> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.levelrail.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Self-hosted Heroku alternative: git push to your own servers

> Levelrail is an open source Heroku alternative for your own Linux servers: git push deploys, managed Postgres and Redis, TLS, logs and rollback.

**The Heroku workflow on a server you control**

Git push to deploy, managed databases, automatic HTTPS, logs and rollback, running on Linux boxes you own instead of per-dyno billing.

[Get started](/getting-started) | [View on GitHub](https://github.com/glincker/levelrail)

```bash theme={"dark"}
curl -fsSL https://levelrail.com/install.sh | sudo sh
```

## What carries over from Heroku

<CardGroup cols={3}>
  <Card title="Git push to deploy">
    Connect GitHub, GitLab or Bitbucket and every push to a branch builds and deploys with a readiness-gated cutover.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Managed databases">
    Postgres, Redis, MySQL, MongoDB, MariaDB, KeyDB, Dragonfly and ClickHouse as first-class resources, with scheduled backups and automatic verification.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Logs, metrics and alerts">
    Full-text log search, node-local metrics and alerts to Slack, Discord, email, PagerDuty and more, with no add-on subscriptions.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Heroku and Levelrail

Heroku is a managed platform. Levelrail is the same workflow on infrastructure you operate.

| | Heroku | Levelrail |
| - | - | - |
| Billing | Per dyno and per add-on | Your own servers, no per-app fee |
| Deploys | git push, buildpacks, release phase | git push, Dockerfile builds, readiness-gated cutover |
| Databases | Add-ons | Eight engines managed in the platform, scheduled and verified backups |
| Operations | Handled by the vendor | You operate the servers, with alerts and a status page to help |

[Read the full comparison](/comparison)

## A first deploy

<Steps>
  <Step title="Pick a server">
    Any Linux box with Docker works, or provision one from Hetzner, DigitalOcean, AWS, Azure or GCP.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Install and connect git">
    Run the install script, open the dashboard, and connect a repository.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Add a database and deploy">
    Create Postgres or Redis, link it to the app, and push.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Frequently asked questions

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Do I need to learn Docker?">
    Not deeply. If your repo has a Dockerfile, it deploys. Levelrail handles the runtime, TLS and routing.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="What replaces Heroku add-ons?">
    Managed databases, built-in metrics and logs, alerting channels and scheduled backups cover the common ones. Third-party add-ons are not replicated.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Who is on call?">
    You are, since you run the servers. Alerts, crashloop detection and a status page are built in to make that manageable.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Is it free?">
    Yes, Apache 2.0, one edition.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Stop paying per dyno

Try it on one small server and move a project across when it feels right.

[Get started](/getting-started) | [View on GitHub](https://github.com/glincker/levelrail)


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