it runs as a Docker Swarm manager on your own box) — Dokploy Cloud maintains it for you |
| Providers | Hetzner, DigitalOcean, Vultr, Akamai (Linode), AWS EC2, or bring your own server | Any server with Docker installed |
Dokploy's pricing and feature set looked up September 20, 2026 from Dokploy's own pricing page and dokploy.com .
Who should still pick Dokploy
If your app is already Dockerized, or you deploy more than one language on the same server, Dokploy's Docker/Traefik model is genuinely more flexible than DotDeployer's .NET-only, no-Docker approach — and the self-hosted tier is free forever if you're willing to run and patch the control plane yourself. DotDeployer trades that flexibility for a control plane you never maintain, with a deploy pipeline (GitHub → systemd + nginx, no container to build) tuned specifically for .NET.