Dokku vs LucidLink
A detailed comparison to help you choose between Dokku and LucidLink.
Quick Verdict
4.2/5
Dokku
0 reviews
4.0/5
LucidLink
0 reviews
Dokku is rated higher (4.2 vs 4.0). 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. LucidLink turns S3 object storage into a shared, streaming cloud filesystem for teams working with large files.
Dokku Self-hosted mini Heroku on your own VPS | LucidLink Cloud file streaming for teams: a shared filesystem on top of S3 object storage | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Rating | 4.2 (0 reviews)✓ | 4.0 (0 reviews) |
| Pricing model | free | paid |
| Starting price | Free✓ | From $7/mo |
| Best for | Developers comfortable with Linux who want Heroku-style deployments at VPS pricing on infrastructure they own and control | Creative and production teams (video, audio, VFX, design) with large shared files and distributed members who need one live filesystem without syncing or shipping drives. |
| Features | ||
| IPv6 | ✓ | |
| DDoS protection | ✓ | |
| Automated backups | ✓ | |
| Snapshots | ✓ | |
| Managed option | ||
| Bare metal | ||
| GPU available | ||
| S3-compatible | ||
| Hourly billing | ✓ | |
| Free tier | ✓ | |
| Tags | ||
| Tags | free tieropen sourceself hostable | — |
| Visit Dokku → | ||
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
LucidLink
Pros
- + Streams large shared files on demand — no full downloads before work starts
- + Zero-knowledge encryption: the vendor cannot read customer content
- + Transparent published per-member pricing with included storage per seat
- + Built on S3, with bring-your-own-S3 on Enterprise for storage-substrate flexibility
- + 30-day free trial without a credit card; desktop, mobile and web clients
- + TeamCache add-on brings cloud files to on-prem users at LAN speed
Cons
- - Storage overage of $7-8 per 100 GB is roughly $70-80 per TB per month — far above raw S3
- - Starter tier is tightly capped: 10 members, 1 filespace, 1 TB, and no snapshot recovery
- - Specialized for file-streaming workloads; wrong shape for databases or block storage
- - No published region list or public uptime SLA outside Enterprise discussions
- - Client and control-plane dependency on a mid-size specialist vendor
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