What is Uncloud used for?

Uncloud is a lightweight tool for deploying and running containerized apps across multiple Docker hosts, without a central control plane or Kubernetes. It is a good fit for running apps across a few VPS servers.

Is Uncloud open source?

Yes. Uncloud is open source under the Apache-2.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at psviderski/uncloud and is written mainly in Go.

Yes. Uncloud is open source, so the software itself is free to use.

Can I self-host Uncloud?

Yes. Uncloud can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure; there is no official hosted version.

What is Uncloud an alternative to?

Uncloud is an open-source alternative to Amazon ECS. Other open-source alternatives to Amazon ECS include Rancher, Kubernetes and Talos Linux.

Is Uncloud actively maintained?

Yes. The most recent commit to Uncloud was on 2 October 2026, and the latest release is v0.21.0, published on 2 October 2026. The project has 5.5k stars on GitHub.

Uncloud: open-source alternative to Amazon ECS

About Uncloud

Uncloud is a small orchestration tool for clustering Docker hosts and running web apps across cloud VMs and bare-metal servers. It aims to sit between plain Docker and Kubernetes, giving multi-machine deployment without the operational weight of Swarm or Kubernetes.

It sets up an encrypted WireGuard mesh linking your Docker hosts and adds automatic service discovery, load balancing and ingress with HTTPS, all managed through simple CLI commands. There is no central control plane or quorum to maintain: every machine keeps its own synchronized view of the cluster state by talking directly to its peers, so cluster operations can keep working even if some machines go offline. Topics reference Docker Compose and the tool is written in Go.

Uncloud is licensed under Apache-2.0 and runs entirely on your own servers, with no hosted dependency. It suits developers and small teams who have outgrown a single Docker host but do not want to take on the complexity of running Kubernetes.

Key features

WireGuard mesh network between hosts
Automatic service discovery
Load balancing and HTTPS ingress
No central control plane or quorum
Peer-to-peer cluster state sync
Simple CLI for app management

Good fit for

→Running apps across a few VPS servers
→Alternative to Swarm or Kubernetes for small teams

Built with: Go; Docker; Kubernetes
Tags: container-orchestration; docker; wireguard; deployment; self-hosted; devops; golang

Uncloud: questions and answers

What is Uncloud used for?: Uncloud is a lightweight tool for deploying and running containerized apps across multiple Docker hosts, without a central control plane or Kubernetes. It is a good fit for running apps across a few VPS servers.
Is Uncloud open source?: Yes. Uncloud is open source under the Apache-2.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at psviderski/uncloud and is written mainly in Go.
Is Uncloud free?: Yes. Uncloud is open source, so the software itself is free to use.
Can I self-host Uncloud?: Yes. Uncloud can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure; there is no official hosted version.
What is Uncloud an alternative to?: Uncloud is an open-source alternative to Amazon ECS. Other open-source alternatives to Amazon ECS include Rancher, Kubernetes and Talos Linux.
Is Uncloud actively maintained?: Yes. The most recent commit to Uncloud was on 2 October 2026, and the latest release is v0.21.0, published on 2 October 2026. The project has 5.5k stars on GitHub.