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DockPanel

A Rust + React full-stack self-hosted server management panel using only 19MB RAM total. Covers site hosting, databases, Git blue-green deployment, WAF, monitoring, email, and DNS management. BSL 1.1 licensed (not true open source), single maintainer—watch status.

Best For

Individual VPS users or small teams needing all-in-one management of sites, databases, email, DNS, and backups on resource-constrained servers. Not suitable for commercial environments with strict open-source licensing requirements or production deployments requiring strong community support guarantees.

How I Actually Use It

Tested on a throwaway VPS to evaluate the full-stack integration. After installation, a single panel manages multiple sites (PHP/Node/Python), configures PostgreSQL databases, and sets up Git push auto-deployment. For actual production, I still use Coolify (Apache 2.0 licensed).

Where It Is Strong

  • API ~7MB + Agent ~12MB, totaling ~19MB RAM. An order of magnitude less than Coolify.
  • 776 API endpoints handling sites, databases, Git deployment, email, DNS, monitoring, backups, and security in one place
  • Docker-native: 152 pre-built templates with blue-green zero-downtime deployment and preview environments
  • Security is solid: ModSecurity3 WAF, CVE scanning, Fail2Ban, WebAuthn 2FA, Argon2 + AES-256-GCM encryption
  • Built-in cPanel / HestiaCP import tools to reduce switching costs
  • Quality signals: 454 E2E tests, Sigstore cosign signed releases, SBOM (SPDX 2.3)

Where It Fails

  • BSL 1.1 is not true open source. Business Source License restricts commercial use; you cannot freely fork or resell.
  • Bus factor = 1. Single maintainer; project continuity depends entirely on one person.
  • Small community (326 Stars), so production issues may go unanswered
  • curl | sudo bash install pattern. Cosign verification available but still a risk vector.
  • Linux only (Ubuntu/Debian/CentOS/Rocky), no macOS or Windows support

Pricing, Difficulty, and Risk

  • Core features free; BSL 1.1 license (read commercial restrictions carefully)
  • Moderate difficulty: one-line install is fast, but full-stack configuration (email/DNS/WAF) requires server administration knowledge
  • Risk: license is not OSI-approved (verify commercial compliance); single maintainer may abandon at any time; community validation insufficient

Verdict

Wide feature coverage for a panel this size, and running a full management stack in 19MB RAM is no joke. But BSL 1.1 licensing and Bus factor = 1 are structural risks you can't ignore. Fine for personal VPS experimentation; for production, Coolify (Apache 2.0) is still the safer pick. Revisit in 6-12 months.

Source