Hosting tools
Where to run your app. 8 tools, compared on starting price and what the free tier actually covers — so you can tell a hobby plan from one that survives launch.
8 tools in Hosting
| # | Name | Category↑ | Starting price | Free access |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cloudflare Workers runs JavaScript/Wasm at the edge with a free tier that many indies treat as production-capable, not just a sandbox. Pair it with D1, KV, R2, and Queues when you… |
Hosting | $5/mo | Yes, free plan is available |
| 2 | Deno Deploy runs TypeScript and JavaScript at the edge with Deno’s secure runtime and simple git-based deploys. Indies use it for APIs and lightweight edge functions when they wan… |
Hosting | $20/mo | Yes, free plan is available |
| 3 | DigitalOcean App Platform deploys apps, static sites, and managed databases from GitHub or containers with predictable starter pricing. Indies use it when they want Heroku-like fl… |
Hosting | $5/mo | Yes, free plan is available |
| 4 | Fly.io runs your containers close to users worldwide, which helps when latency across regions matters more than a single US region. You still ship Docker images; Fly handles place… |
Hosting | $1.94/mo | Yes, free plan is available |
| 5 | Netlify popularized JAMstack deploys: drag-and-drop or git-based sites, forms, functions, and deploy previews. It remains a strong fit for marketing sites and static-heavy product… |
Hosting | $20/mo | Yes, free plan is available |
| 6 | Railway is a usage-based PaaS: connect a repo, get Postgres/Redis, and scale services without writing Terraform. Founders like it for weekend MVPs that still look like “real” infr… |
Hosting | $5/mo | Yes, free plan is available |
| 7 | Render packages web services, background workers, cron, and managed Postgres under one PaaS roof. It sits between Heroku-style simplicity and cloud-native complexity. |
Hosting | $7/mo | Yes, free plan is available |
| 8 | Vercel is the default deploy target for Next.js apps: git push, preview URLs, and edge-friendly hosting without babysitting servers. Indie teams use it when frontend velocity matt… |
Hosting | $20/user/month | Yes, free plan + 14 days (Pro trial) trialcard req. |