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Kamal

kamal-deploy.org

Free plan macOSLinuxSelf-hosted
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Spec score 7.6 #25 of 34 in Deployment Automation Software

Spec sheet

Purpose
Kamal deploys and manages containerized web apps in production on servers ranging from bare metal to cloud VMs.Read 8 Oct 2026 · kamal-deploy.org
Support
The official site links to GitHub Discussions for help and to a Discord community.Read 8 Oct 2026 · kamal-deploy.org
Maker
The official site identifies 37signals as the makers of Kamal.Read 8 Oct 2026 · kamal-deploy.org
App compatibility
Kamal was originally built for Rails apps and works with any type of web app that can be containerized.Read 8 Oct 2026 · kamal-deploy.org
Custom hooks
Custom scripts can run at specified points in deployment, and a non-zero exit code aborts the command.Read 8 Oct 2026 · kamal-deploy.org
Deployment features
The site lists zero-downtime deploys, rolling restarts, asset bridging, remote builds, and accessory service management.Read 8 Oct 2026 · kamal-deploy.org
Deployment model
Kamal uses Docker and can deploy to listed server IP addresses without requiring server preparation beyond an SSH key.Read 8 Oct 2026 · kamal-deploy.org
Installation
With Ruby installed, Kamal can be installed globally using `gem install kamal`; the docs also describe running it in a Docker container, with some limitations.Read 8 Oct 2026 · kamal-deploy.org
Intended audience
The site says users familiar with basic Linux or Docker are ready to use Kamal, while those who find those concepts difficult may be better served by a fully managed service.Read 8 Oct 2026 · kamal-deploy.org
Operational limit
The installation docs say deployments to multiple servers require a load balancer in front of them.Read 8 Oct 2026 · kamal-deploy.org
Registries
The default image registry is Docker Hub, and the documentation also describes local registries, AWS ECR, and GCP Artifact Registry.Read 8 Oct 2026 · kamal-deploy.org
Secret handling
The docs say secrets are stored in an env file on the host rather than passed directly to the container, and advise keeping `.kamal/secrets` out of version control.Read 8 Oct 2026 · kamal-deploy.org
Secrets integrations
Secret-fetching helpers support 1Password, LastPass, Bitwarden, Bitwarden Secrets Manager, AWS Secrets Manager, Doppler, GCP Secret Manager, and Passbolt.Read 8 Oct 2026 · kamal-deploy.org
Server setup
The `kamal setup` command connects over SSH, installs Docker if needed, builds and pushes the app image, and starts the app on the servers.Read 8 Oct 2026 · kamal-deploy.org

Plans and prices

Kamal Free Open-source deployment tool; no hosted plan pricing stated on the official site Read 8 Oct 2026 · kamal-deploy.org

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