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Deployer

deployer.org

  • Free plan
  • macOS
  • Linux
  • API
  • Self-hosted
7.4 Club score Visit deployer.org

What Deployer is

Deployer is a PHP deployment tool for deploying applications to servers. It uses atomic symlink switching to avoid exposing a broken state during deployment, and its CLI can roll back to a previous good release. Tasks run in parallel across selected hosts by default, with an option to limit concurrency. Projects define hosts and tasks in a deploy.php or deploy.yaml recipe and can add custom build tasks. Recipes cover frameworks and platforms including Laravel, Symfony, WordPress, Drupal, Magento, CakePHP, CodeIgniter, Yii, Contao, Shopware, TYPO3, and Sulu. Deployer connects to hosts over SSH and can open an interactive session using host configuration. Its provision recipe can configure an Ubuntu server with firewall, PHP, database, and HTTPS; provisioning a new server requires root SSH key authentication. Installation options include Composer, Phive, a PHAR bundle, and Docker. CI/CD guidance covers GitHub Actions, GitLab CI/CD, and Bitbucket Pipelines. The project is MIT licensed and free. Documentation includes getting started instructions, recipes, and community-contributed recipes.

Who it suits

Deployer suits PHP developers and teams deploying applications to servers. Its documentation recommends project installation for CI/CD pipelines where a project needs to pin its Deployer version.

Good to know, and what to watch

  • Atomic switching avoids a broken deployment state.
  • CLI supports release rollback.
  • Tasks run in parallel by default.
  • Offers recipes for many PHP frameworks.
  • Provisioning a new server requires root SSH key authentication.
  • Ubuntu is the target for the provision recipe.

Plans

Every plan and price

Free and open source

Free

Free plan

The verdict

Deployer provides configurable PHP deployment workflows, SSH access, and rollback without a listed charge. Teams should account for the Ubuntu and root SSH key requirements when using its provisioning recipe.

What the maker publishes

CI/CD integrations
The CI/CD guide documents usage with GitHub Actions, GitLab CI/CD and Bitbucket Pipelines. source
Configuration
A recipe defines hosts and tasks, and can be written as deploy.php or deploy.yaml. source
Customization
Projects define hosts and tasks in a deploy.php or deploy.yaml recipe and can add custom build tasks. source
Deployment
It uses atomic symlink switching for zero downtime deployments and says a failed deployment can be rolled back in one command. source
Framework support
The site lists recipes for PHP frameworks and platforms including Laravel, Symfony, WordPress, Drupal, Magento, CakePHP, CodeIgniter, Yii, Contao, Shopware, TYPO3, and Sulu. source
Installation
Deployer can be installed globally or per project through Composer, via Phive, or as a PHAR bundle; the download page also lists Docker. source
Install options
The documentation describes global and project Composer installations, Phive installation, and a Phar bundle that requires no Composer. source
License
The GitHub repository identifies Deployer as MIT licensed. source
Parallel deployment
Tasks run in parallel on all selected hosts by default, and the CLI can limit concurrency. source
Parallel deployment
Deployer can deploy to multiple servers simultaneously using parallel connections. source
Provisioning
Its provision recipe can configure an Ubuntu server, including firewall, PHP, database and HTTPS. source
Provisioning
The provision recipe configures a server, including its firewall, PHP, database, and HTTPS. source
Provisioning requirement
The provision recipe targets Ubuntu and requires root SSH key authentication to provision a new server. source
Purpose
Deployer describes itself as a PHP deployment tool for deploying PHP applications. source
Recipes
The documentation lists recipes for frameworks and platforms including Laravel, Symfony, WordPress, Drupal, Magento and TYPO3. source
Release management
The CLI can list releases and roll back to the most recent good release before the current one. source
Remote access
Deployer connects to deployment hosts over SSH and can open an interactive SSH session using its host configuration. source
Rollback
The site says you can revert to a previous release in seconds. source
Security practice
The host guide recommends keeping sensitive SSH parameters out of deploy.php and storing them in ~/.ssh/config. source
Server access
Deployer connects to servers over SSH and reads the user's SSH configuration. source
Support and documentation
The site links to documentation, getting started instructions, recipes, and community-contributed recipes. source
Target users
The getting started guide walks through deploying a PHP project to an Ubuntu VPS and names Linode, DigitalOcean, Vultr, AWS and GCP as examples. source
What it does
Deployer is a PHP deployment tool for deploying applications to servers. source
Who it is for
The documentation recommends project installation for CI/CD pipelines so a project can pin its Deployer version. source

Checked against the maker's pages on 11 Oct 2026.