Zelie · self-hosted server panel for apps, databases and game serversYour whole server, in one small panel.
Apps, databases and game servers on your own Linux server. It keeps itself up to date without stopping what runs on it.
One Go binary · about 50 MB · Debian or Ubuntu, amd64 or arm64 · Free for everyone
A drawn preview of the Zelie panel, playing in a loop: a Minecraft server’s console, an app deploying, last night’s updates and the panel’s colours.
Four things it gets right.
Built for the machine it runs on: little to install, little to look after.
Light
One Go binary. No PHP, no Composer, no separate daemon and no Docker.
Updates itself
The panel, images, databases, Node security releases and your apps’ dependencies, in one round each night.
Never down for it
Updating Zelie restarts only Zelie. An automatic update must stay up for a minute, or the old version comes back.
Closed by default
The panel, proxy and SFTP run as their own unprivileged users; the root core has no network port. Root in a container is nobody on the host, and databases get no public port.
Not a fork.
Many game panels grew out of Pterodactyl and share its design. Zelie was written from scratch, with a different architecture.
Pterodactyl
Separate parts, installed and kept running one by one
- PHPwith extensions
- Composer
- MySQL or MariaDB
- Redis
- A web server
- A queue worker and a cron job
- Wingsruns as root
- Dockerfor Wings
Zelie
The one thing you install
Pelican keeps the same design: a Laravel panel plus Wings.
- Apps from GitHub, databases and game servers, in one panel.
- It updates itself every night, without stopping what runs on it.
- The part that runs as root has no network port, so the internet cannot reach it.
Small, measured.
Memory on an idle server, and what you install to get there.
Idle memory
Measured by Caria Core
Zelie’s own processes stay under 66 MB, checked in CI on every release; containerd adds about 57 MB on a live server.
The panel about 231 MB and Wings 38 MB on a live server, 24 September 2026, without its database and Docker.
Measured by others
All of Coolify 4.4.6’s containers on an idle test VM, one run. Source
What you install
Zelie itself. It fetches and checks its own container runtime.
The panel, PHP, Composer, a web server, Wings and Docker, plus a database server unless it uses SQLite. Install guide
The panel, PHP, Composer, MySQL or MariaDB, Redis, a web server, Wings and Docker. Install guide
Updates that wait for the right moment.
At 04:30 by the server’s clock, and never while a backup, build or deploy is running. Each change has to prove itself before it stays.
- Zelie’s own patch releases
- New builds of your images and databases, after a backup
- Node security releases, rebuilt from the same commit
- Fixes for vulnerable packages, tested on a branch first
Major versions wait for your go-ahead.
A new version starts beside the old one.
For an app with a domain, traffic moves only once the new one is healthy.
- pushZelie builds the commit and runs its tests.
- startThe new version starts beside the old one and must pass its health check.
- switchTraffic moves over. If the new one fails, the old one keeps serving.
- roll backThe last five versions are kept, so a rollback takes seconds.
Everything else, too.
Apps and game servers share one login, one set of databases and one backup.
Deploy from GitHub
Each push builds, runs its tests and goes live.
Game servers from eggs
Minecraft, Rust, Valheim and any Pterodactyl or Pelican egg.
Databases
PostgreSQL, MariaDB and Redis, backed up every night.
Domains and HTTPS
Give an app a domain; the proxy adds HTTPS.
Console, files and SFTP
A live console with filters and quick commands, a file editor and SFTP.
Players
For Rust and Minecraft: bans, whitelists and admins, even with the server stopped.
Sub-users
Invite people and choose what each one may do, server by server.
Private networks
Servers in one group reach each other by name; a game server can go without a public port.
Minecraft networks
A Velocity proxy with Paper servers behind it, forwarding set up at each start.
Backups off the server
Encrypted, and copied to any S3-compatible storage.
Crash reasons
Zelie reads a crashed server’s last lines, says why and offers the fix where it can.
Metrics
Requests, errors, memory, CPU and network.
Updated all the time.
The latest releases, from their release notes.
- v0.19.0 · Nov 12, 2026
Network groups, private game servers and a Minecraft network helper
Network groups
- v0.18.1 · Nov 11, 2026
Go 1.27.4, and player tools that need console rights
Zelie is now built with Go 1.27.4, a patch release with security fixes.
- v0.18.0 · Nov 10, 2026
Minecraft and Rust access lists and offline bans
Minecraft and Rust servers can now manage operators, admins, whitelists, and player or IP bans directly from the Players page whether the server is running or stopped.
Three editions
An edition depends on who the server is for, not how big it is. Free is open to everyone: make an account and install it on your own server. Pro and Business follow.
- Free
- Your own server · one node€0Everything Zelie does today, on a server of your own, for up to 3 game servers, 3 apps and 3 databases.
- Pro
- Your own business · one node€4.49 a monthor €44.90 a year, two months freeNo limit on what runs, plus the new features added to Pro from here on.
- Business
- Selling to others · 1 to 10 nodes€8 per node a monthor €80 per node a year, two months freeFor those who sell hosting: Pro, plus the hosting features as they arrive, in packages of 1 to 10 nodes.
What each edition includes
| Feature | Free | Pro | Business |
|---|---|---|---|
| Game servers, apps, databases and backups | Included | Included | Included |
| Nightly updates and security fixes | Included | Included | Included |
| Services | 3 of each | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Nodes | 1 | 1 | 1 to 10 |
| New features added to Pro | Not included | Soon | Soon |
| Customers, sub-accounts and quotas | Not included | Not included | Soon |
| WHMCS and billing | Not included | Not included | Soon |
| White label | Not included | Not included | Soon |
| Several nodes from one panel | Not included | Not included | Soon |
Pro and Business add to the same panel; nothing you use today moves behind a paywall.
When a licence ends
You get 7 more days, with a warning in the panel and by email. Then the licence drops to Free.
Services past Free’s three of each kind become read-only:
- What runs keeps running, and players are not affected
- Settings, deploys, updates and file edits close
- A stopped service cannot be started again
- Backups can still be taken, downloaded and deleted
You choose in the panel which three stay open. If you do not, the most recently added are locked. A Business package that moves down follows the same rule for its extra nodes.
The panel you install is linked to your account, and you can disconnect it at any time. Read exactly what your server sends to Caria Core
Questions
What is Zelie?
A server panel for your own Linux server: apps, their databases and game servers under one login, with backups and updates for all of them.
Can a website and a game server run on the same server?
Yes. Each runs in its own container with its own memory and CPU limits. Sites go through Zelie’s proxy with HTTPS; players connect straight to the game server.
Is Zelie an alternative to Pterodactyl or Pelican?
For one server, yes: the same eggs, plus apps, databases and backups. Several servers from one panel is planned for Business.
How do I get Zelie?
Free is open to everyone. Make an account, take the one-time install command from it and run it on your own Debian or Ubuntu server; the Install Zelie page shows the three steps. Pro and Business follow.