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 | Self-hosted | Hosted cloud |
| Pricing | Flat — your server | AWS usage | Per-use | Flat-ish | Free + infra | Seat + usage | Free — your server | Free — your server | SaaS / usage |
| Agent / MCP-native 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) | ✓ | ✗ | ~ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
Others are one or the other: AppDeploy is agent-driven but hosted; Dokploy bolts MCP onto a human-first UI. AppCrane is the only one that's agent-first and runs on a server you own — every action token-bound and audited.
Self-hosted + open source + enterprise SSO + app email + custom domains + backup, on one server you own. Flat cost, full data ownership, no lock-in.
Managed apps: AppCrane creates and owns the repo via a service account, 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. "~" 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.