Alternatives to Render

Self-hostable PaaS alternative to Vercel/Heroku

If you want to deploy web apps, databases, and services without paying Vercel or Heroku — and you have a VPS — Coolify is your self-hosted PaaS. Point it at a server, connect your Git repos, and it handles builds, deployments, SSL certificates, and reverse proxying.

If you want to deploy your apps on your own server without learning Kubernetes or Docker Compose — Swiftwave handles it. Point it at a VPS, push your code, and it builds, deploys, and manages SSL certificates automatically.

If you want to deploy Docker containers to a VPS without learning Kubernetes and Coolify or Dokku feel too limited, ZaneOps is a self-hosted PaaS (platform-as-a-service) that aims to be the open source Heroku/Railway. Push your code or Docker image, ZaneOps handles deployment, HTTPS, environment variables, and scaling on your own server.

Scalable PaaS with automated Docker+nginx

If you want your own Heroku — push code, get a deployed app with HTTPS — but on a $5 VPS instead of paying Heroku prices, CapRover does that. It's a platform-as-a-service (PaaS) you install on your own server.