A Dokku alternative without a server to run.
Dokku is the open-source "mini-Heroku": you git push to your own server and it builds and runs your app in Docker, with buildpacks and a Procfile. Brewless keeps the idea of your own infrastructure but removes the server: your Laravel app runs in serverless containers in your own Scaleway account, behind bunny.net.
Facts checked on 20 October 2026. See the sources.
Dokku and Brewless at a glance
| Topic | Dokku | Brewless |
|---|---|---|
| Company | A community open-source project under the MIT licence. Dokku Pro is sold separately. | Coding Agency, Meppel, the Netherlands. |
| How your app runs | Docker containers on your own server, built with Heroku buildpacks, Cloud Native Buildpacks, a Dockerfile or Nixpacks, deployed with git push. | Serverless containers: your app starts with traffic and stops when it is quiet. There are no servers to manage. |
| Whose account | Yours: your own server. | Yours: your own Scaleway project and bunny.net account. Brewless is the control plane and is not in the path of your visitors. |
| Infrastructure | A fresh Ubuntu or Debian machine at any provider. | Scaleway (France) for your app, bunny.net (Slovenia) for the edge in front of it. Both European companies. |
| Regions in Europe | Wherever your server is. | Paris, Amsterdam, Warsaw and Milan. |
| Scales to zero | Not with the default scheduler. With its K3s scheduler and the KEDA HTTP add-on, an app can scale back to zero after a quiet period. | Yes, when you set the minimum to zero. |
| Price | Free and open source. Dokku Pro, with a web interface and an API, is a one-time $849 licence. You pay your server yourself. | Free to try with one application. Paid plans from €15 a month, with unlimited environments on every plan. Scaleway and bunny.net bill you directly, and Brewless takes no percentage of that. |
| For Laravel | No Laravel guide; the Heroku PHP buildpack with a Procfile, workers in the Procfile, a release phase for migrations and cron tasks in app.json. | Migrations as their own step in every deploy, queues on Scaleway Queues, the schedule read from your app, Artisan on the live release, and brewless init to start from a vapor.yml. |
What Dokku does well
- Mature, free and open source under the MIT licence.
- The Heroku workflow (git push, Procfile, buildpacks), so Heroku apps move over easily.
- Light: one server is enough, with a path to several through K3s.
- Several ways to build, from buildpacks to a Dockerfile.
Where Brewless is different
No server
There is no machine to install, update or keep running. Scaleway runs the machines.
Scales on its own
Copies of your app start with traffic and stop when it is quiet, without a scheduler or add-on to set up.
A dashboard included
Releases, logs, variables and commands are in a console for your whole team, next to the command line.
Built for Laravel
Migrations run as their own step and the schedule is read from your app; there is no Procfile or cron file to keep.
Which one fits?
Pick Dokku if
- You are at home on the command line and want a free tool.
- You want the Heroku workflow on one cheap server.
- You are moving off Heroku and want to keep your Procfile.
Pick Brewless if
- You would rather not run a server at all.
- Your traffic varies, or the app is idle at night.
- You want a console for your team, not only a command line.
Moving from Dokku to Brewless
Your Procfile and app.json map onto brewless.yml: the release phase becomes release commands, workers become your queues and the cron tasks come from your Laravel schedule. Variables move from dokku config to your environment at Brewless. Copy your database to a managed database at Scaleway, test, then move your domain.
Questions about Dokku
- Is Dokku free?
- Yes. Dokku is open source under the MIT licence. Dokku Pro, with a web interface and an API, is a paid one-time licence. Your server is billed by your provider.
- Can Dokku run Laravel?
- Yes, with the Heroku PHP buildpack or a Dockerfile. Its documentation has no Laravel guide; workers go in the Procfile and migrations in the release phase.
- Dokku or Brewless?
- Dokku runs your app on a server you own and look after. Brewless runs Laravel in serverless containers in your own Scaleway account, so there is no server to look after.
Sources
The facts about Dokku on this page come from its own pages, read on 20 October 2026. Prices and features change, so check them before you decide. Spotted something out of date? Mail contact@coding.agency.
Other alternatives
- Laravel Vapor alternative Serverless platform on AWS Lambda; no new signups
- Laravel Cloud alternative Managed platform on AWS
- Laravel Forge alternative Server management
- Laravel Envoyer alternative Zero-downtime deployments to your servers
- Clever Cloud alternative Platform-as-a-service
- Scalingo alternative Platform-as-a-service
- Upsun alternative Platform-as-a-service on several clouds
- Koyeb alternative Serverless platform on its own servers
- Northflank alternative Container platform, own cloud or yours
- Render alternative Managed cloud platform
- Railway alternative Usage-billed cloud platform
- Fly.io alternative Micro-VMs on its own servers
- Heroku alternative Platform-as-a-service on AWS
- Sevalla alternative Managed app platform
- Coolify alternative Self-hosted PaaS, open source
- Ploi alternative Server management
- RunCloud alternative Server management
- Cloudways alternative Managed servers
- Bref alternative Open-source framework for AWS Lambda
- Google Cloud Run alternative Serverless containers on Google Cloud
Try Brewless with your Laravel app
We open access to Laravel teams in small batches. Brewless is free to try with one application, production included; you start paying when you want your own domain or more.