Laravel Forge popularized "point-and-click VPS deploys" for the PHP world, and it's still excellent. But $12-$39/month adds up over years, and Forge is PHP/Laravel-centric by design. If you're evaluating alternatives, here's the actual landscape.
1. Coolify
Free, open-source, self-hosted. Broad framework support, active community. You run it as a service on your own infrastructure.
2. Ploi
A closer Forge clone — subscription-based, PHP-focused, polished UI. Good if you want Forge's exact workflow at a slightly different price point.
3. RunCloud
Another PHP-leaning server management panel, subscription pricing, strong caching/staging features for WordPress and Laravel specifically.
4. CapRover
Free, open-source, Docker-based PaaS with a one-click app marketplace. Less polish than Coolify, but lightweight and fast to set up.
5. Dokku
The "Heroku in a bash script" option. Free, minimal, git-push deploys. Great if you want to understand every layer; less great if you want a GUI.
6. Kamal
Basecamp's deploy tool — a Ruby gem, config-file driven, framework-agnostic. No web UI at all; everything is CLI and YAML. Popular with teams who want deploys as code.
7. DeployOS
A native desktop app (not a subscription service you run on your server) that covers the same ground Forge does — provisioning, git-push deploys, HTTPS via Let's Encrypt, databases, backups, monitoring — but for any Dockerizable app, not just PHP, and priced as a one-time purchase rather than monthly. It also has an adoption flow that discovers and imports apps you deployed manually, which matters if you're migrating off an existing setup rather than starting fresh.
How to actually choose
If you're all-in on Laravel and love Forge's workflow, Ploi or RunCloud are the closest philosophical match. If you want free and don't mind running your own control-plane service, Coolify or CapRover. If you want deploys as version-controlled config with no GUI, Kamal or Dokku. If you want a Forge-equivalent experience across any stack without a recurring bill, DeployOS is built specifically for that gap — the free tier is a reasonable way to see if it fits before committing to anything.