Hosting

Where your app actually runs.

Hosting is where your app actually runs in production, and the options range from fully managed serverless platforms to traditional virtual servers you configure yourself. Managed platforms trade some control for a much faster path to a live deployment. Pick based on your framework's support, expected traffic patterns, and how much infrastructure you want to manage directly.

Coolify

Free, self-hosted Heroku/Netlify alternative you run on your own VPS. A favorite for indie hackers who want to stop paying platform margins once they have real traffic.

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DigitalOcean App Platform

Makes sense mainly if you're already on DigitalOcean for Postgres or Droplets and want one bill instead of stitching in Vercel or Render.

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Fly.io

Deploys your app as an actual VM close to your users across multiple regions. Good for backend-heavy apps that need real compute, not just functions.

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Netlify

The original Jamstack host, still solid for static sites and frontend apps, and recently added a built-in Postgres option.

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Railway

Push-to-deploy for full backends, databases, and background workers with almost no config. Great for getting something running fast, though it's had some notable outages in 2026.

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Render

The practical Heroku replacement: connect a repo, get web services, workers, cron jobs, and managed Postgres with predictable pricing.

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Vercel

The default for Next.js and frontend-heavy apps. Git push and it's live, with previews for every branch.

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