I left the Cloud to Coolify

Source: Dev.to

Why I Left the Traditional Cloud

For a long time I did what most developers do: I deployed everything on the big cloud providers (AWS, managed services, endless dashboards, monthly bills that always seemed to creep up…). It worked—until it didn’t.

At some point I realized I wasn’t paying for “infrastructure,” I was paying for complexity. I wanted something closer to the old‑school VPS experience, but with modern developer tooling. That’s where Coolify came in.

What Is “the Cloud”?

The “cloud” is often described as a network of remote servers on the internet that store, manage, and process data, allowing access from anywhere. In practice it’s just someone else’s computer that you rent by the hour (pay‑as‑you‑go).

Pain Points of Traditional Cloud

• Costs grow fast, even for small projects
• Managed services are convenient… until you need to migrate
• Too many moving parts for simple apps
• Vendor lock‑in is real

Coolify: An Open‑Source Alternative

Coolify is essentially an open‑source alternative to platforms like Vercel, Heroku, Netlify, and Render, but you deploy on your own server.

What Coolify Gives You

• Git‑based deployments (webhook or manual)
• Docker support
• One‑click databases (Postgres, MySQL)
• Automatic SSL (Let’s Encrypt)
• Monitoring
• Multi‑app hosting
• Clean UI

My Desired Criteria

• Affordable
• Reliable
• Simple
• Scalable enough for side projects and small production apps

The Setup I Chose

1. VPS (OVH)
2. Docker
3. Coolify managing everything

Internet → VPS → Coolify → Apps + Databases

Coolify becomes your control panel for deploying:

• Web apps
• APIs
• PostgreSQL / MySQL
• Redis
• Background workers

Choosing OVH

I used OVH because of its price‑to‑performance ratio. OVH servers typically offer:

• Strong CPUs
• Good bandwidth
• Cheap monthly pricing
• European hosting options

I purchased a VPS from OVH Cloud for a year at < USD 100 flat rate.

Provision a Fresh VPS

• OS: Ubuntu 22.04 (recommended)
• Requirements:
  • Root SSH access
  • Ports 80/443 open
  • A domain name (optional but recommended)

Install Coolify

# SSH into your server
ssh root@your-server-ip

# Run the install script
curl -fsSL https://cdn.coollabs.io/coolify/install.sh | bash

The script installs:

• Docker
• Docker Compose
• Coolify

Access the Dashboard

Once installed, open your browser:

http://your-server-ip:8000

From the dashboard you can:

• Create projects
• Connect GitHub/GitLab
• Deploy your first app
• Replace the default domain with yours

Note

If the dashboard is not reachable, ensure port 8000 is open:

# Check UFW status
sudo ufw status

# Allow inbound traffic on port 8000
sudo ufw allow 8000

# Reload firewall
sudo ufw reload

Add a Domain + SSL

Coolify makes this ridiculously easy:

1. Add your domain in the app settings.
2. Enable SSL – it automatically uses Let’s Encrypt.

No manual Nginx configuration is needed; Coolify uses Traefik and Caddy as replacements.

What I’m Running Now

• Personal projects
• APIs
• PostgreSQL databases
• Redis
• Background workers
• Internal tools

All from one dashboard—feels like my own mini‑Heroku.

A Little Tip

Enable proxied connections on Cloudflare for your domain to mitigate common attacks (e.g., DDoS).

Closing Thoughts

I’m an AWS‑certified Solutions Architect, and I understand that large cloud providers have their place. However, when the real need isn’t there, moving to a self‑hosted, simpler stack can save money, reduce complexity, and give you full control.