# Brume vs Dokku

> Dokku is a mature, free PaaS you drive with git push and SSH. Brume is an alpha with a free panel that never touches Docker.

Alpha 0.1 · in progress. This is https://brume.dev/vs/dokku in Markdown, for agents and terminals.

|  | Brume | Dokku |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Admin panel | On your tailnet only | [None in core. Dokku Pro adds one for $849](https://pro.dokku.com/) |
| Docker access | Only a separate agent, which listens on nothing | [Its dokku user is in the docker group](https://github.com/dokku/dokku/blob/master/debian/postinst) |
| If the panel is hacked | Nothing without your session | [With an admin SSH key or Pro login: root-level access](https://docs.docker.com/engine/install/linux-postinstall/) |
| Inbound ports | None, through Cloudflare Tunnel | [SSH for git push, plus 80 and 443](https://dokku.com/docs/deployment/application-deployment/) |
| AI agents | A CLI and a local MCP server. Irreversible actions wait for your approval | [Its CLI, over SSH. No official MCP server](https://dokku.com/docs/deployment/remote-commands/) |
| Backups | Encrypted dumps on your S3, full restore of the server | [Scheduled S3 backups through official plugins](https://github.com/dokku/dokku-postgres) |
| Several servers | One server in alpha 0.1, more planned | [Multi-node through its built-in K3s scheduler](https://dokku.com/docs/deployment/schedulers/k3s/) |
| License | Free and open source (FSL-1.1-ALv2, Apache 2.0 after two years) | [Free, MIT](https://github.com/dokku/dokku/blob/master/LICENSE) |
| Maturity | Alpha 0.1, in progress | [Since 2013, about 32k GitHub stars](https://github.com/dokku/dokku) |

Facts checked on November 1, 2026 in each project's official docs. "If the panel is hacked" is our reading of them. Brume is shown in its recommended modes: Cloudflare Tunnel and Tailscale.

## Where Brume is different

- A free panel, reachable on your tailnet only.
- No SSH or web port open: GitHub pushes arrive through Cloudflare Tunnel.
- Only an agent that listens on nothing touches Docker. The panel never does.

## Where Dokku is better today

- Public since 2013, with about 32k GitHub stars, and still released often.
- 28 official plugins, from Postgres to RabbitMQ, with scheduled S3 backups.
- Heroku-style buildpacks and Procfiles, and a choice of five proxies.

**Pick Dokku if…** You want a proven git push workflow over SSH, with official plugins for your databases.

**Pick Brume if…** You want a web panel out of the box, with no SSH or web port open.

## Install

```sh
curl -sSL https://brume.dev/install.sh | bash
```

Needs a fresh Debian or Ubuntu VPS and an S3-compatible bucket. Cloudflare and Tailscale recommended.

## Other comparisons

- [Brume vs Coolify](https://brume.dev/vs/coolify)
- [Brume vs Dokploy](https://brume.dev/vs/dokploy)
- [Brume vs CapRover](https://brume.dev/vs/caprover)
- [Brume vs Portainer](https://brume.dev/vs/portainer)
- [Brume vs Kamal](https://brume.dev/vs/kamal)
- [Brume vs Easypanel](https://brume.dev/vs/easypanel)

---

## More from brume.dev

Every page in Markdown. The whole site in one file: https://brume.dev/llms-full.txt. The index: https://brume.dev/llms.txt

- [Home](https://brume.dev/index.md)
- [Architecture](https://brume.dev/architecture/index.md)
- [Roadmap](https://brume.dev/roadmap/index.md)
- [Compare](https://brume.dev/vs/index.md)
- Brume vs [Coolify](https://brume.dev/vs/coolify/index.md), [Dokploy](https://brume.dev/vs/dokploy/index.md), [CapRover](https://brume.dev/vs/caprover/index.md), [Portainer](https://brume.dev/vs/portainer/index.md), [Kamal](https://brume.dev/vs/kamal/index.md), [Dokku](https://brume.dev/vs/dokku/index.md), [Easypanel](https://brume.dev/vs/easypanel/index.md), [Railway](https://brume.dev/vs/railway/index.md), [Render](https://brume.dev/vs/render/index.md), [Fly.io](https://brume.dev/vs/fly/index.md), [Vercel](https://brume.dev/vs/vercel/index.md), [Heroku](https://brume.dev/vs/heroku/index.md)