Deployer vs Kamal
Deployer
deployer.org
Kamal
kamal-deploy.orgSide by side
| Figure | Deployer | Kamal |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | — |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · Deployment Automation Software | 8.7 (#3) | 7.6 (#25) |
| Installation | Deployer can be installed globally or per project through Composer, via Phive, or as a PHAR bundle; the download page also lists Docker. | 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. |
| Purpose | Deployer describes itself as a PHP deployment tool for deploying PHP applications. | Kamal deploys and manages containerized web apps in production on servers ranging from bare metal to cloud VMs. |
Plans
In their own words
Deployer
Deployer is a PHP deployment tool for sending applications to servers. It switches releases through atomic symlinks, so a deployment does not expose an incomplete state, and a failed release can be reverted with one command. The command line can list releases and return to the latest good release. Tasks run concurrently across selected hosts by default, with an option to limit concurrency. Projects describe hosts and tasks in deploy.php or deploy.yaml files and may add custom build tasks. Recipes cover Laravel, Symfony, WordPress, Drupal, Magento, CakePHP, CodeIgniter, Yii, Contao, Shopware, TYPO3, and Sulu. Deployer connects over SSH, can open an interactive SSH session, and includes a recipe for provisioning Ubuntu with firewall, PHP, database, and HTTPS configuration. Installation is available through Composer, Phive, a PHAR bundle, or Docker. CI/CD guidance covers GitHub Actions, GitLab CI/CD, and Bitbucket Pipelines. It is free and open source, with Linux, macOS, API, and self-hosted options.