Which requires less RAM: Coolify or Portainer?

Portainer uses less memory (512 MB) compared to Coolify (2 GB).

Which tool is more popular on GitHub: Coolify or Portainer?

Coolify leads with 39,500 GitHub stars versus 0 for Portainer.

Can I host both Coolify and Portainer on the same VPS?

Yes! Combining both applications requires at least 2.5 GB of RAM plus operating system overhead. A 4GB to 8GB VPS easily accommodates both.

Head-to-Head Technical Benchmark

Coolify vs Portainer

Technical hardware and popularity breakdown for self-hosting Coolify and Portainer on cloud VPS servers.

Canonical Comparison URL: /compare/coolify-vs-portainer

Interactive Tool Matchup

Switch Matchup or Select New Apps

Change Candidate A or Candidate B to compare specs against any open-source tool in the directory.

Candidate A

Candidate B

Candidate A

Coolify

coollabsio/coolify

★ 39.5k

All-in-one open-source PaaS to host apps, databases, and Docker services on any VPS server.

Min RAM

2 GB

CPU Cores

2 vCPU

Disk Storage

30 GB

Deploy Coolify Docker Compose →

Candidate B

Portainer

portainer/portainer

★ 0

Centralized container management GUI for Docker, Docker Swarm, and Kubernetes environments.

Min RAM

512 MB

Lower RAM

CPU Cores

1 vCPU

Disk Storage

10 GB

Deploy Portainer Docker Compose →

Full Technical Benchmark Breakdown

Specification	Coolify	Portainer	Advantage
Primary Category	devops	devops	—
Minimum RAM Required	2 GB	512 MB	Portainer (1.5 GB lighter)
GitHub Stars	★ 39,500	★ 0	Coolify (+39,500 stars)
GitHub Forks	2,400	0	Coolify
License	Apache-2.0	FOSS	Open-Source
Primary Language	PHP	N/A	—
Docker Image	ghcr.io/coollabsio/coolify:latest	portainer/portainer-ce:latest	Both Container Ready

Multi-App Server Sizing

Can You Run Both Coolify & Portainer Together?

Yes! Running both simultaneously requires approximately 4 GB RAM including host OS and Docker daemon buffers. A single standard $6-$10/mo cloud VPS easily hosts both without bottlenecks.

Open VPS RAM Calculator Deploy 4GB VPS ($6.99/mo) →