If you've searched for "self-hosted Heroku alternative," you've run into Coolify. It's the most popular open-source option, and for good reason — it's free, it's actively developed, and it works. So when should you look at something else?
What Coolify is
Coolify is a self-hosted PaaS you run as a service on your own server, which then manages deploys to that server (and optionally others). It's open source, has a large community, and covers the core loop well: connect a repo, build, deploy, get a URL.
Where the two diverge
Where it runs. Coolify itself is a long-running web service — you install it on a server, and it stays there watching for deploys. DeployOS is a native desktop app: nothing runs permanently on your infrastructure except the apps you actually deploy. If "one more always-on service to patch and monitor" isn't something you want, that's a real difference, not a cosmetic one.
Licensing model. Coolify is free and open-source with an optional paid cloud tier. DeployOS is a one-time-purchase desktop license (unlimited VPS on paid tiers) — no server-side component to license or pay a recurring fee for.
Adoption of existing infrastructure. If you already have apps running on a VPS you set up manually, DeployOS's discovery flow scans the box, finds your existing Docker Compose projects and databases, and lets you adopt them as managed apps without tearing anything down. This matters more than it sounds — most tool switches die at "I don't want to re-deploy 12 apps to try a new tool."
Windows/macOS-native workflow. Because DeployOS is a desktop app, server management, logs, a file browser, and a terminal all live in one native window instead of a browser tab pointed at your own server's IP.
Where Coolify wins
It's free, it's mature, it has first-class Kubernetes support if you need it, and its community/plugin ecosystem is bigger simply because it's been around longer. If you want the safety of a huge open-source project and don't mind running a control-plane service, it's a genuinely good choice.
The honest recommendation
If you want zero always-on infrastructure beyond your actual apps, a native desktop experience, and you're deploying to VPS you already own (or plan to), try DeployOS — the free tier covers one server with no time limit, so you can compare it against your current setup for real. If you want the biggest community and don't mind an extra service running, Coolify is a safe bet too. Both beat SSH-and-pray.