Why you should self-host your (vibecoded) app
13 hours ago
- The author shares experience deploying over 50 services, eventually settling on self-hosting with Coolify on Hetzner VPSs for cost savings and ease.
- Cloud PaaS and serverless platforms have unpredictable pricing, with stories of unexpectedly high bills when traffic grows.
- Self-hosting offers freedom to choose your level of abstraction—from a simple Python script to Docker—without needing a system administrator degree.
- Coolify is an open-source self-hosted PaaS that provides one-click deployment, automatic SSL, reverse proxy, and notifications, making it user-friendly.
- Hetzner VPSs are significantly cheaper than alternatives like Digital Ocean, with similar performance, and offer a referral program with free credits.
- For most indie developers and startups, self-hosting is more cost-effective and sufficient; cloud scaling is only needed for extreme hypergrowth.
- The author recommends trying Coolify on Hetzner to quickly deploy apps, using Docker or one-click apps, and offers a premium guide for detailed steps.