ZenSailor vs Dokploy
Dokploy is a capable open-source PaaS with Docker Compose, backups, previews, Swarm clustering, and documented API and CLI access. Choose it when you want to inspect or modify the platform source. Choose ZenSailor when you want the more opinionated operating model: health-gated blue/green releases for concurrent datastores, safe serialized cutovers for single-writer stores, NATS-meshed nodes, reviewed version-pinned stacks, and native MCP operations backed by live in-product API discovery and role checks. Both are free for an individual self-hoster.
Choose Dokploy if…
- You want open-source software you can read, fork, and self-audit.
- You are running a single server and do not expect to cluster.
- You would rather back a community-governed project than a commercial vendor.
Choose ZenSailor if…
- Deploys should not drop requests — health-gated blue/green is the default for concurrent datastores, with a safe serialized mode for single-writer stores.
- You are running several nodes and want scheduling by tag across a mesh.
- You want scheduled restic backups to S3 with first-class restore jobs.
- You want an audit trail, SSO, and preview environments as the team grows.
- You want coding agents to diagnose and redeploy through native MCP instead of assembling their own API wrapper.
Feature by feature
| Feature | ZenSailor | Dokploy |
|---|---|---|
| Licence | Closed source, free forever (Community Edition) | Open source (Apache 2.0) |
| Zero-downtime deploys | Blue/green by default; serialized strategy for single-writer stores | Rolling / recreate |
| Multi-node clustering | NATS mesh, tag-based scheduling | Docker Swarm |
| Docker Compose | Deployed as written | Supported |
| Application catalog | 160+ curated stacks | Community template catalog |
| Catalog upkeep | Every image pinned to a release line; storage, secrets and routing defined before it ships | Community-contributed and community-maintained |
| Backups | restic to S3, scheduled, restore jobs, retention policies | Database backups to S3 |
| Preview environments | Per pull request on Pro, auto torn down | Supported |
| AI log diagnosis | Built in, bring your own key | Not built in |
| MCP / AI agent control | Native MCP + live API discovery + agent skill; role-aware redeploys | Documented API and CLI; no documented native MCP server |
| Telemetry | Account-linked, on by default, Enterprise can disable | No mandatory telemetry |
| Price | Free; Pro $29/mo; Enterprise $129/mo | Free and open source |
Compiled 2026 from each project’s public documentation. Both products ship often — if something here is out of date, tell us at info@znowsoft.com and we will correct it.
Try the difference on your own server
The individual Community Edition is free forever: one developer, one node, unlimited apps and deployments.
curl -sfL https://get.zensailor.com | bash