Aptible vs Dokku
A detailed comparison to help you choose between Aptible and Dokku.
Quick Verdict
3.6/5
Aptible
0 reviews
4.2/5
Dokku
0 reviews
Dokku is rated higher (4.2 vs 3.6). Aptible is a compliance-focused PaaS for deploying HIPAA and SOC 2 compliant applications. Automated vulnerability scanning, audit logs, and managed security configurations. Used by 500+ healthcare companies. Dokku is an open source PaaS you deploy on any VPS. Heroku-compatible buildpacks, Git push deployments, Let's Encrypt SSL, and Docker support. Run your own Heroku on a $5 Hetzner server.
Aptible HIPAA-compliant PaaS for healthcare apps | Dokku Self-hosted mini Heroku on your own VPS | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Rating | 3.6 (0 reviews) | 4.2 (0 reviews)✓ |
| Pricing model | paid | free |
| Starting price | From $499/mo | Free✓ |
| Best for | Healthtech and regulated-industry teams that must ship HIPAA-eligible apps quickly and cannot staff a compliance-focused platform engineering function | Developers comfortable with Linux who want Heroku-style deployments at VPS pricing on infrastructure they own and control |
| Features | ||
| IPv6 | ✓ | |
| DDoS protection | ✓ | |
| Automated backups | ||
| Snapshots | ✓ | |
| Managed option | ||
| Bare metal | ||
| GPU available | ||
| S3-compatible | ||
| Hourly billing | ✓ | |
| Free tier | ✓ | |
| Data-center locations | ||
| Regions | AWS regions: 6 shared-stack regions, 14 dedicated-stack regions | — |
| Tags | ||
| Tags | managed optionus datacenterteam featuressso | free tieropen sourceself hostable |
| Visit Aptible → | Visit Dokku → | |
Aptible
Pros
- + HIPAA, HITRUST and SOC 2 controls applied by the platform with automated evidence collection
- + Dedicated Stacks give network-level isolation — infrastructure never shared with other customers
- + Managed databases with automatic backups, encryption by default and PostgreSQL point-in-time recovery
- + Fits real workflows: CLI, dashboard, Terraform provider and CI/CD integrations
Cons
- - $499/month base fee before any usage on the Production plan required for HIPAA
- - Metered usage stacks on top of the base fee — containers, databases, endpoints and storage all bill
- - The only published uptime SLA (99.95%) is on Enterprise contracts
- - No bare metal, GPU or object storage — a compliance PaaS, not a general cloud
Dokku
Pros
- + Free MIT-licensed software — you only pay for the underlying server
- + Heroku-compatible buildpacks and git push workflow make migration from Heroku straightforward
- + Mature project (since 2013) with 353 releases and a large plugin ecosystem
- + Full control over data, costs and where your apps physically run
- + Optional Dokku Pro is a one-time $849 lifetime license, not a subscription
Cons
- - Self-managed: OS updates, security, backups and monitoring are your responsibility
- - Single-host design — no built-in failover, autoscaling or multi-host scheduling
- - Support is community-only (GitHub issues, Slack) unless you buy Dokku Pro
- - Plugin quality and upgrade compatibility vary across the community ecosystem
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