AppCrane vs the field
AppCrane is the self-hosted home for the apps your AI builds and your AI deploys — one server you own, driven by AI agents over MCP. Here's how it lines up against the managed-cloud, self-hosted PaaS, and agent-deploy options people reach for.
| AppCrane | AWS Copilot | AWS App Runner | AWS Lightsail | AWS CodeDeploy | Vercel | Coolify | Dokploy | AppDeploy | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hosting model | Self-hosted, 1 box | AWS ECS/Fargate | AWS managed | AWS VPS | Your infra | Vercel cloud | Self-hosted, or Cloud control plane | Self-hosted | Hosted cloud |
| Pricing | Flat — your server | AWS usage | Per-use | Flat-ish | Free + infra | Seat + usage | Free self-hosted; Cloud from $5/mo | Free — your server | SaaS / usage |
| Agent / MCP control | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Sandbox + production envs | ✓ | ✓ | ~ | ✗ | ~ | ✓ | ~ | ✓ | ~ |
| Push-to-deploy from GitHub | ✓ | ~ | ✓ | ✗ | ~ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ~ |
| Managed repo (no GitHub account) | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Custom domains + auto-HTTPS | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Built-in app email service | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Whole-system backup & restore | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ~ | ✗ | ✗ | ~ | ~ | ✗ |
| Persistent /data volumes | ✓ | ~ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ~ |
| Scheduled cron jobs | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ~ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ~ |
| Enterprise SSO (SAML/OIDC/SCIM) | ✓ | ~ | ✗ | ✗ | ~ | ✓ | ~ | ~ | ✗ |
| Docker container isolation | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ~ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ~ |
| Audit logging | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ~ | ✓ | ~ | ✓ | ~ | ~ |
| Open source | ✓ | ~ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
| No vendor lock-in | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
| One-box setup (no IAM/VPC) | ✓ | ✗ | ~ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
Where AppCrane wins
Agent-native and self-hosted
Vercel, Railway and AppDeploy have MCP servers, but they drive the vendor's cloud. Coolify and AppCrane both serve MCP from infrastructure you control, and both can deploy and roll back over it. AppCrane's 74 tools also promote sandbox to production and grant per-app access, and every call is audited against the user who made it.
A whole platform in one box
Self-hosted + open source + enterprise SSO + app email + custom domains + backup, on one server you own. Flat cost, full data ownership, no lock-in.
No GitHub account required
Managed apps: the code lives in a private git repository on your AppCrane server, so non-technical users ship without ever touching github.com.
Comparison reflects typical default capabilities as of mid-2026; every product here evolves, so verify specifics against each vendor's current docs. Coolify cells checked against Coolify's own docs, pricing page and GitHub releases in October 2026. "~" marks features that exist but require add-ons, extra configuration, a higher tier, or that aren't publicly documented. AppDeploy is a hosted "chat to live URL" service, so several self-hosting rows don't apply to it.